Stay, Watch, Pray

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Our prayers must be genuine, but what God wants from us in prayer may not readily spring to mind: for example, to honor the holiness of God's name, or to pray for people who abuse us. Does merely adding God turn a wish into a prayer? How is prayer related to our understanding of who God is, his omniscience, love, and power? In prayer we expect God to act, but how does that relate to our own love and work? We pray "in the name of Jesus." So what difference does it make that God's Son became flesh, suffered, died, and lives again? How does the Holy Spirit lead in prayer? Why does the Bible provide us with actual prayers? Do language, literary form, location, time and body-language matter? And what does it mean that the apostle cautions (Rom 8:26): "For we do not know how to pray as we ought"? Stay, Watch, Pray tackles these questions and more.