Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Illustration: Praying is Hard.

Look with me in

Luke 11:1 NASB95

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.”

While He was praying.

In Luke, Matthew, Mark, John. Jesus is recorded praying in every Gospel.

Hebrews 5:7 NASB95

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

Jesus Prayed at His baptism

Luke 3:21 NASB95

Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,

Luke records that Jesus often went alone and prayed.

Luke 5:16 NASB95

But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

We often slip away but its rarely to pray.

In the face of being killed and in the face of a decision to make (choosing the disciples), he prayed and prayed a lot.

Luke 6:12 NASB95

It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

He prayed before he taught.

Luke 9:18 NASB95

And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?”

Jesus prays a lot and every Gospel writer records this.

This is no strange teaching the fact that Jesus prays.

His praying is noticeably different.

Luke 11:1 NASB95

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.”

There is an observable difference in the way Jesus prays.

Surely, if someone didn’t need to pray it was Jesus right?

Oftentimes, I hear this preached this way, If Jesus needed to pray and he was the son of God, then surely we need to pray.

There is an observable difference in the way Jesus prays.

What is that difference?

We would like to know what sparked the disciple’s interest.

I think both in quantity and in quality, Jesus’s prayer life is different.

Jesus prays often.

He gets alone with His Father and He prays.

We are expected to pray often as well.

1 Thessalonians 5:15–18 NASB95

See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB95

pray without ceasing;

Well what does that mean? (John Piper)

Constant dependence.

Pray repeatedly.

Don’t Give Up

The Second Observable difference is that Jesus Prays Well.

Jesus prays well.

There is a reason why His disciples want him to teach them to pray. Something about His prayer is different than others.

Hebrews 5:7 NASB95

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

There is a quality to Jesus’s prayers that we should strive for.

Now Most of you know what comes next. Jesus spends time teaching them to pray here in the Luke account.

This is where we hear a portion of the Lord’s prayer.

We have a longer version in Matthew.

We are gonna focus on that instruction over the next few weeks as we ask God to teach us to pray.

Matthew 6:9–13 NASB95

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

We are going after our own specific prayer time, we are going to dissect this prayer taking portion by portion and digging deep into what he means.