“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’”

Have you ever looked hungrily at another table in a restaurant and asked the waiter about what they were eating? Have you ever seen a physically fit person exercising and wish you could look like that? Have you ever spoken to someone who seemed to have a glow of calm, even in the middle of difficult times, and wondered how they found tranquility during their storm?

The common dynamic in each of the examples above is the desire to receive something you see someone else receiving – maybe not even necessarily in a jealous way, but in a hopeful way.

“Lord, teach us (teach me) to pray.”

But very likely, underneath that question is something more than having the right words with which to pray or the right posture in praying. Underneath the question may simply be the desire to be as in tune with your heavenly Father as Jesus is.

The beauty of prayer is not simply being able to speak the right words, but to have such a relationship with Him to whom you pray that you comfortably speak those words. The beauty of prayer is being in such a relationship with God that there is comfort and faith and peace in the praying all because of the one to whom you are praying. No wonder then that the way Jesus responded to the disciples request about teaching him to pray was by saying, “Father, hallowed be your name . . .” It begins with the relationship. Woven into the disciple’s question was likely a desire to have more than the right words to speak, but the right relationship with Him to whom you speak.

As you go to God in prayer for this campaign, ask not only that all would go well with this effort or about what kind of commitment you might make toward the campaign. But as you go to God in prayer for this campaign, celebrate the relationship you have with Him to whom you pray. It is because of the relationship you have with Him, and He with you, that you will experience immeasurably more than you could ever ask.

Yes Lord, I’d like some of that! So Lord, teach us to pray!