Jesus models a life of prayer with secure attachment.
Prayer series #2
If you missed the first in this series, you can go back to read it here.
Luke 11:1-4 (NLT) - Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. 3 Give us each day the food we need, 4 and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.”
The first thing we notice from this passage is that Jesus was in a “certain place.” We know from other gospel writings that Jesus often withdrew to isolated places, away from the crowds to pray. Mark 1:35 says “And, rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
You might have grown up in church with this presented as a prescriptive way to pray: Get up early. While it’s still dark. Sit alone somewhere. And spend an hour in prayer. It’s got to be an hour! (Where did that set hour come from?)
But if we back up a few verses from Luke 11 to Luke 10:28, we see that Jesus has been growing in his fame and popularity throughout the region. People are hearing about who He is and what He can do. The masses are starting to come to Him in need.
In Jesus’ withdrawing to pray, He is modeling for us the need to pull away from all the things that demand our attention. If Jesus felt distracted and overwhelmed by the demands on His life during His time on earth, can you imagine His heart of compassion for you and I? We are living in a fast-paced world. Our calendars are filled with activities, events, and responsibilities. We are living in the digital era. And while technology is incredible in so many ways, we are more distracted than ever. A recent research statistic states that over 2 hours a day are lost to distractions. 2 hours! Even if we find ourselves physically alone, our phone isn’t far from reach, leaving us always accessible to those in need and with a multitude of distractions.
Prayer rhythms
As I’ve grown in the discipline of prayer, I have found it so helpful to have a time and a place to pray. And this has looked different in different seasons of life. In my mid-20’s, I was living alone for the first time in an apartment, single and working my first professional job as a physical therapist. I had a 40 minute commute each way to the hospital. In that season, I frequently stayed up late and slept right until I had to get up, shower and run out the door! My prayer rhythm looked like praying in the car on long stretches of highway on the way into and home from work.
As a 30-something, I was a new mom with two babies under the age of two. Their schedule ran my schedule. Fatigue was high and alone time limited. So I prayed in the white rocking chair that lived in the corner in their room, snuggling them at the start of nap time or after a middle of the night feeding. Rocking and praying.
As those babies grew, I longed for a quiet space to be alone with Jesus. Yet, I also felt this prompting from God to no longer pray in secret but out in the open, in places where my daughters could see what I was doing. So, I sat at the dining room table, each girl on either side of me coloring and playing while I read my bible and prayed.
Highs and lows
There have also been seasons of my life where I fell out of the rhythm of prayer. After I had a miscarriage after hearing the heartbeat of our third baby. When the demands on my husband and I as co-pastors of a church were so high and the days were so demanding, we had no margin. I didn’t know how to say no to people or how to create boundaries. Prayer was just too hard in those seasons.
When we moved to our current house 4 summers ago, I intentionally designed a space that I could meet with Jesus. A small office to call my own. In the corner by the sliding glass doors, I have this lovely, round, yellow plush chair and next to it, a small table where I keep my bible, journal, and whatever books or studies I’m working through.
If my family sees me sitting in the yellow chair, in the morning before they head off to school, bible open on my lap, they can quickly conclude that mom is praying. I have a few other spots in my home that I consider prayer spaces but this is my primary place. Does this mean that I’m 100% of the time praying when and where I said I will be? No. But, it does give me a rhythm to practice, return to when I get off and grow.
Teach us
As the Luke passage continues, we hear the disciples say, “Teach us to pray.” Wait a second. The disciples knew how to pray! The majority of them had grown up as faithful Jewish boys learning the Torah.
They could recite long sections of the Old Testament.
The disciples also spoke prayers from the Psalms like incantations, from pure memory.
They would typically pray a prayer called the Amidah, three times a day: morning, afternoon and evening.
They have now started following Jesus and ask Him: Show us how YOU pray. We want to shift our life of prayer to be like yours. They were watching the life of Jesus and connecting the dots that something was happening within Him during those times of withdrawing to pray that was now overflowing out of Him when He was with people. And they were like….THAT. That’s the kind of life I’m after!
It’s the kind of prayer life that I’m after. So today, I’m echo’ing the ask from the disciples. Lord, teach me to pray. That’s where we’re headed next week as unpack a pathway for prayer through what is commonly called, The Lord’s Prayer.
Take a few minutes as we wrap up to reflect on your personal prayer plan. What time of day can you set aside to connect with God? Where will you meet with Him? Remember my own examples and consider the season of life you are in. Maybe your reflection is you have fallen away from prayer or just don’t know how to start. Choosing a time and a place is a beautiful first step!