Some thoughts from Glenn Jordan’s seminar on Friday morning.

Key passage: Luke 11: 1-4 “Lord, teach us to pray.”

* There is an unspoken assumption that we pick up prayer naturally, but the disciples intentionally asked to be taught how to pray.

* Prayer isn’t all about the numbers at prayer meetings or how often you pray for something – if you pray for something 80 times, God doesn’t just say, ‘Sorry, I needed 82 prayers for that.’ In those instances it almost becomes like twisting God’s arm behind His back to get what we want.

* All authentic speaking and working for God first comes out of silence. If we learn the discipline of breaking silence, when we do speak it means more. That is, before we speak, we need to be in a position of listening.

* The name God reavealed to Moses, Yahweh, is made up of 3 ‘breathy’ letters (they made very ‘breathy’ sounds when you said them). This was a constant reminder that God is as close as your very breath.

* Sometimes we can hide in our prayers – if we pray for justice, for example, sometimes we have to get out there and act to bring about the answer to that prayer.