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Thirty years later I became a pastor, and eventually a teacher of pastors. Over time I learned more facets of prayer, including the intense moments when we do not know what to pray "but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26). But I always go back to my first experiences of praying scripturally. I remind myself:

Re-read the prayers of Scripture. Study them; turn them over in your mind. Note the enormous diversity, and they all have something important to say. Copy the prayers of Moses; recite David's psalms; meditate on the prayers of Hannah, Nehemiah, and Daniel; commit the apostle Paul's prayers to memory.

What did these believers pray for? When did they pray? (Was it in a crisis? Was it part of their regular prayer life?) What forms of worship did they use? What was their passion like?

Grow in your knowledge of the mind of God. As we read and re-read the Bible, that will help us to know and to love what God thinks, what his priorities are, what his character is, what he wants for us.

Jesus tells us, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). Shouldn't we be praying that we might be perfect and holy? Shouldn't we grieve when we fall into sin? And shouldn't we immediately rush to ask for forgiveness, assured that "the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin"? (1 John 1:7)

We pray about our mortgages, our children's education, our illnesses, our disappointments-God, our heavenly Father, cares about each aspect of our lives. But if our praying is always focused on ourselves, we are like little children whose horizon is limited to themselves and to their wants. We should also pray actively that his "will be done" (Matthew 6:10).

Learning the prayers of the Bible affects how we praise God in prayer and the way we intercede for ourselves and others. It will transform our praying.

Condensed from Decision (Mar. 1996), © 1996 D.A. Carson. Used with permission.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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