How to Pray

One of the greatest things that Jesus showed man when He walked the earth was how to pray. The followers of Jesus, especially the 12, watched and listened as Jesus prayed out to the Father. It must have been something spectacular to behold because at some point they wanted Jesus to teach them how to do this prayer thing.  We see this in Luke 11:1, “Lord teach us to pray.” This is where we get the Lord’s prayer. It is a model of how a prayer should be. We see worship, repentance, and needs being asked for.

The Lord doesn’t stop there with how prayer operates. He answers a question that many still ask today. “How long should I pray about a certain need or issue?” Jesus gives a parable to answer that question. He speaks of a friend having some surprise visitors come to his house. Having no bread, this man goes to his friend’s house at midnight and asks for bread. The friend replied the same way some of us would, “Go away, everyone is in bed.” But the man persists and finally receives the bread he needs. Jesus says, “I tell you, even though he won't get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet, because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

So how long should we continue to pray for something? Many believe that we should ask the Lord only once. The reasoning is that God has heard, and He will answer. But this is not what Jesus tells us in verses 9-10 of Luke 11. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.” Taking the illustration that Jesus has provided we could say it this way, “Keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking and it will be opened to you.”

We see examples of this throughout the gospels. We read of the woman crying out for Jesus to free her daughter from demon possession and she would not give up until Jesus responded. We read of the blind man crying out “Jesus son of David, have mercy on me.” Even when everyone around him told him to be quiet, he cried out even louder until Jesus responded.

I say to you that we should be just like children crying out to our Father until He responds. We should never give up on our prayers but be tenacious just like the woman with the blood issue who said, “If I could just reach out and touch the hem of His garment, I could be made well.” I believe the Lord responds to our desperation because it shows that we have finally realized that He is our only hope. After we have tried everything else, maybe we should finally be desperate for Jesus, crying out louder and louder until we hear His voice speak to us His answer.