Next Level Prayer Starts Here

Next Level Prayer Starts With “Teach Me How To Pray”

Next Level Prayer – Part 3

John (substituting his real name for privacy) walked up to me one Sunday. As usual his daughter was right by his side. I said John, you are an awesome dad. He replied, I truly hope so. To affirm him, I said, you are; the result and proof is standing right next to you. If you were not, she would not be standing near, clinging by her daddy’s side. That’s a sign and symbol of how great you are. John responded thanks and then a few life changing words came from his mouth. John said I’ve been meaning to speak with you, I need something from you. What’s that John? “I’d like you to teach me how to pray better.”

I must say I didn’t get what he was asking until I was praying about it the following morning. Think about this for a moment. A faithful member and an example in our church said to me “teach me how to pray.” Listen to those words.

The Starting Point of Next Level Prayer
Jesus, the Master teacher, was seen coming out of His time of prayer. One of His disciples approached Him and said “Lord, teach us to pray.” ^[1]

When was the last time someone asked you to teach them how to pray? When was the first time? The question one must ask is this, what type of person and example would you have to set for someone to desire for you to teach them how to pray?

Regardless, I call this place where the disciples were, the starting point for next level prayer. When you have a desire to be taught how to pray, your request is to help you get to the next level in prayer.

John didn’t say he didn’t know how to pray. The more I thought about what he was asking me, I further realized that John’s request went beyond teaching him the basics of prayer. Again he didn’t say he didn’t already know how to pray. In fact, he’d been in church for quite some time. Here’s why I teach on prayer; you see, my wife revealed to me that I’m gifted at prayer. Remember, I shared earlier that John had been in church all this time and unfortunately had never been taught to pray. In fact, what he was really saying was that no one had taken him to the next level in prayer. It’s my conclusion and I’ve taken polls for this, but this experience is quite common. Most people (51% or more) fall into the same category, but never do what John did and say those words that the disciples left us with as an example. “Lord, teach us to pray.” ^[1] In other words, take us on a next level journey as it relates to prayer.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t say they knew not how to pray either. One could make the assumption that the disciples didn’t know how to pray as if they’d never seen it done, but unfortunately that’s not the case. In fact, Jesus gained His disciples primarily during his time teaching in the synagogue. This is where He began to gather students, followers, better known as disciples. Nonetheless, out of his group of followers, he selected the twelve that we so often think of when we hear this word, disciples. For his students, their journey into next level prayer started right there when Jesus sat down and outlined prayer for them in what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Jesus taught them many next level concepts, next level faith, next level love, next level living, but they seized an opportunity to have Jesus teach them next level prayer.

What they were really saying is help me take the prayer I know to the next level. Regardless, one of these students who wasn’t totally oblivious to prayer, asked for Jesus to teach all of His disciples how to pray. Will you be like this one disciple and ask how can I take my prayer to the next level, like the disciples asked of Jesus? If the disciples saw a need for next level prayer, what does that say to us? I say “Lord, teach us all you will about prayer?” Next level prayer starts here; let’s take prayer to the next level!

Question: Are you ready to ask the question “teach me how to pray?”

Reference #1: ‭‭Luke 11:1 NLT‬‬, Bible.com, accessed October 12, 2021, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/LUK.11.1.NLT
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.