After reading my Bible a couple of weeks ago, I began my prayer time. But I was at a loss. How do I pray? What do I do, now that it’s time to pray? For the first time, I felt what the disciples must have felt when they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
That experience led me to pull out a book I have had since 1985, With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I must have begun reading it in about 1989, but I only read about 20 pages of it. I figured that out when I pulled it off the shelf and found my bookmark – my business card from the church where I first served as pastor.
I remember people telling me how great this book was, but it must have been over my head. I had never even finished it. As I read it today, I see how empty many of my prayers have been.
I had been telling God what I wanted to happen, and never really expecting much to change. Now I am beginning to understand prayer as conversation flowing out of relationship with God. When I am close to him, I know better what he wants in a given situation. I know what to pray, and I can expect real, specific answers.
I feel like such a beginner. I can really expect Jesus to act when I pray. He said he would. I’m eager to see this unfold!
