Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer, Part 2 (Jon Petts)

A few notes from part 1 and part 2:

Luke 11

¹ One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.

• He sets the example. They’ve seen him, they see it’s important because it’s such a big part of his life. So they ask…

When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

• We don’t know what John taught his disciples but we now know he taught them to pray. Perhaps the next prayer is some of what John would have taught his disciples, asking God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. That would be right up John’s street. The messiah is coming! Pray that it may be as God wills.

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,

• Know who God is

hallowed be your name,

• Put God in his rightful place

your kingdom come.

• Reset your priorities

 ³ Give us each day our daily bread.

• Then bring your needs to him

⁴ Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

• Deal with sin daily, both incoming and outgoing

And lead us not into temptation.’”

• Ask for protection – the word is also testing or a time of testing, for OT readers it has been suggested that it would evoke the idea of a day of judgement. Keep me safe when the tests come. Or just be nice to me when the testing times come our way. Bless me indeed.
• Much of what Jesus includes here can be found in various verses from the Old Testament. This is not a new teaching but a collection of OT ideas. Step 1 then is to rely on scripture for our prayers. Bring in relevant scriptures. Know the bible by reading it regularly. Use it in prayer. Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching and correction. It’s also Holy Spirit inspired. So praying relevant scriptures is praying to God using his own words.
• Now we’ve dealt with the basics and provided a structure to work with, let’s bring some understanding to the table…

⁵ 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.’ 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.

Suppose you have a friend in Jesus and you find yourself on your knees to him at the midnight hour. You’re asking for provision for an unexpected need. Any human friend would not take kindly to your banging their door at this hour. But Jesus is different, not because you have been a good and faithful friend – you would never be good enough. But God, in his great grace, will provide all that you need.

• Jesus is still teaching on prayer. What is new here, after the traditional prayer?
  • It’s shameless
  • It’s audacious
  • It’s personal
  • It involves others
  • It gets results – as much as you need!
• This is deep calling to deep – it’s heartfelt cries of the heart for God to provide what we need in order to have enough for those around us.

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.

• Can we really pray like this and get results? We can if we ask in his name and pray in the Spirit.
• Ask – Speak it out! This is a continuation of the teaching in the previous verses. We have to ask. The man in the previous story did not sit at home moaning to his wife that he had no bread for his unexpected visitor. He went and asked!
• Seek – be on the lookout! when you’ve asked, start looking. Expect to find signposts and answers throughout your day. The danger is we pray, asking for something, and then we go about our day, shut the door on our prayer time and they become two isolated segments of our life. God wants us to be asking and seeking. He’s challenging us to seek, to look for evidence that God is on the move.
• Knock – do something! God wants to partner with us in the answering of prayers. So you ask, you seek and you knock – do something in the tangible physical world that shows faith and expectancy that God is working behind the scenes, in the spiritual realm.
• A: Please lift my depression, S: Look for signs that God is sending help, sending something to cheer you up, providing hope, K: Read the bible, get out and exercise
• A: Please help me get that promotion, S: Expect favour at work, look for opportunities believing God is working, K: speak to the boss, take a course, level up.
• A: God please bring my child back to faith, S: Listen to them talk, expect them to be softening back to God, K: wait for the right time to say the right thing, invite them to appropriate events.

11 “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? 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!”

• The crescendo of this teaching on prayer is that God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
• The best thing we can ask for is the Holy Spirit. With him we can have the boldness to ask, the knowledge to know what to pray for, the change of heart to pray for kingdom related things instead of self-centred things.
• We see this last section tying all sections together
  • the Lord’s prayer – putting God first, knowing him as Father, putting the kingdom first, can only be done by the Holy Spirit working in our lives
  • the audacious asking comes with a Spirit-led boldness rather than an arrogant demanding
  • asking, seeking, knocking is walking in step with the Spirit at all times.
• The Holy Spirit has gifts for us and tongues is a gateway gift. The best thing to ask God for, above all else, is spiritual gifts. He will take care of your practical needs and deal with what worries you.
• Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to bring gifts to us so that we can live in step with him and see great exploits take place in our individual lives and in our community.

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