LORD, TEACH US HOW TO PRAY!

Regina Banks, BA

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

and do not subject us to the final test." (Lk. 11:1-13)

Why is it such a daunting task? We all know that prayer is the main path to connection with God, yet we still find it difficult. How should I pray? When should I pray? What should I talk about? How do I listen to what God is saying? Is there really even a point in praying? Does God really hear us? Even if we do not ask these questions out loud, they often loom over our heads like a cloud blocking our view and connection.

Sometimes these questions can prevent us from what should be the easiest part of our faith journey a simple conversation with God can feel daunting or like we could never say the right thing and when God feels far away, we feel like we have to find the exact right words like we are speaking to our boss and asking for a raise when prayer causes anxiety. We feel like we aren’t doing it right, we are quickly turned off and grow more distant from God, and not that it is our intention, but the task is just too daunting, and it can feel easier to just skip it all together with the rationale of “God knows my heart.”

But what if prayer were simple?

What if it were as easy as talking to your girl about your day or your brother about your weekend? What if God was our Bestie (Best Friend) and prayer started with God, you won’t believe what happened today…? Of course, God knows your heart, but he wants to hear your heart, too. You don’t need to have all the right words. You need the right tools, and we have been given the right tools in Luke 11:1-13.

We are given the tools, taught how to pray, and how we will be cared for. All we have to do is ask, “Lord, teach us to pray,” and we are taught. We are to praise and honor God. “Our Father, hallowed be your name” to ask for what we need. “Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

That’s it, praise God, ask for our needs, and seek guidance.

So I say to you, "ASK, and it will be given to you. SEARCH, and you will find KNOCK, and the door will be opened." Ask for what you need, search for his guidance, knock, and deliver praise. There is nothing more to it.

When we understand this, we can understand God‘s love for us. “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for fish, will be given a snake instead?” Of course not! God doesn’t treat us that way; we are children, and God is our parent who only wishes to nurture us and guide us. The depths of God’s love is unfathomable. We are loved so incredibly deeply that there is no world in which we do not receive the blessings intended for us. We just have to have the conversations. We must pray, even when it’s daunting, even when it doesn’t feel right, even when God feels far away, even when we don’t know what to say, we must pray. We must talk to our Father. We must give God everything we have. We will be blessed in return. We have the tools. We know how deeply we are loved, and we can pray.

Author: Regina Banks, BA Africanist Studies, Howard University, CEO 2024 Church home, Saint Martin De Porres, Philadelphia, PA.

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