LUKE 11:1-2b
1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 ‘Give us each day our daily bread.
4 ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
Main point: Before going into further principles in this series on prayer, we will see Jesus laying three important building blocks so that you will pray to God.
- You should pray (1-2a)
- You should pray with others (2b)
- You should pray intimately (2c)
You should pray (1-2a)
- Proof:
- Jesus Prayed: “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place…” (v.1)
- His example prompt disciple to ask how to pray: “after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”
- In the Greek, there is the idea that as soon as Jesus was done praying, they went to ask Him to teach them how to pray!
- There was a sense of amazement about it, of wanting to learn how to pray.
- Others learn from their master: “just as John also taught his disciples.”
- Likewise, as disciples (which means total students), they want to also learn from their masters in praying.
- Jesus’ response assume we will pray: “And He said to them, “When you pray, say” (v.2a)
- It’s an issue of “when” and not “if.”
- οταν is a temporal adverb meaning “when.”
- This is what they call a third class conditional clause to show that it will be something that is likely to happen in the future.
- The verb “say” in the Greek is a present tense and communicates the action is expected to be an ongoing process (Fitzmeyer, 898).
- Picture: Anthony’s mother praying for me in Iraq, it makes me want to pray, it makes want to have what she has, that motivated her to pray!
- Practice:
- When was the last time you prayed?
- Or when was the last time someone’s prayer life amazed you, and you asked yourself or them, “I want to have that, I need to be like that…”
You should pray with others (2b)
- Proof:
- “And He said to them, “When you pray, say” (v.2a)
- A second person plural verb, it refers to the disciples and all those who would follow after Jesus. The plural indicates that there is a sense where prayer is also to be done with others (Fitzmyer, 898).
- Note the following references to first person plural throughout this section:
- “Give us…”(3)
- “our [c]daily bread.” (3)
- “…forgive us our sins,” (4)
- “For we ourselves also forgive…” (4)
- “who is indebted to us.” (4)
- “And lead us not…’” (4)
- Picture: I’ve enjoyed calling and talking to all you guys throughout the week, and realizing that “Wow, this situation is bigger than what any one of us can handle alone…we need God’s help…we need to pray”…and to pray right there in pairs or group.
- Practice:
- Questions to ask yourself:
- When you are going through tough time, do you pray with others?
- When you are going through good time, do you pray with others in praise to God?
- Practical ways:
- I’m going to have a prayer list with each day of the week with a member of the church to call up and ask them for their prayer on the phone for my ministry need. Sign up! Or do the same thing!
- Show up for prayer meeting!
- Go though church roster, pray for our members and then you will have a burden to call them up and pray with them on the phone!
- Questions to ask yourself:
You should pray intimately with God (2c)
- Proof:
- “Father” is here in the vocative since this is an address towards God the Father.
- It is a title of intimacy, of nearness to God.
- Addressing God as “Father” is so common today that we are not surprised with how shocking Jesus’ teaching was.
- For the Jews, it was not until after the tenth century AD did they ever even conceived of the idea of praying and calling God “Father.”
- MOMENT OF TRUTH:
- Not everyone’s spiritual Father is God (cf. John 8:58).
- Galatians 4:3-6 describes our condition and the way to be able to be intimate with God in such a way you can call Him “Father.”
- Practice:
- Questions to ask yourself:
- What are your deepest concerns, heartaches, sin and desire? Have you prayed to the Lord about them?
- Who is the person most closest to you? What do you share with them? Do you talk to your Father in heaven about them?
- Pray to Him as though He is your Father, because He is your Father.
- Pray to Him after this message or even now in your hearts to have Him make you close to you as a Father in your life!
- Questions to ask yourself:
CONCLUSION: Intimacy with God is only possible if your sins are forgiven…Here is the Gospel: Christ died for your sins so that you can have a living relationship with God. Will you trust in Jesus Christ?
Good to have you back as a follower
How are you guys doing in Fresno with this lockdown?
Still dealing with more virus cases, on a half a lockdown, and dealing with long lines at a store. But other than that we are doing well and yourself
Great idea to go through the church roster to find people to pray for. Also, what I’ve done before is when someone is going through something, I’ll put it in my notes on my phone to pray for when I look back at it, I remember. The reason being, sometimes we as Christians forget and don’t remember everything that we wanted to talk to God about and then our prayer ends short and we just hang up on him suddenly since we don’t know what to say.
That’s a good idea of using such a tool that God has given such as our phone. Good to hear from you! Are you up working late?
I work nights currently. I am hopefully going to be going to a shift that I will still get paid the same but also be off every Wednesday and Sunday as well as being off the same days as my wife. If I can do that, then I believe God will be able to work through me even more which i am really excited for.
Thanks for this encouraging lesson outline on praying with practical applications. What a privilege it is to bring our praises and concerns to our Father, throughout the day and at devotions.
Amen you are right that it is a privilege. What can I pray for you today?
Thanks, Jimmy. I would appreciate if you could say a prayer for my wife’s health issues. I know (and appreciate) that you’ve already prayed many times for her. She should be hearing back from the surgeon today or Monday. What can I pray for for you today?
I will reflect on these points, Jim. It is still a long track for me in this race of faith; needing our savior, JESUS constantly.
I need to pick up the phone and actually pray with a live person on the other end. For as long as I have had text messaging, I have text prayers to people. For longer prayers I use email. I journal my prayers as well. I find when I write prayers I can reread them or others can reread them. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy The Valley of Vision. Anyway, I need to be more intentional about praying with people not just in writing but in voice as well. Thank you for this!
You’re welcome for sharing your prayer experience! I have heard of valley of Vision for sometime now and thought it was a book of poems or free verse poems. Need to check it out. Is this a book you read more than once?
It’s a book of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. They are beautiful, authentic, real. My Theological Interpretation of Media professor (best class I have ever taken by far) introduced me to this. I am confident that you will like it. You can read some for free on google books.
Amen.
And Amen! You have a blessed day Maw Maw!
You also.
This may May sound too simple but I find myself sitting on Abba’s lap with my head on his shoulder…often.
Time in prayer is time well spent.
Amen! 🙏🙏🙏