Praying Like Jesus

A way. How many of you ask someone to do something, and then you stand and watch the person do the thing you asked them to do and then have a really hard time stepping away...

I do. I’m horrible at it. I have some things that I’m like - this is how you do it.

Making lemonade. Prepping the smoker. Washing your windshield at the gas pump. Stacking boxes on a pallet. Shooting a basketball.

Jesus is asked by His disciples how to pray. At least that’s how it’s read and taught. But that’s NOT what it says.

It’s written as an ongoing, ever-present reality that invades every moment of the believers’ life.

“Lord, teach us to be praying.”

When we say praying like Jesus, we mean there’s...

No Bad Time

Luke 11:2 HCSB

He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say: Father, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come.

This is the 6th and final time that Luke mentions Jesus as praying. He had made a strong impression on the disciples because of His prayer life. He’s trying to get them to understand that

You can only learn to pray by praying.

How we begin - Father. Jesus knew God the Father. He’s not concerned with timing. This intimate relationship cannot be overstated and it should

The friend at midnight

Luke 11:5 HCSB

He also said to them: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

You better be really really really good friends if you wake ‘em up at midnight for bread.

The story in Luke seems to indicate that the host is not very interested in the request because it is a bad time. He and his household had already gone to bed.

By comparison, God isn’t like the host in the story. Doors always open. That intimate relationship is one that should be taken advantage of.

If you study the life of Jesus, there isn’t a text that says “Jesus inconveniently asked God the Father in prayer to...” or God was annoyed that Jesus’ prayer time wasn’t 15 minutes later because He was making pancakes...

We should never consider our offerings of prayers like the knock on the door at midnight.

No Required Preparation

Luke 11:3 HCSB

Give us each day our daily bread.

We live in the prepared world. Everything we see is the product of preparation, production and perfection.

If we ask daily for the bread, then we are truly relying on God’s provision for our lives.

Reliance upon God to prepare us and provide for us each day is a cure for the ailment of self-sufficiency.

Consider how Jesus uses the story of the friend at midnight.

Luke 11:9 HCSB

“So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

The continuous asking, seeking, and knocking are not invitations to pester God, but to exercise confidence in who He is.

No Bothersome Content

Have you ever not wanted to go talk to your boss because you thought the content you wanted to share might be considered bothersome.

Ever used the phrase “I hate to bring this up, but...” Yeah. No such phrase if we commit to praying like Jesus.

Ask see knock showing degrees in intensity

When Jesus teaches the disciples to pray he shows them that there is no such thing as bothersome content that God wouldn’t want to hear.

Luke 11:4 HCSB

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.”

Jesus says bring it all - everything. There is nothing off limits for the ears and heart of God. Forgive us our sins? What are they?

Satan hates confession in our prayer life. Confession and forgiveness are interwoven in

Any sin you refuse to confess is a sin you carry. It gets heavier and after a while, we begin to define ourselves by that sin.

A Fatherlike Response

Luke 11:11–13 HCSB

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Time in prayerful conversation with the Father was a regular rhythm for Jesus. We prayed in desolate places, before selecting the disciples, grieving the beheading of his friend John the Baptist, knowing when to relocate His ministry, and of course, in the Garden of Gethsemane.

When we make prayer a priority and rhythm in our lives, we open our hearts more and more to the heart of the Father.

They didn’t have the Holy Spirit at this point.

He will become a reality for them and He is a reality for us today.

The heavenly Father gives both heavenly and earthly gifts.

Prayer testifies to the trust that God’s children have for their heavenly Father.

Boldness grows from their experience and his dependability.

What barriers exist in your life that stop you from praying like Jesus?

As an employee - harping on us to do

Recall that when the disciples were excited about what ministry they were to be sent to, Jesus simply told them to believe in the One who was sent. Not do, just believe.

Genie - wish list granter - selfishly motivated

Father - waiting for the ask, the seeking, and the knocking even at midnight.

People don’t pray not because they don’t know how, it’s that they don’t.

What things are bothering you that stop you from bothering God?