Jesus taught His disciples many truths about the kingdom of God, about loving God and loving others, etc. However, on some occasions, the disciples asked for clear teaching themselves.Such is the case in the beginning of Luke chapter 11. Their simple request was to be taught how to pray. It seems that the request was less about finding a formula for gaining God's favor and more about the proper way to approach the Father. They wanted to be effective in their prayers and thus, saw Jesus as the most infallible source of information.