In Luke 11 Jesus finished praying after which one of his disciples took it upon himself to speak on behalf of the rest of the group. This was not that they were unfamiliar with the practice of prayer. They were surrounded by Pharisees who prayed in public for recognition. They were familiar that prayer was often offered in the synagogue.
This request does not give us permission to assume that Jesus had failed in teaching his disciples how to relate to the Heavenly Father. Many times, he had prayed privately and with them. The request was rather unique. When Jesus finished praying, this unknown disciple asked to be taught how to pray like John the Baptist taught his disciples. He was not asking to pray as Jesus prayed but as John prayed. This is a remarkable request.
However, this request does give us some insight in the spiritual life of John the Baptist. Undoubtedly, he was a man of prayer. Likewise, he taught his followers to be men of prayer. The request from this disciple of Jesus was not to know a better technique. This was not a request for the disciples to be able to pray in some stilted form when in public. They needed to know how to pray spontaneously as a personal conversation with God.
Certainly, the disciples witnessed spiritual leaders in the temple putting on airs maybe even with an unnatural voice so that they might use flowery language. By their relationship with Jesus and seeing him pray, they were fully aware that there was something more significant in real prayer and not just chatter to make them appear spiritual.
Jesus replied in such a manner that was not intended to be used ritualistic. Because he saw Jesus pray so often as part of his ministry the disciple felt the need to be devoted in constant prayer. He did not want Jesus to teach them a technique or a system or some form of art. Unfortunately, that’s what the prayer Jesus gave as an example has today become nothing but ritual words that do not protruded from fully developed spiritual lives.
Jesus does not want us to be wordy while praying just for the sake of saying words. He wants us to have a verbal interaction with the Almighty Creator. Let us dedicate ourselves to brush aside formality so that we might deepen the purpose of prayer in the first place.
Christian Writer 