One of the best parts about having a dog is training it to do cool things. Over the past year, we have been able to train our 90-pound baby, Evie, to do quite an array of tricks. It’s been a very exciting process for us as a family because our last canine companion, Bridget, was extremely lazy and stubborn, and refused to do anything beyond the basic come and sit. Even those basic commands were hit and miss with her. Evie, however, is a ball of energy and fun. She is exceptionally social and demonstrates a strong desire to please her people. With very little effort we taught her to come, sit, play fetch, play catch, and play tag. With the proper leverage (treats of various kinds) we can get her to stay, lay down, shake, and, my personal favorite, bump fists. We have reached the point at which she will perform most of these tricks in response to our motions when we have goodies in hand. She is a constant source of entertainment.
My children recently decided that Evie needs to learn to pray with the family before meals. It is comical watching the series of events that plays out. My daughter, Mikayla, will call Evie to the table, tell her, “Evie, lay,” followed by the command, “Evie, pray.” At this point in time, Evie understands the command to lay. Once she sees the food in Mikayla’s hand she is eager to drop to the floor. She looks happily up at Mikayla, tail wagging a million miles an hour, tongue hanging out, mouth watering in anticipation of the tasty morsel she is certain is headed her way. At the command to pray, Evie cocks her head to the side and blankly stares at Mikayla, confused as to why she has failed to positively recognize her amazing feat of obedience. So, Mikayla gets down on the floor, puts one of Evie’s paws on top of the other and repeats, “Evie, pray,” and gives her the treat. Over time, through consistently modeling what we expect, Evie will begin to understand and will repeat the desired behavior. She will pray with us because she has been both told and shown how to pray.
As I was watching Mikayla go through this process the other day I wondered how the church would be different if we were as determined to teach all followers of Christ how to pray as my daughter is to teach our dog. Prayer is a crucial part of our relationship with God. It is our means of communicating with Him. Sadly, I would argue it is one of the most neglected aspects of many of our lives. Nothing will cause church folk to avert their eyes faster than asking for a volunteer to pray at a meal, in a meeting, before a trip, etc. I would argue that we often avoid doing it because we don’t feel properly equipped for the task, but prayer ought not be a cause of stress and anxiety. While prayer is an exceptionally humbling task (we’re talking to the God of the universe), it is as simple as having a conversation with a beloved friend or family member. No pressure.
Most of us have heard “The Lord’s Prayer” a time or two in our lifetimes. In Luke 11:1-4, Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. In verse one it reads, “One day JESUS WAS PRAYING in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray…” This provides us with some key thoughts on teaching and learning how to pray.
- We need to show and tell. Jesus showed the disciples how to pray before He told them. Much like my daughter teaching Evie to pray, Jesus demonstrated the desired pattern as He explained it. We must provide examples of how to pray as we explain it to those we are leading.
- Don’t make it more difficult than it is. Jesus doesn’t give His disciples some elaborate, step-by-step lecture on how to pray. He provides them with a very simple easy-to-follow example. We make a mistake when we make prayer a complicated web of words. Prayer is simply talking to God about what’s going on in our lives, inviting Him to be a part of it, and thanking Him for doing so.
- Prayer is an expectation, not an exception. Notice that Jesus says, “When you pray” not “IF you pray.” The Lord wants to hear from His children. He cares what’s going on in our lives and wants to join us in them.
Evie will eventually learn how to pray. At some point in the not-too-distant future, we will all bow our heads to pray at the table and she will naturally join us. The work Mikayla is putting in modeling prayer today will determine Evie’s practice tomorrow. It’s a fairly simple thing, that will result in long-term rewards. The rewards are infinitely higher when we teach our actual brothers and sisters in Christ to pray. So, PRAY…
