“Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). This is an ongoing request. “Lord, teach us to pray always,” we might add. We are continually learning, not only about prayer, but to pray.

(1) We must learn to pray, not to feel like praying. Prayer is our duty even when it isn’t our delight. Those who make prayer out to be always full of emotion and excitement are perhaps training a generation to expect not more out of prayer but less.

(2) Habits are formed through the body, not just the mind. One group of people suffer concussions and the effects often linger for weeks or even months. A second group, like athletes, suffer concussions and often bounce right back. The difference? Often the first didn’t “see it coming”. The hit on the head was unexpected and blindsided them. While the second did see it coming and their body prepared them for the hit.

Similarly, our bodies prepare us for prayer. We don’t simply think prayer into being. We form it into being. Your body is as involved as your mind in that daily preparation/formation.

(3) Prayer is an expression of our faith and trust in God, not in prayer itself. We must be careful not to become devoted to prayer—to any spiritual discipline—rather than to God.

(4) Prayer is both an act of war against our enemy and an act of surrender to our King.

Richard Lovelace says, “If the devil can tempt us to do evil, he can also tempt us not to do good. He can glamorize sin, but he can also paint an ugly picture in our minds of any work which is the will of God, including prayer.”

G.K. Chesterton said, “We become taller when we bow”.

(5) We pray to know God. Prayer is often our answer to God’s knock on our heart, to God making himself known to us.

And we know God to pray. Prayer doesn’t prove holiness, yet holiness is proven in prayer. Holiness is our capacity for knowing and enjoying God. So we pray both out of relationship with God and out of the kind of relationship we have with him: whether as children, friends, servants, or disciples.

(6) Prayer takes time. How much? Somewhere I read: “pray as long as it takes to lift up your major responsibilities and any wider burdens the Holy Spirit has placed upon your heart.” A Puritan preacher said, “It is best to pray briefly, but often”.

(7) Prayer is entering a new age. The day of grace and salvation has come, the sun of mercy has risen upon us. Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death. He is our Risen King, and through him the Kingdom of God, a new age and life, has come. We have been invited and welcomed in.