Luke 11:1
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
When our boys were young we would help them learn how to ask the prayer over the food. We started with... "God is great, God is good" prayer. Then we moved up to leading them in a prayer. Eventually they took over the position of praying over the food we would eat totally. What was so funny about it is they would pray, almost to the word, the very same prayer we would pray.
So many times I would talk to them after the prayer and say, "You know guys, you don't have to say the same thing that we did". I always thought they needed to make the prayers their own personal prayer. I spent much time in correcting them about it. Not getting on them about it, but trying to make them understand that they needed to talk to the Lord with their own words. Then it hit me one day... They learned to pray by listening to our prayers. I learned that they would talk to Him in their own way when the time was right. Now I listen to them bring up things in prayer that I haven't even thought of.
These disciples asked the Lord Jesus to teach them how to pray. I wonder how many times that they stuck to the model in this prayer because they learned it from Jesus? But then slowly, and steadfast, they began to use this for what it was and is, a model and not a formula.
This morning...break out of the routine model of habitual prayer and TALK to Him! Take the model and use it, but not as a formula. Take a timeout to tell Him something not found in the model prayer. Be real with Him! Confess your sin, declare your trust, and express your love to Him in prayer this morning. Lord, thank you for teaching us to pray.
