Teach us to Pray - Part 3

Recap

Luke 11:1 NKJV

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

Teach us to pray. Meaning, Prayer can be taught. It is something to be learned, it is something for us to give our time and attention to.

Notice, as John also taught his disciples to pray. Meaning disciples are to be taught to pray.

Now, why did they ask him to teach them to pray? Because they saw him pray.

Hence, the teaching on prayer, is to get men to pray.

So, we said, there is practicality in prayer, where we also observe the pattern in prayer. Prayer is by precept and by example.

So, it is not enough to know about prayer without praying, hence, when we investigate both the practice of prayer by Jesus & his disciples, and also what they taught on Prayer, we will discover that much of it is in the doing, i.e. in taking out time to pray.

Jesus’ prayer life

Mark 1:35 NKJV

35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

We find with Jesus, the waking up early, before daylight to pray. This was a practice of his.

Now, not to spiritualize the time he prayed, i.e. “before daylight”, what we have to see is that was the period he had time to pray at length.

Look at the verses that followed;

Mark 1:36–37 LEB

36 And Simon and those who were with him searched diligently for him. 37 And they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you!”

This is precisely what followed, “Everyone is looking for you.” Hence, often, he would create that time to pray.

This in itself is a lesson simply by observing the life of Jesus, amidst the busy schedule, amidst the demands on him in Ministry, One thing Jesus would do often, was to create time to pray.

He did this often;

Mark 6:45–46 NKJV

45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.

Now, this happened right after teaching for a long while and then fed the five thousand, what Jesus did was to send everyone away, including his disciples, and departed to the mountain to pray.

He would create the time to pray.

Let me say this, none of us, have as much demand on us as Jesus, yet, one thing he never neglected, was his time of prayer.

If there is nothing else to learn about his life of prayer, it is that it was consistent, it was something he did long and lengthy.

What he taught on Prayer

Now, having looked at his life of prayer, we see why his disciples would say “teach us to pray”, why, it was something he did often and they saw him do it.

Jesus had alot to say about prayer, and last week, we started examining what “faith in prayer is” or “Prayer of faith”.

Luke 11:1 NKJV

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

He told a parable here, to inform on prayer.

Luke 11:5–8 NKJV

5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

The parable was to teach something, “assurance in persistence”. i.e. if you persist with that friend, you can be assured that he would rise and give to you what you asked of him.

This was the background of the very next verse;

Luke 11:9–10 NKJV

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.

Jesus taught us how the asking, seeking and knocking is to be done, it ought to be done “persistently” or “continuously”.

“Give an illustration of knocking once” — It will probably make no sense, but done multiple times, it reveals the practicality of what Jesus was saying.

But our persistence is not done blindly, he said “Everyone” say it with me “Everyone” who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

I can have assurance in persistence in prayer, now, the assurance is not blind assurance, it is because we are persuaded that God gives good gifts.

Hence, Jesus told the second part of the parable to show the basis of our assurance.

Luke 11:11–13 NKJV

11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 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!”

Why am I persistent in prayer? Because God gives good gifts. This is my confidence in prayer, God gives good gift. If I haven’t seen what is asked for, if we haven’t received yet, what prayer would be is to be done “persistently”. This is faith in prayer.

So, let me say this, the first thing is I am persuaded that God gives good gifts. That influences my assurance to persist further in prayer.

Do you believe God’s word? Then there is a persistence in prayer to make a lifestyle.

James 5:13–16 NKJV

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Verse 13 is quite interesting, WHY WOULD I PRAY, IF I AM NOT CONFIDENT IN PRAYER? There is absolutely no point praying then.

In verse 15; the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

Notice, he spoke about “the prayer of faith” IT WILL SAVE THE SICK, and the Lord will raise him up.

There is no point praying for the sick, when you have no confidence that God would heal. But James didn’t leave us with any other confidence, he rightly said, The Lord will raise him up. This is why we pray for the sick.

verse 16 is now very crucial;

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Now, the very example he gave of effective, fervent prayer was the man Elijah;

James 5:17–18 NKJV

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 land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Now, what was earnest prayer of Elijah? well, let us see it.

1 Kings 18:41–46 NKJV

41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” 44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” 45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. 46 Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Notice, what effective prayer was. He knew that the Lord already said, “I will send rain”, and what he did was to continue praying “Seven times” until rain came.

So, just like Elijah, when we are sick, why do we persist in prayer? Because God has said, “the Lord will raise him up”. When we are suffering, why do we pray? Because we are assured of victory in prayer.

There is persistence, because of assurance. The norm is to keep on praying concerning thesame matter, why? Because I am assured that God gives.

Conclusion

Are you persuaded that God gives? Are you persuaded of his love? It reflects in your very prayer life.