In the light which Christian Science is shedding upon all human problems today through its spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures we realize, as never before, the importance of knowing how to pray aright. Christ Jesus, our great Exemplar, gave to the world a new way of living, based upon prayer and demonstration. His disciples, knowing how often their Master turned aside to pray, and witnessing the mighty healing works which frequently followed such periods of prayer, desired that they, too, might learn to pray with like assurance and power. Their appeal to their Master is briefly and touchingly told in Luke's Gospel, where we read, "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."
Their request, which introduces what seems to be only a simple incident in the life of Jesus and his disciples, brings into religious history a momentous event, for which the ages had waited with great longing. Christ Jesus, the promised Messiah, was to teach his disciples, and through them all mankind, how to pray; how to approach the Almighty; how to know God as the Father of all, and to love and adore Him; how to establish their unity with the Father through spiritual understanding.
In his answer to his disciples' request Jesus gave them that brief, well-known prayer we call the Lord's Prayer, which, spiritually understood and utilized, satisfies the longing heart and meets the human need.
