“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.'” — Luke 11:1
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Training to become ready for performance requires countless hours of practice. The repetition and rhythm of our sport points us toward our desired outcome: to perform at the highest level when called upon. Without daily rhythms, we would not be ready for competition.
The earliest committed followers of Jesus were no different. In the Jewish culture, they already had a rhythm of prayer three times a day: morning, midday and evening. Their lives were oriented around encounters with the God they put their trust and hope in. However, when Jesus’ apprentices saw the way Jesus was praying, they noticed how different it was compared to the rhythm passed down to them. So they desired Jesus to teach them.
Jesus’ prayer (Matthew 6:9-15) is structured in a unique way — we inhale God’s reality in the first half, and in the second half we exhale God’s reality into the watching world. The first half orients our worship around our intimate, holy Father, ready for His Heavenly reality to invade earth. The second half gives breath and life to our everyday, ordinary existence.
In other words, the commitment to the rhythm and practice of prayer begins to reform our hearts to be the living embodiment of the “Your Kingdom come” prayer that invades our everyday life — the “what would Jesus do if He were here” reality. We are, in many ways, the rhythms of our life. So may our desire be the same as Jesus’ friends (Luke 11:1-4): Lord, teach us to pray.
— Tyler Keele, Tennessee Smokies chaplain
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