How Can I Learn to Pray?

On September 13, 1845 The New York Ob­ser­ver introduced to the world a new hymn. The author, Will­iam Wal­ford, was a blind preach­er with an amazing mind. It was said that he had memorized the entire Bible. Here is the second verse: "Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer! The joys I feel, the bliss I share, of those whose anxious spirits burn with strong desires for thy return! With such I hasten to the place where God my Savior shows His face, and gladly take my station there, and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!"

If Walford had a unique mind he also had an outstanding prayer life. Very few of us can honestly sing this song. For most of us prayer is not always sweet. It is not always bliss. We don't hasten to it anxiously and gladly. We don't pray for an hour. We don't even know what to pray for (Rom. 8:26–27). That's okay. But God's children do want to grow in their experience of prayer.