Introduction to Habakkuk
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Intro:
Today’s passage asks the same type of question about the topic of prayer.
This purpose of this passage is to instruct the follower of Jesus Christ on how to communicate to God in prayer. I want us to center our attention on 3 key elements to Effective prayer: Identity, Intimacy and Humility.
I. Prayer seeks Intimacy with God (v 1-2)
I. Prayer seeks Intimacy with God (v 1-2)
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.”
A. Our Model for Prayer
A. Our Model for Prayer
In Luke’s gospel alone, we see Jesus pray:
(Luke 4) Before his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus fasted for 40 days. OT practice was to include fasting and prayer together.
(Luke 6) Before he called the 12 disciples, he prayed all night to God
(Luke 9) He prayed all night Before Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah
(Luke 9) Before the transfiguration where Peter, James and John witnessed the glory of God visiably shine from within him
(Luke 11) Before He teaches on prayer
(Luke 22) Before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion in
(Luke 23) Jesus agonizes in prayers all night Upon the cross, Jesus prays to the Father
There is no greater example in all of history than to see with our spiritual eyes that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, exemplify the necessity of prayer in his life. He modeled it for his disciples, not just as a good lesson, but because it was pertinent to His earthly ministry.
Notice the word “before” in this list. Major moments in Jesus earthly ministry were met with heart and mind already prepared with prayer. This should teach all of God’s people that the start of every day and the preparation for every hard moment in your life should start with prayer. Prayer is preparation for the transformed soul. Just as the Scripture instructs our hearts towards what God desires from his people, prayer prepares our heart for intimacy with the God as we walk through our day resting in Him.
Song: “Lord I need you, Oh I need you, every hour I need You, my one defense, my righteousness, O Lord I need you”
Jesus modeled prayer not just to show us what we should do, but he as both fully God and fully man, He was dependent upon intimacy with His father as he accomplished his earthly ministry in the world. He went off to pray to commune with him in perfect fellowship. We don’t know what was said in those prayers. But the prayer of Jesus on the in the garden of Gethsemane and the upon the cross shows us a deep fellowship, an eternal fellowship in the Godhead on full display.
B. Our Position in Prayer
B. Our Position in Prayer
Have you ever been to a loud concert and tried to carry on a conversation with someone? You are screaming, they are screaming but neither of you are hearing anything the other person is saying. It is pointless!
Our capacity with prayer starts with God’s saving power over us. Unbelievers who pray to God for things they need are offering up wasted words because the Bible describes them as enemies of God. They pray to God in moments of despair but their sin has created a separation between them and God.
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
As Jesus responds to the questions of the disciples to teach them to pray, we must first note that disciples or followers of Jesus can be taught to pray because God has first intervened in their lives and changed their hearts. That separation due to the nature of sin has been removed by the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. The desire to learn to pray by the disciples come from a heart that by faith was believing in the Lord Jesus as the only Son of God who saves sinners.
If a person rejects Jesus as the only source of salvation, then their sins will not be received (although the Father is not limited in hearing their prayers). Sin has not afforded them a hearing ear before the Father to bring any pleadings or requests before His name.
If you are a criminal, you have no rights to request anything from the judge outside of what the law states. If your prison cell living conditions need improvement, you are not afforded a remodel. If you would prefer steak and potatoes for dinner instead of the meager prison food, tough! You are a criminal.
But what if the son or daughter of the judge request something from him. Help in living expenses. The foundation of that request is love. He is happy to grant such a request.
Jesus establishes that prayer begins the capacity to call God our Father. We can only call him Father when we are his children and our adoption as sons and daughter come through Christ’s work on the cross.
12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Likewise our prayer should be directed to the Father as Jesus teaches his disciples in v 2, his attention in prayer is dependency upon God to work and intercede. As the church, we now understand the other activity of the Godhead that make prayer work.
Our Aim then in prayer is have intimacy with the Father. Our confidence to enter into the presence of his holiness is not about what we accomplished because we know that sin separates us from God. But because of Christ, the Son of God, that separation is restored to intimacy with God when we place our faith and trust in Him.
C. Our Pillars for Prayer
C. Our Pillars for Prayer
With that intimacy comes and knowledge and understanding of who God is. This looks back to our study and meditation of the word of God for the word of God leads us to pray faithfully with God.
Jesus instructs prayer to be an
1. Intimacy with a Holy God
hallowed be your name.
The term hallowed means sanctified, holy or reverenced. God wants His children to glorify and reverence his name and to pray in such a way is to understand who God is. His name communicates His character and His revelation. In the OT, the Jews would not utter with their lips the name of God because of His holiness. The scribes even had separate pens to write the term Elohim, for God or YHWH for Lord. This is proper reverence in understanding the honor that God deserves.
Of course, in understanding these Hebrew titles for God, we understand his character and activity in the world. This lends to our prayer life being informed and reassured of the God we are praying to. His name means something.
Jesus, whose name means Savior, calls his disciples here to understand and reverence the name of God . When we pray in such a way, we are giving glory to the God who has revealed himself to us and thus our prayer are about his glory instead of ours. Practically, this might look like spending time giving thanks to God each morning for a different aspect of his character or work in the world.
Psalm 57:11 (ESV)11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
1. Intimacy with a Holy God
2. Intimacy with our Sovereign King
Your kingdom come.
Likewise, Jesus wants ours will and plans dashed to pieces if they do not flow out of God’s kingdom and work in the world in which we live. Therefore, instead of praying about our plans for the day, we should tailor our outlook for the day around God’s kingdom. What does He want his people to accomplish in their day? Lord, help me to honor you this morning at my meeting, when the worldly jokes fly across the room. Lord, help me to be bold to share Christ with the repair man, or show grace to incite my angry neighbor over for coffee. This is centering your prayers around God’s kingdom and all His plans instead of your plans. As you do this, you will see your prayers broaden to the lost across the globe, the church across the globe and the gospel penetrating the far reaches of the world. You will pray for the gospel penetrating Capitol Hill and global politics as you pray for your leaders.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
1. Intimacy with a Holy God
2. Intimacy with our Sovereign King
3. Intimacy with our Gracious Provider
Give us each day our daily bread
While understanding God’s character, you can pray that his provision rests in His faithfulness and not your strength. That provision is “daily bread each day” and not in a stockpile of sustenance because He wants us to develop a manna-dependent reliance upon Him in every way. “Living pay check to pay check” is such a derogatory statement in a society built upon the pillars of commerce and prosperity, but it is not an unbiblical idea. Instead of considering it unhealthy for the family, reflect upon it as as statement, that with each paycheck God gives you, you have what you need. We could say Israel lived each day, Manna to Manna.
8 Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, 9 That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.
1. Intimacy with a Holy God
2. Intimacy with our Sovereign King
3. Intimacy with our Gracious Provider
4. Intimacy with our Forgiving Savior
and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us
Fifthly, Jesus focuses on grace for the covering of indebtedness. This is not financial debt neither with God or man. Instead, this refers to the debt of sin that we accrue against God. That sin comes at a great price for the wages of sin is death.In His grace, the Lord Jesus gave his life so that sin can be forgiven and washed away. This salvation from the wrath of God was not based upon any preexisting condition or merit in us. We did not deserve it. Similarly, the prayer is that we would apply an unconditional and continual grace towards those who have sinned against us.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
When we pray regarding God’s grace for others, our attitudes about them change. We begin to see those who have offended more as people who needs God’s grace in a similar light that we needed God’s grace upon our salvation. If we are praying fervently for their salvation then our emotions will less likely be seeking retribution.
1. Intimacy with a Holy God
2. Intimacy with our Sovereign King
3. Intimacy with our Gracious Provider
4. Intimacy with our Forgiving Savior
5. Intimacy with our Mighty Protector
And lead us not into temptation.”
Lastly, we are called to pray for the Father’s protection. We know that James 1:13-14 teaches that God is not responsible for tempting us to sin so Jesus is be no means teaching this here. Instead, he is instructing us to pray for protecting from temptation. We are to pray that God would lead us away from temptation in this world, not by His hand.
15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
As we pray in such a way, we understand that Christ has provided that way of escape. We can pray in full assurance that no evil can come upon such that we can be separated form the love of God. Romans 16:20 reminds us that Jesus has gained victory over Sin, Death and Satan on the cross and when He returns he will “soon crush Satan under your feet.”
These of course are not the only things that we can and should pray for, but they are fundamental principles to give structure to our prayers like wood gives structure to our building and bones give structure to our bodies.
II. Our Prayers Need Tenacity
II. Our Prayers Need Tenacity
V 5-8
Next Jesus gives a parable to illustrate prayer. He tell a tale of a man who receives an unexpected guest at his home, one who obviously traveled throughout the night and arrived in a very late hour. This unexpected arrival left the host unprepared to feed the weary traveler. The host scurries to a friend’s house for some bread to feed the traveler. Jesus’ portrays the friend as put off initially by the late request. The host is imposing on the friend at such a late hour, while his family is sleep next to him.
As I read this, I thought about how many people may feel this way towards God. They may believe the lie that our prayers are an imposition to God Almighty. Maybe they think he has more important things to be concerned with than lost car keys, or passing a test. If Jesus has taught us anything, we do not impose or bother our Father in heaven when we are his children. But how often might you refrain from prayer because you expect God might think like this man, “Do not bother me; the door is now shut.” Your persistent plea for healing is not a bother to God. Your resilient cry for God to save a lost loved one is not the perpetual yapping of a small dog to God’s ears. It is the cries and pleas from his Beloved children. Understand that your prayers are meaningful to God and it was demonstrated in the sacrificial love of Jesus being sent to die in your place. The Father did not send the Son and gift you with His spirit only to be annoyed by your prayers. Instead, He rejoices in the growth in grace and transformation in holiness that comes with His children.
Instead, we are called by Jesus to be persistent, determined and resolute in our prayers. This is not a sit in where we demand God give us what we want or we won’t leave. Instead, it is a humble plea before God whereby, like an infant cried until they are fed in innocent need, so we cry out to God in our persistence because He commands us to do so. “(8)yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.”
Three commands are given in verse 9 and all written in a way that communicate a perpetual asking, seeking and knocking. Too many of us give up asking God when we think He has not answered us when we need to wait patiently and persist forward.
James 5:16–17 (NASB95)
16 ...The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
III. Our Prayers Need Expectancy
III. Our Prayers Need Expectancy
Christ-centered prayer is founded in a faith in our God who can do all things according to His will
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 11 “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Not only do these verbs ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK reflect persistence, but they reflect a faith filled expectation. You effort in prayer is not the key to unlocking its effectiveness, for prayer only works according to the will of God. The concrete slab of our prayer life is a faith given to us by the Holy Spirit which derives itself from the unchanging character of God.
7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
These verses are very similar to what Jesus is saying in verse 9-10 of Luke 11. He is teaching us to pray with Christ-centered, kingdom driven hearts. He is not telling us to think of God as our genie in a bottle, which is always portrayed in the movies as the user trying to manipulate the genie in getting more self-gratifying wishes.
Instead, asking of God your Father, praying in His Spirit, according to His kingdom means that we will be aligned with God’s plan and will for the world. When we are not properly aligned to the Kingdom, and our request are self-centered, the answer will be NO. But the idea is
ASK, centered on God’s purposes, and you will receive, accordingly!
SEEK according to God’s providence and you will find, accordingly!
KNOCK persistently like God’s faithfulness and it will be open to you!
We ask God to work based upon an exception of faith in who He is. He is faithful even when we are faithless. His work in this world is the busy interstate and when we faithfully pray, we are simply merging into his active work in the world. He pray for His kingdom to come because it is already come in Jesus Christ and is being manifested through His church until it is fully consummated in Christ’s return. It is already at work and we are invited to participate in prayer and our prayers are effective. We pray for God to provide and He shows us over and over again how He provides so that we are encouraged as we see the effective prayers at work.
This is the last illustration that Jesus gives as a Father graciously gives good gifts to his children. Even in an evil world, mothers and fathers meet the physical needs of their evil kids. How much more will our heavenly Father gives us what we need according to His will.
Spurgeon writes,
I cannot imagine any one of you tantalizing your child by exciting in him a desire that you did not intend to gratify. It were a very ungenerous thing to offer alms to the poor, and then when they hold out their hand for it, to mock their poverty with a denial. …Where God leads you to pray, He means for you to receive it.”
Notice that it is the Father’s plan to give us the Holy Spirit. Matthew’s gospel says, “ he will give good gifts to those who ask.” Why does Jesus state the Holy Spirit?”
This is NOT a plea for Christians to expect the Holy Spirit to bring some extra anointing work as some may propose. It is some bad interpretations of this passage that lead people to pray for some post-conversion Holy Spirit experience beyond him saving you, sealing you and scarifying you. These bad interpreters claim you must fervently pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to give an extra anointing for life and ministry. Therefore, in their eyes, some spiritual elites have the Spirit’s anointing and others do not. This creates classism in Christianity and these factions have no place in the church today.
Instead, Luke is connecting prayer to an underlying eschatological theme of expectation. The Jews were expecting the coming of the Messiah to usher in the messianic age for Israel. They knew that the prophets had foretold a messiah would come and his kingdom would reign over all earthly kingdoms. They also were aware that the giving of the Spirit was a sign that age had come.
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
Jesus is declaring His kingdom has come, His holiness is on display, and his people are being given the good gift of salvation in Jesus name. Jesus ties the coming of the Messiah with giving of the Holy Spirit and as Jesus comes as Messiah, then the Holy Spirit will also come as the great sign of this messianic age. We know that the Holy Spirit came in such a way just as Jesus said He would. This confirms that Jesus was not only truthful but that Jesus was the genuine Anointed One from God. Likewise, as the anointed One who has come to offer salvation, you must consider your relationship to him.
Therefore, Jesus is making the point that on as Christians in this era of the church, we have seen the Holy Spirit given, just as it was promised. So then, our expectation in prayer should be built upon a faith in God’s power and the keeping of his word. He always acts according to his will. Let his faithfulness drive our level of expectancy as we pray.