Luke 11:1-13 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
In today’s Christian world there are many philosophies and teachings about prayer. Obviously prayer is such an important subject, because prayer is our direct line of access to God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer helps us in our relationship with God. Prayer allows us to make our requests to the Creator God. In our search to discover what prayer is and how to pray, instead of searching our man’s philosophy, teaching and ideas, it is always best to go back to scripture and see what God says about the matter.
When we pray we are talking to God. People’s view of God is reflected in how they pray to God. Some see and treat God like a big Santa Claus in the sky, someone we can give a list to and expect Him to deliver everything we ask for. Others may picture God as a gentle Grandfather, with salt and pepper hair and beard, who sees our sin and knows that we are weak, and will ignore the sin with a shrug and sneak a blessing to us when the “parents” aren’t looking. Some may even see God dressed down in street clothes and because He’s such a good buddy they can pull Him close and refer to the “Big Guy” as their ole pal “J.C.” This is not the God of the Bible and not the way God desires to be seen. He is the Creator God, the Almighty, who hates the sight and presence of sin so much that He sent His own Son to die for that very sin we commit all the time. There is a reverence for God that must be present if we are going to pray properly.
In this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ had just finished praying. His disciples were in His presence while He was praying. They had been with the Lord fro a little while, and by personal observation, they knew there was something different about Jesus’s prayer life. While He prayed, they we transported with Him to the very throne of God, hearing Jesus speak to His Father. It is because of their observation of Jesus praying that prompted the disciples to ask for more help on this matter.
Our Motive for Praying
Going back to the disciples, notice exactly what they are asking in verse 1. They are not asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. They had been learning that their whole lives, being raised up in Judaism. Remember the context; they just saw Jesus finishing praying. They say something different about His prayer life. They asked Him, “Teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples”. There was something different about the way John the Baptist prayed. There was something different about the way John’s followers prayed. There was something different about the way Jesus prayed. The disciples wanted to learn to pray like Jesus did. “What makes you, motivates you to pray like that?”
Can you image the passion Jesus had when He prayed? Can you picture how real God was when Jesus prayed? This is what the disciples wanted to learn. “Teach us to pray like you pray, Jesus.” Jesus answer’s their request and uses the surrounding verses to teach them how to pray like He prayed, or what motivated Him to pray like He prayed.
One Thing is Needful
Luke 10:38:42 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
In the last part of chapter 10, we see an incident that occurred with Jesus. He was in the household of Mary and Martha. As the day went on, Martha spent her time serving Jesus, cleaning the house, making the food, insuring everything was in order. But she grew frustrated seeing while she served and labour, her sister sat at the feet of Jesus and spent time with Him. When Martha could not take anymore, she spoke up and asked Jesus to make her sister get up and help out. Jesus told her in verse 42, “But one thing is needful.” What was that one thing? To spend time with God.
As we enter into chapter 11 and the Lord teaching His disciples about prayer, this fact can not be over looked. When we pray, there is one thing that is needful. We must spent time with Him. We are not only to deliver a list of wants, desires and requests, but we are to spend time as we pray in Him. Enjoy His presence. Seek His face. One of the biggest problems with our prayers is that we seek God’s hand before we seek God’s face.
There is one thing that is needful in prayer: to spend time with God. If we are going to pray like Jesus did, we must remember to seek God and His presence in our prayers.
Our Model for Praying – vs. 2-4
Luke 11:2-4 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Jesus begins to teach His disciples about prayer. He gives a discourse in prayer. In verses two through four, we have what is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer”, though it is better call “The Model Prayer”. The reason for this is because Jesus never prayed this prayer. The true “Lord’s prayer” is found in John 17. The “Model Prayer” was to teach His disciples something about praying like He did.
Jesus teaches them that God is the center of their prayers. We start by acknowledging God is our God in heaven. God is holy or hollowed. We are awaiting God’s kingdom. We desire for God’s will to be done, not only in heaven, but on earth. We acknowledge we need Him to provide our daily provisions. We forgive people just like God has forgiven us. It is God and His grace that keeps us from temptation. All of prayer is about God. The model Jesus gives us, shows us that when we pray we are seeking God. When we pray, if we are to pray like Jesus, then our desire is for God to work and move and get His will accomplished.
Our Need for Praying – vs. 5-8
Luke 11:5-8 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
Next, Jesus gives an illustration to help the disciples understand their need of God in prayer. The story is a man had a guest coming to his house at midnight. He doesn’t have anything to feed his guest so the man goes to his friend’s house and knocks on the door. Being the midnight of the night, the friend doesn’t want to get out of bed (like most of us). In those days they only had one room, and the entire family slept in that one room. The friend replied my family is sleeping; I don’t want to get up. The man continues to knock on the door, and knock on the door until finally the friend realizes the man will not go away, gets up and gives the man what he wants.
At this point, man people end up putting an emphasis on the importunity of the man. The word importunity means persistent, urgent request. They will teach that we need to keep knocking on God’s door over and over and over until finally God gives us what we want or need. This is true to a point, but misses the emphasis. Remember Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray like He prayed, and what motivates Him to pray like He prayers. The point of the story is not the continually knocking but rather that the man had a need that nobody else could fulfil. If the man had anywhere else he could get what he needed, he could have.
If we are going to pray like Jesus prayed, we need to pray like this. We need to pray to God like He is the ONLY One who can give us what we need. We need to pray like there is no other way this request will be answered if God does not answer it.
Our Promise for Praying – vs. 9-13
Luke 11:9-13 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Next Jesus helps motivate His disciples in prayer by pointing our three specific promises about prayer. First, God answers every prayer. Notice the words: “Ask” and you shall “receive”. “Knock” and it shall be “opened”. Every one that asked receiveth. This is a promise of God. God promised to answer every prayer!
Secondly, God promised He would never give us less then what we asked for. He gives the illustration if a child asked something of us, would we give them an inferior answer. Of course not! Neither will God give us less then we asked for.
Thirdly, God promised He will give us much more then we ask for. Look at verse thirteen. If we are evil, but we still manage to give good gifts to our children, how much more will God take care of us! God will give us much more then we ask for.
Our Answer to Prayer – vs. 13
Finally Jesus shows us the true motivation for praying like He does. In verse 13 the Bible says “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” What does God give in relation to prayer? The Holy Spirit. Another way to state it is that the answer to all prayer is God, Jesus. Every answer to pray is Jesus. If we are having problems with out health, the answer is Jesus. If we are having financial difficulties, the answer is Jesus. If there are family problems, the answer is Jesus. Jesus is the answer to every prayer.
Notice Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Notice the last phrase, “that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” What are the people seeking? God. So if God rewards them with that they seek, what do the people get? God! God is the answer to our prayers. When we pray we are seeking Him! This will change the way we pray we are seeking Him and His will and His wisdom. God makes the difference in our prayers.
