Synopsis "Come Let Us Pray!: Revised Edition (in English)"
"Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples" Luke 11:1 The disciples of Jesus came to Him with this simple request. These disciples, who had spent much time with the Master, and most certainly had witnessed Him often at prayer, wanted him to teach them to pray. It is noteworthy that they did not request him to teach them to preach, or to do pastoral visitation, or even to heal, though it is recorded that there were times when they experienced difficulty in exercising the healing ministry (Mark 9:24-19, Cf. Matt. 17:14-21, Luke 9:37-45). They specifically asked Him to teach them to pray! There is something very significant here. For, that they requested him to give them lessons in prayer indicated that they thought that such instruction was essential. Why did the disciples ask the Master to teach them to pray? When we reflect deeply upon the nature and meaning of prayer, it is not at all difficult to understand the reason for this request. Prayer is at once very simple and most profound. "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire uttered or unexpressed." Thus one of the great hymn writers of the Church described prayer. There is much for us to think about in this definition of prayer, for it is essentially a deeply spiritual matter. Prayer is at the heart of mankind's spiritual quests. Prayer is, in one sense, very simple. Even a small child can pray to God. Indeed, sometimes we are amazed at the spiritual insight which children display in their prayer, especially at bedtime. But, on the other hand, it is a tremendous spiritual exercise, which requires years of practice. Even the most deeply spiritual and seasoned of Christians will confess that they still have much to learn about prayer. Indeed, it is impossible to describe or understand prayer adequately. All we know is that in prayer we are drawn very near to God, and almost instinctively, we bring our concerns to our God. Since prayer is so simple that even a little child can do so, but so profound that even the most experienced of Christians cannot plumb its spiritual depths, there can be no doubt that it is essential for us do everything that we possibly can to improve the quality of our prayer life. In other words, PRAYER MUST BE LEARNED. By practice we can improve our prayer life and, therefore, our spiritual walk with God. Our purpose in this book is to explore the various aspects of prayer with a view to improving the quality of our prayer life - we shall do this by looking first at the main elements of prayer - Praise, Thanksgiving, Petition, Confession and Intercession. We shall also discuss the way in which we should respond when we come up against problems in our prayer life. We shall explore the nature of prayer in terms of listening. Finally, we shall discuss some practical hints which may be applied in this effort to improve our prayer life. Properly used, this book should contribute greatly to enriching the spiritual development of the reader.
