Lord teach us to pray.
It’s such a simple phrase. The disciples wanted to understand the mystery of prayer.
We all need to learn to pray. And what prayer really is.
If we went around this chapel today we’d find people at so many different points in their prayer journey.
The main thing we all have in common though, and is we all need to grow in this area, and understand the true power behind prayer.
So we begin a new series, where we’re going to study prayer. We’ve gone through the healing journey, now, it’s time to focus in on prayer.
It is titled The Power of Prayer: Learning from the Master.
I hope you’ll make it your goal during this series to develop your prayer life in deeper ways.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, but it’s not enough to hear a good sermon, or read a good bible verse, or have a nice prayer. But do you know when Christianity really happens? It’s when we hear something in a sermon or read something in the Bible, and then we think you know what, I think I can do that, and we take the idea, and we do it.
Jesus said blessed are those who hear my words and do what they say. And Jesus said if we just hear and don’t obey, we’re deceiving ourselves.
But I think I understand the difficulty with prayer. Many I think look at prayer and say well God already knows what I need, God controls everything, God is sovereign, so why should I pray, if God wants it to happen, it’ll happen.
Yes, God can do anything he wants. But God has chosen to give us authority to pray. Don’t fall into this trap of thinking that it doesn’t really matter if you pray or not. Because it does. God answers our prayers. We are here on Earth as His body. And he works through us. And the simple fact is, if you don’t pray, it may not happen, that healing, that salvation for a loved one, your prayers will change the world. Because God has chosen to set things up that way. Because he wants you to take responsibility for your family, your friends, and this world, to pray. And if you don’t, nothing changes.
Did Jesus pray? Yes he did. He prayed deeply and consistently. Which means if Jesus was utterly dedicated to prayer, we should be too. Unless we think we’re better than Jesus, and don’t really need it?
Our scripture for today is found in Luke 11:1-13.
Starting in verse 1: "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus was out in some quiet place praying, talking with His heavenly father, and one of the disciples came to him.
Lord, teach us to pray.
Is this the cry of your heart as well?
If it’s not, I understand. Sometimes our priorities get out of whack. And we need to ask ourselves: What really matters most in my life? Is it television shows and scrolling on my phone? Or is it communicating with the Creator of the universe?
Make this your prayer, if you struggle to pray… Lord, I admit I don’t care about prayer the way I should. I struggle to pray. Lord, have mercy on me. Change my heart. Cause my heart to long for prayer, in Jesus name, amen.
Jesus responds by saying, verse 2, “When you pray, say..."
And I’m going to switch over to the New King James translation for the prayer, because I think we all know this version much more so than other modern translations.
"Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.”
Jesus gives us instructions on prayer, and we just begin to get a taste of it here.
Our Father. When you speak to God, call Him your Father. That is the level of intimacy we ought to have with God. Do you see God as your Father?
He loves you so very deeply. And he wants to fill that space in your life, of a perfect Father.
Holy is your name. God is more than a Father to us in the prayer realm though. He is Holy. Which means Perfect, Righteous, Set apart. God is not just our Father, he is our Creator and our God and our judge. So we must view him this way, as the Holy one.
He is our Father who loves us, he’s also our God who is righteous, and will judge the living and the dead one day. He is not like us, he is Holy Other, very different from us.
As the word says, "your ways are not my ways says the Lord our God." (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Your kingdom come, is the request God wants us to make in prayer. Ask God for His kingdom to come in this world, as it is in heaven. That’s present, and it’s future. It’s a desire for manifestations of his kingdom system in our city, as well as calling on God to bring the ultimate fulfillment of His kingdom, which is the new heavens and new earth.
Your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Is God’s will always done on Earth? No it’s not. Ultimately we know God’s purposes prevail on a large scale. But the holocaust wasn’t God’s will. A car accident isn’t necessarily God’s will. A hurricane isn’t God’s will. For me to commit some sin isn’t God’s will. But it happens when we live in a sinful world. So God calls us to pray, and ask for His will to be done. And then take actions consistent with that desire.
Verses 3-4 are as follows:
"3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”
Verse three is the request for continued provision. This can be requesting actual physical food from God, but I think it also means requesting spiritual food from the Lord as well. Again, he wants us to ask.
Notice we also see the request to forgive us our sins, which tells me this is an ongoing process. This is a prayer we’re so supposed to repeat as Christians daily. We know our past sins are forgiven. But what about future sins we commit? We need to ask forgiveness, if we sin today or tomorrow. That’s why it says in the “Our Father” forgive us our sins.
Often when I pray I stop and ask the Lord to reveal any sins I may have committed recently, so I can specifically ask His forgiveness.
Second part of verse 4, is the principle of forgiving others. If someone sins against us, we’re told we must forgive them. Jesus even said, if you don’t forgive others their sins against you, I won’t forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14-15)
When I pray the Our Father I often pause at this section of the prayer and ask the Lord to help me forgive anyone I’m holding something against.
Praying we see so far gets into two areas, seeking God to know Him and obey Him, and self examination, looking at ourselves and our needs and turning to God for help with those needs.
And the prayer concludes: “And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”
One of the most challenging situations we face as Christians is when we come into temptation. Often there is a sin in front of us, and we simply walk by and ignore it. It doesn’t harm us.
But sometimes given certain circumstances, we “fall into temptation.” It’s almost like falling into a swamp. And what once wasn’t a big deal, now begins to swirl around in our minds, and we begin to feel drawn to it, we know it’s wrong, but the emotions are powerful, the draw is powerful, and once we end up here, it’s hard to resist the temptation. We can end up falling to it.
If you recall, Jesus when he was in the garden of Gethsemane, he had told Peter that Satan desired to sift him like wheat, but Jesus had prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail. But that night Jesus knew Peter would be tested. So he kept urging them to stay awake with him and pray, but they kept falling asleep. So, when Peter faced his temptation to deny Jesus, indeed he denied Jesus three times. He fell to the temptation, but that wasn’t the end of the story, because Jesus restored him afterward. And he repented.
All that to say, that we should pray, and ask God to not lead us into temptation, and God will respond to those prayers with deliverance from temptations in key moments. Again, if we don’t pray, we’re going to have a much harder time.
These are the basics of prayer. I know many of you are probably thinking, I already know this stuff, but, as this series continues we will go deeper and deeper.
After Jesus taught his disciples this powerful prayer, he gives them a parable to explain another key aspect of prayer.
Verses 5-7: Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
We have a scenario in which a man comes to a friend at midnight, and asks for bread for someone who is visiting him. And it appears the friend may turn him down.
Verse 8 says, “8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”
The friend of this man, wakened up late at night, annoyed and tired, opens the door and gives the man everything he needs, the loaves of bread and all, not because of friendship, but because he’s so impressed by the audacity and the intense desire of his friend. So he gives him all he needs.
This is a key principle in prayer. And Jesus explains it in verses 9-10:
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Keep knocking on that door. We are the ones in need. God is our powerful friend. God gives us this picture to remind us to be audacious and bold in our prayer requests. Believe for amazing things. Believe for huge shifts in society. Pray for the end of abortion. Pray for your loved ones to get saved. Pray over the war in Ukraine. Pray for your nephew to get into the right college. Pray for the situation in Iran. Pray for Venezuela. Pray for shifts in our political system. Pray for your waitress at the restaurant. Pray for a sin in your life you feel like you can’t ever be free from, and God will do the impossible.
But it’s key that we’re called to keep praying. Persistence is key. We pray for a week and get upset when it doesn’t happen. We pray for a month. We pray for one year. God thinks differently than we do. His timing is different than ours.
Prayer works through never giving up, and always continuing to pray.
Next, verses 11-12: “ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”
Here the Lord Jesus gives us another comparison of God as our Father. If I asked my dad for dinner is he going to give me a rock? Of course not.
We are God’s children, he knows how to give good gifts to His children. It reminds me of that famous scripture from Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
God is working for our good. His goal is not to hand us a scorpion or a snake. Sometimes it can feel that way in life. In the earth realm we face all sorts of problems and difficulties. So, sometimes it feels like this problem is from God. But it’s usually not from God. Sometimes it could be, as a trial or test of our faith, but overall God’s desire is to give us what we need, for our good, and His glory. He is Father, we are children.
Lastly verse 13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Though we are evil in comparison to God’s infinite goodness, His perfect holiness, God gives this basic comparison so we understand God desires to give us good things. But always remember he expects persistence in prayer. That’s why he gave us the parable about the friend at night.
God also wants boldness at His throne. Dare to make big requests. Dare to make outrageous requests.
We all know how to give good gifts to our children. My parents growing up gave me many wonderful gifts. God knows how to give us good gifts.
Jesus gives us an interesting statement next, he says... how much more will the Father give you the Holy Spirit if you ask.
This is a great mystery about prayer. But if we can learn this principle, our prayers are going to have power. They will indeed have the power of God.
We are told in scripture in several places to "pray in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18, Jude 1:20). Often times when you hear someone giving a beautiful prayer, it’s not because they figured out some beautiful thing to say, it’s because as they were praying, they were speaking in concert with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit, who is God within them, was guiding the words of the prayer. And we often sit back and think wow, what a prayer! Well that was God.
We have the Holy Spirit living within us as Christians. But here we’re told to ask for the Holy Spirit. So everyday I will include in my morning prayer, Lord I ask the Holy Spirit to fill me today, to lead me today. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s activity in your life everyday.
When we pray by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prayer takes on a life of it’s own. It surges with the power of God. We pray things we shouldn’t even know about the person we’re praying for. We perceive things in the Spirit.
I know things about some of you, because the Spirit reveals it to me as your pastor, and I pray over those things.
How do you pray in the Spirit exactly? It’s kind of hard to explain. One thing I’ll do is as I start praying, I’ll invite the Spirit to lead. Then as you pray, focus on God, and you’ll simply know things and you’ll begin to pray them out loud as the Spirit leads.
When we pray we go into a spiritual realm, where we commune with God, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, and we simply pray out His will, if we’re yielded and surrendered.
So in conclusion today, I want to share two key takeaways from our message today.
First, prayer is powerful because it causes our connection with God to flourish. We will flourish in prayer if we chase it, pursue it, keep seeking, keep knocking. And we will begin to glow with the power of God in our lives.
But I’ll tell you this, my wife can take one look at me and she knows if I’m spiritually prayed up or not. She can either see I look drained and cranky and a bit empty, or I look at peace, strong, and locked in.
There is so much value in prayer in building our connection with God, but remember this, it restarts each day, and our choices for each new day determine how spiritually connected we will be.
Remember this: One day at a time. Make spiritual choices.
Most of us understand this I think, but we often stop there.
But second take away, prayer changes the world. We as the church of Christ on Earth are like Jesus’ representative body on the Earth.
And I want you to think about it like this, every time you register a prayer with God, it’s like you’re issuing a vote in heaven, on how things should be on Earth. And the one receiving your vote is able to institute the most amazing things you could imagine. But when you don’t pray, you aren’t voting. So as the pollsters say, please vote!
We know that prayers change the world. Many of us have seen it in this church over and over and over. It’s real. It’s powerful. It’s true. And it’s God. It’s not us. We aren’t casting spells with our prayers. We’re petitioning the one able to do the impossible.
And in this series we’re going to see so many applications for prayers, in prayer we can go deeper with God, we can experience His presence, we can change and influence world events, we can see people healed, we can fight the devil, we can prayerfully overthrow principalities, and we can see ourselves overcome sin and shortcomings. Let’s go on this prayer journey together, and see how God flourishes our spiritual lives through it!
If you recall, Jesus when he was in the garden of Gethsemane, he had told Peter that Satan desired to sift him like wheat, but Jesus had prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail. But that night Jesus knew Peter would be tested. So he kept urging them to stay awake with him and pray, but they kept falling asleep. So, when Peter faced his temptation to deny Jesus, indeed he denied Jesus three times. He fell to the temptation, but that wasn’t the end of the story, because Jesus restored him afterward. And he repented.
All that to say, that we should pray, and ask God to not lead us into temptation, and God will respond to those prayers with deliverance from temptations in key moments. Again, if we don’t pray, we’re going to have a much harder time.
These are the basics of prayer. I know many of you are probably thinking, I already know this stuff, but, as this series continues we will go deeper and deeper.
After Jesus taught his disciples this powerful prayer, he gives them a parable to explain another key aspect of prayer.
Verses 5-7: Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
We have a scenario in which a man comes to a friend at midnight, and asks for bread for someone who is visiting him. And it appears the friend may turn him down.
Verse 8 says, “8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”
The friend of this man, wakened up late at night, annoyed and tired, opens the door and gives the man everything he needs, the loaves of bread and all, not because of friendship, but because he’s so impressed by the audacity and the intense desire of his friend. So he gives him all he needs.
This is a key principle in prayer. And Jesus explains it in verses 9-10:
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Keep knocking on that door. We are the ones in need. God is our powerful friend. God gives us this picture to remind us to be audacious and bold in our prayer requests. Believe for amazing things. Believe for huge shifts in society. Pray for the end of abortion. Pray for your loved ones to get saved. Pray over the war in Ukraine. Pray for your nephew to get into the right college. Pray for the situation in Iran. Pray for Venezuela. Pray for shifts in our political system. Pray for your waitress at the restaurant. Pray for a sin in your life you feel like you can’t ever be free from, and God will do the impossible.
But it’s key that we’re called to keep praying. Persistence is key. We pray for a week and get upset when it doesn’t happen. We pray for a month. We pray for one year. God thinks differently than we do. His timing is different than ours.
Prayer works through never giving up, and always continuing to pray.
Next, verses 11-12: “ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”
Here the Lord Jesus gives us another comparison of God as our Father. If I asked my dad for dinner is he going to give me a rock? Of course not.
We are God’s children, he knows how to give good gifts to His children. It reminds me of that famous scripture from Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
God is working for our good. His goal is not to hand us a scorpion or a snake. Sometimes it can feel that way in life. In the earth realm we face all sorts of problems and difficulties. So, sometimes it feels like this problem is from God. But it’s usually not from God. Sometimes it could be, as a trial or test of our faith, but overall God’s desire is to give us what we need, for our good, and His glory. He is Father, we are children.
Lastly verse 13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Though we are evil in comparison to God’s infinite goodness, His perfect holiness, God gives this basic comparison so we understand God desires to give us good things. But always remember he expects persistence in prayer. That’s why he gave us the parable about the friend at night.
God also wants boldness at His throne. Dare to make big requests. Dare to make outrageous requests.
We all know how to give good gifts to our children. My parents growing up gave me many wonderful gifts. God knows how to give us good gifts.
Jesus gives us an interesting statement next, he says... how much more will the Father give you the Holy Spirit if you ask.
This is a great mystery about prayer. But if we can learn this principle, our prayers are going to have power. They will indeed have the power of God.
We are told in scripture in several places to "pray in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18, Jude 1:20). Often times when you hear someone giving a beautiful prayer, it’s not because they figured out some beautiful thing to say, it’s because as they were praying, they were speaking in concert with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit, who is God within them, was guiding the words of the prayer. And we often sit back and think wow, what a prayer! Well that was God.
We have the Holy Spirit living within us as Christians. But here we’re told to ask for the Holy Spirit. So everyday I will include in my morning prayer, Lord I ask the Holy Spirit to fill me today, to lead me today. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s activity in your life everyday.
When we pray by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prayer takes on a life of it’s own. It surges with the power of God. We pray things we shouldn’t even know about the person we’re praying for. We perceive things in the Spirit.
I know things about some of you, because the Spirit reveals it to me as your pastor, and I pray over those things.
How do you pray in the Spirit exactly? It’s kind of hard to explain. One thing I’ll do is as I start praying, I’ll invite the Spirit to lead. Then as you pray, focus on God, and you’ll simply know things and you’ll begin to pray them out loud as the Spirit leads.
When we pray we go into a spiritual realm, where we commune with God, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, and we simply pray out His will, if we’re yielded and surrendered.
So in conclusion today, I want to share two key takeaways from our message today.
First, prayer is powerful because it causes our connection with God to flourish. We will flourish in prayer if we chase it, pursue it, keep seeking, keep knocking. And we will begin to glow with the power of God in our lives.
But I’ll tell you this, my wife can take one look at me and she knows if I’m spiritually prayed up or not. She can either see I look drained and cranky and a bit empty, or I look at peace, strong, and locked in.
There is so much value in prayer in building our connection with God, but remember this, it restarts each day, and our choices for each new day determine how spiritually connected we will be.
Remember this: One day at a time. Make spiritual choices.
Most of us understand this I think, but we often stop there.
But second take away, prayer changes the world. We as the church of Christ on Earth are like Jesus’ representative body on the Earth.
And I want you to think about it like this, every time you register a prayer with God, it’s like you’re issuing a vote in heaven, on how things should be on Earth. And the one receiving your vote is able to institute the most amazing things you could imagine. But when you don’t pray, you aren’t voting. So as the pollsters say, please vote!
We know that prayers change the world. Many of us have seen it in this church over and over and over. It’s real. It’s powerful. It’s true. And it’s God. It’s not us. We aren’t casting spells with our prayers. We’re petitioning the one able to do the impossible.
And in this series we’re going to see so many applications for prayers, in prayer we can go deeper with God, we can experience His presence, we can change and influence world events, we can see people healed, we can fight the devil, we can prayerfully overthrow principalities, and we can see ourselves overcome sin and shortcomings. Let’s go on this prayer journey together, and see how God flourishes our spiritual lives through it!
