why pray? What was it about Jesus’ way of praying that prompted his disciples to ask: ‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Luke 11:1)? Did they see something in Jesus’ posture, his language or his perpetual habit that contrasted with their own? Or was it that prayer seemed to be a natural part of life for him, integrated with the everyday? Whatever it was, it was different enough from what was familiar for Jesus’ closest friends to ask him to teach them to pray. BY COLONEL HEATHER RODWELL
20 WarCry 09 JANUARY 2021
This request prompted Jesus to give them an example of prayer and what we now refer to as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. I’m not so sure that Jesus’ intention was to provide a prayer to be memorised and repeated on regular occasions, but many people have found it helpful to do so on their own prayer journeys. In the foreword to Pete Greig’s book, How to Pray: A Simple Guide For Normal People, Nicky Gumbel describes prayer as the most important activity of our lives. He goes on to say: ‘It’s the way in which we develop a relationship with our Father in Heaven. Jesus prayed and taught us to do the same.’ And therein lies the rub for many of us. We are in
little doubt that prayer is important, but find it difficult to sustain a practice of prayer in our daily lives, even though many of us will utter a prayer at certain crisis points of our lives. Failure to regularly pray can leave us feeling guilty or dissatisfied. This overflows into our relationship with God. But imagine with me how this could change.
Legacy of prayer As parents or grandparents we are entrusted with training our children in practices or behaviours that align to things we value. For example, children don’t automatically learn to clean their teeth regularly, but they can be taught to do this with a little encouragement
