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How does Jesus teach us to go deeper in our asking when we pray?
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By giving us the Lord’s Prayer and the structure of how we should pray and communicate with God.
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I think the Lord’s prayer, when broken down, teaches us to go deeper, because Jesus shows us prayer is communication, and should not start self-focused, but first and foremost, Kingdom focused. Understanding it now, that the first three verses addresses God first, and honors him first, then pray for our daily needs, shows that Jesus wants us to go deeper, in the way we pray to honor and thank God first.
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Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer as a model and it has 6 requests in it. Three toward’s God and three for our needs/desires. He encourages us to pray and shares that God knows how to give us good things just as we know how to give our children good things. We shouldn’t be afraid. Ask God and see what He does in reaction to our faith.
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He teaches us to ask big. To say what we want. To come boldly before the throne is grace!
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Jesus asks us to go beyond merely having a “laundry list”. Just asking Him for stuff. He wants to know all about us, every aspect of our lives. If it is important to us then it is important to Him (see 2 Kings6:4-7 the story of the floating axe head). Prayer is designed to be a two-way conversation between friends. We are to first give God adoration and praise and thanksgiving He deserves. We then have the privilege of asking of Him and voicing our concerns with the expectation of getting answers. We are free to ask questions and expect a response. Prayer should never be vainly repetitive or redundant. It should be fresh every day. We have the awesome privilege of praying to a God who desires to be involved in our lives, so prayer should never be seen as a chore that has to be done. It is special quality time spent with my Big Daddy God.