HEN JESUS WAS ON EARTH, HE ministered to many needs. At times His disciples presented Him with special requests. One of the most memorable came just after Jesus had finished praying. "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1),* they said.

No request ever fell on deaf ears. Jesus immediately proceeded to teach His disciples the prayer par excellence, known widely today as the Lord's Prayer.

Learning Is Doing
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He didn't deliver a lecture on the topic, not even a sermon. Instead He taught His disciples the actual words of a prayer. He was saying, "You want to learn how to pray? Then let's pray. This is how it goes."

Many other biblical passages contain actual prayers. You won't find lengthy discourses on the topic. The Bible contains, rather, numerous spirit-filled prayers that came from the hearts and mouths of God's faithful.

A prayer of personal request to God is the prayer uttered by Hannah at the sanctuary in Shiloh (1 Sam. 1). Or consider Jonah's prayer for deliverance from inside the great fish (Jonah 2). The prophet Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18) is an excellent example of a prayer about God's greatness. King Solomon's dedicatory prayer for the Temple (1 Kings 8) is an illustration of the inaugural prayer for a holy place. We can learn much about intercessory prayer from Daniel's prayer for his people in Babylon (Dan. 9). A fine example of a prayer of commitment is Christ's prayer in Gethsemane (Matthew 26), when He so readily surrendered to His Father's will. Furthermore, Jesus' prayer in the upper room (John 17) is the best prayer for unity among Christ's followers.

Clearly prayer is a natural, spontaneous expression of our immediate feelings for, or about, God.

So Great, and Yet So Near
To many of Jesus' contemporaries, God was a transcendent being, enthroned on high. With Jesus it was different. That all-powerful God He called Abba-Father-in His prayers. This way of addressing God, so often found on Christ's lips, is an intimate word that is better translated with the words "daddy" or "papa." Jesus prayed as a child speaks to his or her father, with simplicity, intimacy, and confidence.

The prayers of God's people in Bible times tell of a God whom even the highest heaven cannot contain (1 Kings 8:27). Yet that same God is said to dwell through faith in the heart of the praying believer. To pray means to humbly open one's heart to the King of the universe so that He can dwell in it by faith.

King David's prayer in Psalm 8 praises the Lord, whose name is majestic in all the earth, whose glory is set above the heavens, and whose acts of creation are the moon and the stars, the work of His fingers. But the psalm also teaches that the Lord is mindful of His creatures. When David felt miserable and exclaimed, "But I am a worm and not a man" (Ps. 22:6), he could still pray, "But you, O Lord, be not far off" (verse 19).

Can we address God the same way Christ did? Of course we can. In fact, we should. One dramatic moment was in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus said: "Abba, Father . . . everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will" (Mark 14:36).

The apostle Paul tells us that we are God's children who pray through His Spirit "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). He also told the believers in Ephesus that he knelt before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name; that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen us with power so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:14-17).

First Things First
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught people to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all the other things that they need would be given to them as well (Matt. 6:33). Jesus practiced what He preached. His prayer to the Father touches first of all on the sanctity of His name, the coming of His kingdom, and the accomplishment of His will on earth, This comes first because everything that God had made and formed, He had created for His glory (Isa. 43:7). Since glory is due to God alone, we should give Him what belongs to Him.

After having prayed about God's name and kingdom, Jesus focused on our daily need for food, forgiveness, and faith. All three of these come to us as God's gifts. Throughout the Bible, too, the praying person usually begins with a statement of praise to God or giving glory to Him, and only then presents his/her petitions.

Solomon's prayer for the Temple began, "O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below" (1 Kings 8:23). In a similar way King Jehoshaphat, when faced with a serious threat, prayed, "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you" (2 Chron. 20:6). Habakkuk, the prophet, began his prayer, "Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord" (Hab. 3:2). When the believers in the church were threatened with persecution, they prayed, "Sovereign Lord . . . you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them" (Acts 4:24).

This is not to say that the people of the Bible did not pray concerning their everyday needs. On the contrary, they prayed often for these things. Yet they began their prayers giving glory to God, praising Him for His power and mercy, and then focusing on their other needs.

When it comes to prayer, Jesus and the Bible teach us to put first things first.

Not to Change, But to Be Changed
An important statement in Jesus' prayer is found in the words "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10, KJV). This is further enhanced by the use of the word "Amen" (verse 13, KJV), customarily ending a prayer today as it did in Bible times.

Many of us know that amen means "May it be so!" What some may not know is that the amen at the end of a prayer does not affirm the wishes of the praying person, but God's plan for that person's life. It is a plea that God's will may be fulfilled. Our saying "Amen" to God is an expression of our readiness to submit to God and accept His will.

The true purpose of prayer is not to try to change God's mind or His plans for us or those for whom we pray. It is rather to change us and make us conform to His will. That's why Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: "Not as I will, but as you will" (Matt. 26:39).

The psalmist confesses in the beginning of his prayer that "before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord" (Ps. 139:4). He ends his prayer by requesting: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (verses 23, 24).

The Christian church was born in the atmosphere of prayer. Its leaders and members alike sought God's direction daily (Acts 1:4; 2:4, 42). During this period, prayer was the most powerful tool Christians had to face opposition and persecution. That's how the church was gradually molded into its Master's design.

We can say the same of Paul. The Lord described him to His disciple Ananias by simply saying, "He is praying" (Acts 9:11). As Paul became a man of prayer, he was shaped into an apostle and the first missionary of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Through prayer the Holy Spirit gave him the wisdom and understanding he needed for his ministry.

Christians pray to God with open heart and mind, leaving the answers to God. Says the prophet Amos, "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. . . . Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph" (Amos 5:14, 15). This same teaching is found in the book of Joel: "Rend your heart and not your garments. . . . Who knows? He [God] may turn and have pity" (Joel 2:13, 14).

These examples teach us that our prayers do not change God, but instead, we ourselves become changed and are ready to accept His will for our lives.

We can know four things from both Jesus' prayer and numerous other prayers in the Bible: First, the best way to learn how to pray is by actually praying. Second, God, to whom we pray, is great, yet so near to us that we can call Him Father, Daddy, or Papa, just as Jesus did. Third, when we pray, we should put God's kingdom and His righteousness before our everyday concerns. And fourth, our prayer has the purpose of making us ready to accept God's will for us, and not of changing God or His plans for us.

*Unless noted otherwise, Bible references in this article are from the New International Version.