Personal Training

If you had the opportunity for a personal training time with Jesus, what would you ask Him to teach you?

Imagine what it would be like to have a one-on-one mentoring session with the Lord! Think of all the things you might want to ask Him, and all the things you would want to learn from Him? I’m sure that all of us would love to have such a moment.

But what if you could only ask one thing in your time with Him. What would your request be?

In the Bible we have a story of a man who had such a moment. And from the record of his time with Jesus, we know exactly what this man asked the Lord to teach him.

Here’s the request:

"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 (NIV)

What did this disciple want Jesus to teach him? How to pray!

Had it been you or me, the request may have been:

“Lord, teach me how to heal sick people. That would be incredible!”

or

“Lord, teach me how to drive out demons. I love the way you do that!”

or

“Lord, teach me that water-walking thing. That’s amazing!”

or

“Lord, teach me how to multiply food. That would really come in handy!”

or

“Lord, teach me how to preach — teach me theology — teach me how to defend the faith — I could really do a lot for you if I had this knowledge and these skills!”

The list is endless of all the things we might ask the Lord to teach us, if we had such a moment with Him.

But this disciple, in the precious opportunity he had with Jesus, made a request of Him that seems a lot less glamorous than the short list above. His one request? “Lord, teach us to pray!”

Why did this disciple make this specific request? Because he understood that prayer was the key to every resource in God’s Kingdom. He understood the power and potential of prayer. He understood that, when we learn how to pray, and actually do it consistently, we access God’s power and wisdom for every need we’ll ever encounter in life.

What’s one of the most important things we can learn from Jesus? How to pray! The best way to learn how to pray is to practice it!

Dale O'Shields

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