PRAYER 101

OVERVIEW OF CHAPTER 11

Our Lord’s teaching in Luke 11 grew out of:

A prayer meetingA miracleAn invitation to dinner.

Jesus used these occasions to give instructions about four important topics:

PrayerSatanSpiritual opportunityHypocrisy

It is important that we today understand these topics and apply these truths to our own lives.[1]

So, this evening we will look at the first topic: Prayer 101

CREATE INTEREST

Steve Farrar writes in his book, “Overcoming Overload”.

“I wish I had a nickel every time when one my children would ask me for something. And he would respond back by saying, “Not now or maybe when you are older or I don’t think this would be good for you.”

The fact that Steve often said “NO” to his children requests, did not keep his children for continuing to ask him.

His children believe their father loved them and he was capable of providing for them, which is why they kept on asking.

INTRODUCTION

Jesus shares a similar truth in our text this evening about persistence in our praying.

Even though we have a Heavenly Father who often says “NO” to our requests.

We should continue to pray boldly, shamelessly asking God for what is in our hearts.

READ LUKE 11:1-13

TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE

Jesus gives 4 lessons on the most important ingredient (prayer) in our relationship with God.

1) LESSON #1: PRAYER IS ESSENTIAL TO OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE – V. 1

A) There is not a record where the Disciples asked Jesus

1) How to preach

2) How to heal

3) How to walk on water

Lord, teach how to walk on water. That’s a great trick. Can you teach us how to walk on water Jesus?

B) The only request the disciples ask Jesus:

1) Teach us how to pray

2) They asked the most importance thing for their ministry, was how to pray.

C) The request came after they observed Jesus praying

1) The disciples were not the brightest bulbs in the sockets

After a period of time, they saw the relationship between Jesus miraculous and supernatural life and His commitment to praying.

2) They saw the connection – it was prayer

3) They saw the peace no matter what was going around Jesus, there was a sense of peace.

4) It was through prayer that Jesus was able to tap into the supernatural power to love those who were persecuting Him.

5) It was through prayer that Jesus was able to speak with authority with those around Him.

(a) And the disciples wanted to have some of that

(b) And the disciples wanted to know “How to pray”.

Lord, teach us to pray,

ILLUSTRATION OF THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS INSTRUCTIONS IN CASE OF EMERGANCY

· Christians treat prayer just list that oxygen mask.

· It’s there when there is emergency, it is there if you need it.

· In case of emergency, grab your spiritual oxygen mask and begin to pray.

· Prayer is the last resort to any crisis but it should be the first resort to any crisis we encounter.

· And just like the oxygen mask, is when we begin to pray.

D) Prayer is not like an oxygen mask

1) And Jesus said, “Prayer is not like an oxygen mask, it is like oxygen in itself.”

(a) You don’t need oxygen some of the time

(b) You need oxygen all the time, Why?

(i) Because you will not live

(ii) You would die

2) Prayer is essential to our spiritual life just like oxygen is essential to our physical life.

Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17,

· Pray constantly

· Pray without ceasing

E) Jesus taught by example not by His words

1) Parents and grandparents – the greatest thing you can do for your children and your grandchildren, is be an example of how essential praying is in your spiritual life.

2) Your teaching in how to pray is not through words

3) Your teaching in how to pray is through your persistence of constantly praying, without ceasing to pray is the greatest example of how to pray.

4) Your children and grandchildren are watching you in how you pray.

(a) Is prayer just ritual of words you say before a meal?

(b) Is prayer a foundational in your life?

That is the basic lesson we can learn that prayer is essential to our spiritual life.

The 2nd lesson:

2) LESSON #2: WE SHOULD PRAY AS CHRIST INSTRUCTED US – V. 2-4

READ TEXT

· This is a short version of the Model Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.

· Many bible scholars debate if this Luke’s shorten and condense version of the model prayer.

· Some say this is another teaching of Jesus on how to pray.

· I believe Jesus taught on prayer continuously through His ministry here on earth because it is essential to our relationship with God.

· I don’t believe this Model Prayer in Matthew’s account is the same as Luke’s account.

· I believe they are 2 separate accounts Why?

▬ Matthew’s account is part of the sermon on the Mount.

§ Jesus is teaching on mountain side

▬ Luke’s account is when Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem – Lk. 9:51

When the days were coming to a close for him to be taken up, he determined to journey to Jerusalem.

While they (Jesus and His disciples, and followers of Jesus) were traveling on the road to Jerusalem, His disciples observed:

Jesus praying in a certain place and when Jesus finished praying, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

Now, the model prayer is not the Lord’s prayer. If you want know how Jesus prayed, go to John 17. That’s the real prayer of Jesus.

· Jesus gave the model prayer as structure on how to pray.

· Let me put it this way. The model prayer is a template.

For those who know what I am talking about, a template is a sample document in a computer software. Many of times a company will have Microsoft Word or Excel documents in templates.

Templates are great because you don’t have to reconstruct or reinvent the wheel when there is a structure in place and all you have to do is personalize it and make it fit to whatever the project.

The model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer is a general structure for us to make it personal to us.

Jesus never intended for the model prayer to be prayed allowed publicly and recited over and over again.

Jesus gave this template in how to pray and instructed us to personalize our prayer to be a conversation with our Heavenly Father.

Jesus gives 3 facets of our praying that are base upon this model of prayer

A) Prayer is based on our relationship with God – Gal. 4:6

1) Our Father – READ V. 2a

(a) Prayer is based upon our unique relationship with our Heavenly Father

Paul said in Galatians 4:6,

And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”

(b) Abba is Aramaic name for “father”

(i) Jesus used the name Father to express His relationship with God as Father and Son relationship

ILLUSTRATION OF MY CHILDREN ADDRESS ME AS: FATHER OR DADDY

When we say Abba today in our prayers, as we sometimes do, we are making the same sound that actually fell from Jesus’ lips and the lips of his unbelieving disciples.

Jesus transformed the relationship with God from a distant, corporate experience into an intimate, one-to-one bond, and he taught his disciples to pray with the same intimacy. Jesus wants us to do the same.[2]

Sincerely addressing God as Abba (Dearest Father) is not only an indication of spiritual health but is a mark of the authenticity of our faith.

Paul tells us in Galatians 4:6,

“Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”[2]

2nd,

B) Prayer is conditional by the will of God – 1 Jn. 5:14

READ V. 2B

Matthew adds in his account and the KJV & NKJV adds it here in this text,

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

When we pray that prayer and we don’t know what we are praying.

What are we praying for when we ask God, “Your kingdom to come?”

1) King’s authority

(a) A king’s kingdom represents that geographical area where the king’s will is being done and authority is recognized.

(b) The sphere in which he has authority is his kingdom.

2) Right now, God’s will is being done perfectly in heaven

(a) The angels are obeying God perfectly

3) Right now, God’s will is not being done on earth

(a) But it will be one day when the king returns

4) When we pray – let it be done in my life.

We are to pray, God just as your will is being done in heaven, may it be done on earth and may it be done in my life as well.

5) The hardest part of praying is surrendering our will to God’s will.

6) Everything else is a piece cake when it comes to praying

7) But the hardest work of prayer is saying, God this is what I want but I surrender to whatever you want.

1 John 5: 14 says,

This is the confidence we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

· There is no blanket promise that says, that God will answer every request we have.

· It is the request that are in His will He will answer

· And when we surrender ourselves to the will of God

· We are saying, “God, I honestly, I want but I trust You to do what is best.”

James 5:15 – is a prayer offered in faith.

· What does it mean to offer a prayer in faith?

▬ It means to surrender to the will of God

Definition of praying with faith means – boldly asking God for what is in our hearts and quietly surrendering to what He wants.

· Faithfulness in praying is boldly asking God for what we want and quietly surrendering to what God’s wants.

Robert law wrote:

“Prayer is a mighty instrument. Not forgetting man’s will done in heaven but forgetting God’s will done here on earth.”

The 3rd ingredient to prayer,

C) Prayer includes our requests to God – Det. 8:18

· Some people think it is selfish to ask what need you have

· You should just pray for God’s glory and God’s will

· But never bother God with your needs

· No, Jesus said we ought to pray for those things we need

· Jesus taught us to do this when He said,

▬ Pray for forgiveness

▬ Pray to forgive us of our debts

▬ Pray for the ability to forgive other people

▬ Pray for God not to lead us into difficult circumstances in which our faith might faulter

▬ Pray so that we will not be leaded into temptation

· But at the top of the list in v. 3, Jesus said,

Pray for your daily bread

Give us each day our daily bread.

· What is Jesus talking about?

· Jesus is not saying when you pray give us our daily bread, that a giant loaf of wonder bread drops from heaven.

· That is not what Jesus means

· The phrase daily bread was a term that was used in Jesus day to refer to all of our material needs.

▬ For food

▬ For shelter

▬ For clothing

· We need to pray for those material needs and there is nothing wrong in praying for those needs.

· Perhaps you maybe thinking that is quant that I have to pray for something to eat. I mean, I earn a good living and I got money in the bank and I don’t need to depend upon God for my daily necessities.

▬ Do you know the ability to make money ultimately comes from God?

▬ That kind of thinking was the main issue in the Laodiceans church because they were rich and had no need to depend upon God.

Deuteronomy 8:18 says,

But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth,

· We are to pray as Jesus instructed us to pray

This leads to the 3rd lesson,

3) LESSON #3: GOD REWARDS BOLDNESS IN PRAYING – V. 5-10

· Praying in faith and asking boldly for what we are wanting, quietly surrendering what God wants

· This passage is not about quietly surrendering

· This passage is about boldly asking, which is an aspect of prayer that is offer missed in most sermons and most teachings on prayer

· We are to be boldly, shamelessly approach God with what we want

To illustrate this point, Jesus uses this story in v. 5-8

A) A summary of the example – v. 5-8

READ TEXT

1) Jesus tells a parable about prayer and this story in Jesus day people would relate.

(a) The arrival of a friend at night would not be unusual in the Middle East because it would be too hot to travel by day.

(b) No host would fail to offer food to a guest.

(c) The “friend” inside the house is reluctant to get up because he would wake up all his children, probably because he lives in a one-room house.

(d) The persistence of the friend outside of the house persuades the friend to get up and supply his needs.

(e) Some have argued that the friend inside the house responds not because of the friend’s persistence but because of his fear of being embarrassed, for the next day everyone would learn of his lack of hospitality

(f) The Greek word for “persistence” can be translated “shamelessness”.[4]

That is the example Jesus is using here in this passage, is the traveler is traveling through a city and the traveler knocks on the door of house at midnight.

In today’s culture, we would grab a shot gun and ask, “who is it!” before we shoot. Sometimes we shoot first then ask questions. (LOL)

The host says, “I don’t have anything to give you to eat, but wait a minute.” He then goes to his next-door neighbor and wakes him up and ask for 3 loaves of bread. That neighbor says, “Are you crazy to wake me up? Go to the Waffle House or 3 Square Diner. Leave me alone.” But his neighbor shameless boldness, kept knocking at the door until finally he got up to give him the 3 loaves of bread so he could go back to bed.”

He keeps knocking until he wore his neighbor out.

2) Let me put this story into today’s context of what Jesus is saying here.

You receive a phone call at midnight.

What’s the first thing you think of when the phone rings?

Who’s calling at this time of the night? And you don’t answer the phone and you let the answering machine answer the call. But they don’t leave message.

They immediately call again. This time you check the caller ID. But you don’t answer the phone, do you?

You say to yourself? I wonder what they want?

You roll over in bed saying, “Whatever it is, it can wait ’til morning.”

Then the phone rings again and you think, “They are not going to leave me alone. I better answer the phone![5]

And the reason you answer the phone, is because you don’t want them to tell other people that you don’t care about them. Because of their shameless boldness, you answer the phone to find out what their need is about.

And the other reason you answer the phone, is because you want to get some sleep and maybe if I answer the phone, they will leave me alone.

The caller keeps calling until they wear you down to answer the phone.

Now, what’s the application of this parable (story)?

It’s how we should pray, persistently.

B) The application of the example – v. 9-10

READ TEXT

1) Persistence

(a) Jesus tells this parable of the importance of persistence.

(b) Persistence for getting what is in our heart

2) God rewards persistence

(a) Joshua leading the Israelites around the wall of Jericho

(i) 1 time for 6 days

(ii) 7 times on the 7th day

(b) Naaman who had skin disease

(i) Dip in the muddy Jordan River

(ii) 7 times he dips himself and was cure of this skin disease

3) God wants us to be persistence in every area of our life and including in our prayer life.

(a) If you don’t receive the answer, you don’t give up

(b) God wants you keep on:

(i) Asking

(ii) Seeking

(iii) Knocking

(c) That is the point of this parable is: PERSISTENCE

4) Don’t misinterpret what Jesus is saying here in this parable

(a) Jesus is not saying you keeping praying to wear down a reluctant God

(b) No, that is not what Jesus is saying here

(c) The point of the parable is not that God, like the person in the house, must be persuaded to give.

(d) Just the opposite. One needs to be persistent because God longs to give good gifts to his children, God is sure to answer.[6]

This leads to the 4th lesson about prayer,

4) LESSON #4: GOD’S REPUTATION AND GOD’S LOVE – V. 11-13

God’s reputation and God’s love are His motivation for answering our prayers.

A) The reason we can boldly and literal shamelessly come before God that is within our hearts is because of:

1) God’s reputation

2) God’s love for us

B) God’s reputation

1) Illustration of a little boy in class who has a hyenine problem

(a) No one wants to be around him

(b) He is the last one to be chosen for a game

(c) He sits alone in the lunchroom with nothing to eat

(d) Last one to be picked up at the end of the school.

(e) You think of this poor little boy parent’s reputation they have this boy

(i) Don’t they care him

(ii) They don’t have the resources to care for him

(iii) You wonder about the home condition

(f) Whatever the case might be, you have already formed your opinion of the little boy’s parents based upon how the little boy has been care for or not care for.

2) The same is true in our relationship with God

(a) Did you know, God’s reputation, how people perceive God in the world is determined by large measure how He treats those who call Him Father.

(b) And one of God’s motivation in caring for you, is His reputation is on the line.

3) The name YAWAH in the Old Testament

(a) Describes who God is: I AM

(b) It was a covenant name for that special relationship God had with the nation of Israel

(c) The nation of Israel was God’s object lesson to the entire world of His:

(i) Power

(ii) Love

(d) And that’s why God cared for the nation of Israel

(i) If God let His people down

(ii) It would have said to the whole that God could not be trusted in His promises

4) Greatest prayers in the Old Testament reveals God’s reputation

(a) Ex. 32 – God wanted to wipe out the nation of Israel for their disobedience

(i) Moses told God you cannot do that because You have made unconditional promise with the nation of Israel

(ii) If you do that God, Your reputation will mean nothing among the other nations

(iii) And God relented of His decision

(b) Ps. 25:11 – David fled with God’s forgiveness

Lord, for the sake of your name, forgive my iniquity, for it is immense.

(i) God, you promised to be a God of loving kindness and forgiveness

(ii) David plea’s with God for His reputation sake and fulfill that promise to me.

(c) Ek. 36: when the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon

“Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: It is not for your sake that I will act, house of Israel, but for my holy name sake,

(i) One of the reasons we can boldly and shamelessly to plea for our provision in life is:

· God’s reputation is at stake

· If God doesn’t watch over us

· If God doesn’t provide for our needs

· If God doesn’t forgive us of our sins

· If God doesn’t redeem our bodies when we die

His Name, His Reputation suffer

God’s reputation is one reason we can come boldly and shamelessly before Him.

And there is another powerful factor at work and that is His love for us.

C) God’s love

1) His love for us is great motivation for answering our prayers.

READ TEXT – V. 11-13

2) It is natural for any parent – Christian or non-Christian to want to give things to their children

3) It is natural for a parent to give to their children what they need, what they want and occasionally to give what they didn’t ask for

4) That’s just being parent

5) Now, that doesn’t mean we give them everything they ask for

(a) Kids in the toy store you don’t take those requests seriously

(b) But, when your child keeps coming back with the same request, you know it is important to them.

(c) They are being persistence

6) And when we repeatedly and are persistence with our request to God, He lovingly gives us what is best for us

7) God doesn’t answer every prayer and grant every request

8) God gives us that which we need, that which is good

CONCLUSION [FOLLOW THROUGH]

Luke says, the best gift our Heavenly Father gives us, is the Holy Spirit.

This is a parable, story about talking to our Heavenly Father boldly and shamelessly.

· Can you imagine going to your neighbor in the middle of the night asking for food and being turn away? It’s unimaginable

· Can you imagine a child asking for a fish and be given a snake? That’s incomprehensible

· Can you imagine Christian going to his or her Heavenly Father asking for the Holy Spirit power to overcome temptation?

· Asking for grace to go through a difficult trial?

· Asking God for the ability to love your family member?

· Can you imagine asking your Heavenly Father for those things? And be turned away

It’s unthinkable and that is why we should boldly and shamelessly ask God for what is in our hearts.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren W.. Be Compassionate (Luke 1-13): Let the World Know That Jesus Cares (The BE Series Commentary) (p. 144. David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

[2] Hughes, R. Kent. Luke (2 volumes in 1 / ESV Edition) (Preaching the Word) (Kindle Locations 7511-7513). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

[3] Hughes, R. Kent. Luke (2 volumes in 1 / ESV Edition) (Preaching the Word) (Kindle Locations 7516-7518). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

[4] Gary M. Burge and Andrew E. Hill. The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary (Kindle Locations 30916-30921). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[5] Anyabwile, Thabiti. Exalting Jesus in Luke (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (Kindle Locations 3897-3901). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[6] Gary M. Burge and Andrew E. Hill. The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary (Kindle Locations 30922-30924). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Reigniting Your Passion for Christ (A study of gospel of Luke) Prayer 101 by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 3/5/2017