I’ve always been fascinated with their request.
For one thing, I’m not sure it’s what I would’ve asked Jesus.
Knowing me, I would’ve asked Him to teach me to walk on water (we know how that worked for Peter) or to raise the dead. I would’ve gone for something impressive, something flashy.
But this isn’t what the disciples wanted.
Why?
I think they could tell there was something powerful yet intimate in the way Jesus prayed. Things happened when Jesus prayed. People changed when Jesus prayed.
And the disciples knew if they could learn to pray like this, they would be able to do more than they had ever imagined.
Too many times we treat prayer casually. It’s something we do before we go to sleep or before we eat, but we rarely pray knowing there’s potential in our prayer to change the world, to change someone’s life.
This is what the disciples wanted to learn how to do.
It’s what we in the postmodern church need to learn as well.
