Learning to Pray

I finished up the God and Me program for the boy scouts this morning. A major part of what we learned was about prayer. The lesson did a good job of explaining prayer as communication. It explained talking to God and listening to God. Then, we used the Lord's Prayer to learn the different things to include in our prayers. We even talked about why we pray. We had a good time with it, but I was really overcome with how little most people know about prayer. How does the average Christian learn to pray? I guess we learn a little in Sunday School as a child. We learn some from Bible studies as a youth, if we attend those types of studies. Adults learn on their own or in group studies, too. However, I don't believe that very many people really learn the substance of real conversation with God that includes talking and listening. We are at a great disadvantage when it comes to spiritual things because of this fact. Prayer is essential for being an obedient believer. If we don't know how to pray, we won't really know how to hear from God and to obey what he tells us. That is one of the major problems we face today, since most Christians don't know how to pray, and even some of the ones who know how, never take time to pray. We must return to prayer. It must become like breathing to us. It must be constant, and it must be second nature.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 116-118 and I Corinthians 7:1-19.