prayer

I noticed today that my friend Mike, in the context of a recent post, made the comment, "One thing I've been thinking about is how much I need time for prayer. I think I need it more now than I ever have." As I have shared in the past, I breakfast with several men weekly for Bible study and fellowship, and [coincidentally] this morning we read Luke 6:12-19.  Verse 12 says, "It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God."  Wow.  We spent time discussing this, and when I later read Mike's post, what conviction was brought to bear on me!

Last year I read George Müller's autobiography, and one of my reactions to it was the notion that I don't know how to pray at all; prayer was central and primary in Müller's life.  I wonder if the disciple who asked of Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray..." (Luke 11:1) also felt as I do sometimes.  What an encouragement to read in Romans where the apostle Paul reminds us that we do not know how to pray as we should, and he goes on to say that the Spirit intercedes for us in prayer.  As John Bunyan  said,

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

As for more time for prayer, I've always felt that the scriptural exhortation to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thes. 5:17) underscored the fact that I'm never ever alone--the risen Jesus by His Spirit is always present within me.  Even so, the expressed desire for more time for prayer, and the scripture relating how Jesus prayed all night, reminded me of this comment from Martin Luther:

I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.

It's not unusual for me to not know how (or what) to pray, but neither have I grown to the point where prayer is as natural in my life as breathing. Lord Jesus, teach me to pray...