Why did a disciple ask Jesus to teach them to pray? The disciples had been taught how to pray. They had held hands with their families as they prayed before their meal. They had prayed after they woke in the morning and before they slept in the evening. They had heard the prayers of the religious leaders who stood on the street corner praying aloud. What did they see in Jesus's prayers that made them ask him how to pray? The disciples saw the relationship he had with God the Father. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus is not giving the disciples a template for prayer as much as he is getting at the heart of what prayer is. Prayer is more than communication with God. Prayer is communion with God.