Lord, teach me How to pray?

Life Application Bible Commentary, Luke Jesus Teaches His Disciples About Prayer / 11:1–13 / 134

When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without heart.

John Bunyan

When you pray, have it be with a heart that is without words rather than words with no heart.- John Bunyan

John Bunyan

This means that we can pray to God for others (the priestly anointing) and we can speak to people and to the spiritual realm about God and God's power in us (prophetic anointing) and we can command sickness and demons in the spiritual realm (the kingly anointing.)

ME/WE

One of the most common questions I hear from new Christians is “How do you pray”? There is no secret formula to praying. What I do know is that when you don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit will give you words. I remember when I was a new Christian, and I had the same question. How do you pray? I was involved in a young adults class that was very small. It would usually be three or four of us. The leaders name, was Daryl. He had no seminary training, wasn’t a pastor, just was someone who loved God, and loved people. You could really tell that, when he prayed. He prayed with such intimacy, that it would feel like heaven came down!

It was after this man, by his example, thats I learned how to pray!

Trans....Now, Jesus was asked by his disciples, to them they how to Pray...

4 (NIV)

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.

Background of the Lord’s Prayer(contrast w/ other account)

Life Application Bible Commentary, Luke Jesus Teaches His Disciples About Prayer / 11:1–13 / 134

Luke’s form of the Lord’s Prayer is shorter than Matthew’s (Matthew 6:9–13). Matthew has two extra petitions that Luke doesn’t mention. Many scholars believe Matthew’s version was older and therefore perhaps the original teaching, which Luke shortened. More likely they were two distinct prayers on two different occasions. Matthew’s prayer was taught to a general audience in connection with the Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s prayer was Jesus’ response to the disciples’ request for instruction. The differences in the prayers show that Jesus did not utter a rote prayer every time he prayed. Different occasions call for different utterances

Luke’s form of the Lord’s Prayer is shorter than Matthew’s (). Matthew has two extra petitions that Luke doesn’t mention. Many scholars believe Matthew’s version was older and therefore perhaps the original teaching, which Luke shortened. More likely they were two distinct prayers on two different occasions. Matthew’s prayer was taught to a general audience in connection with the Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s prayer was Jesus’ response to the disciples’ request for instruction. The differences in the prayers show that Jesus did not utter a rote prayer every time he prayed. Different occasions call for different utterances

3 Aspects of Prayer

It’s content (11:2-4), the believer’s persistence (11:5-10), and God’s Faithfulness (11:11-13)

The Content of Prayer(11:1-4)

THERE IS PRAISE IN PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name

Life Application Bible Commentary, Luke Jesus Teaches His Disciples About Prayer / 11:1–13 / 134

The phrase “Our Father in heaven” focuses on God as majestic and transcendent yet also personal and loving. His children desire to see his name hallowed. This refers to a commitment to honor God’s holy name. Christians, God’s children who bear his name, must be responsible to “hallow” God in every aspect of their lives. When believers pray for God’s name to be “hallowed,” they pray that the world will honor his name and look forward to the day when that will be a reality.

Jesus starts out his prayer with “Our Father in Heaven”. In prayer we need to address our creator as who He is. He is a loving father full of grace and truth. As God’s Children it’s our responsibility to “Hallow” God’s name in every aspect of our lives. Hallowed means to set a part and when we pray this we are saying that there is no other God. That our God reigns supreme!

THERE IS PURPOSE IN PRAYER

Let Your Kingdom come, your will be done

We see a sequence here. That if God’s name is set apart and honored in our lives, then naturally, Gods kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. The condition of our world shows us the disaster caused by the kingdoms that rival the kingdom of God. We pray that the rule of God will come and be realized in our lives and our world.

WE ARE TO PRAY FOR PHYSICAL NEEDS

Heer, K. (2007). Luke: A Commentary for Bible Students (p. 167). Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House.

Give us each day our daily bread

This shows that God cares about what happens in our every day lives. Praying for God to give us daily bread show a reliance and dependence upon Him. Some people have trouble praying for themselves. They look at it as selfish but, God tells us to love our neighbor as ourself. So a reluctance of personal prayer for ourselves is actually a dis-service to others.

When we pray for God to give us our daily bread, we are asking for more than just “bread”. Bread is a symbol that stands for all our needs. The physical, emotional, and spiritual. Bread gives us strength to walk, Bread stabilizes our emotions after losing a loved one, bread gives the parent patience to deal with a restless child.

We pray for daily bread, because we have daily needs!

WE ARE TO PRAY FOR SPIRITUAL NEEDS

Forgive us of our sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us

Luke: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition A Model Prayer

Any time we enter the presence of a holy God we are reminded of our lack of holiness. When Isaiah saw God on His throne and heard the angels calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory,” his immediate reaction was to cry out, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:1–5). We are all ruined and must throw ourselves on the mercy of God, who is gracious in forgiving us. Our fervent prayer is, “Father, forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). Of all of our wants and needs, forgiveness is our greatest need. We may think we can earn our daily bread by working hard, but there is no work we can do that will earn forgiveness. For that, we must throw ourselves on the mercy and grace of God.

Any time we enter the presence of a holy God we are reminded of our lack of holiness. When Isaiah saw God on His throne and heard the angels calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory,” his immediate reaction was to cry out, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (). We are all ruined and must throw ourselves on the mercy of God, who is gracious in forgiving us. Our fervent prayer is, “Father, forgive us our sins” (). Of all of our wants and needs, forgiveness is our greatest need. We may think we can earn our daily bread by working hard, but there is no work we can do that will earn forgiveness. For that, we must throw ourselves on the mercy and grace of God.

WE ARE TO PRAY FOR PROTECTION

and lead us not into temptation

Praying the Lord’s Prayer for Spiritual Breakthrough The Lord’s Prayer Can Help You Overcome Temptation

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are establishing a watchful attitude over your spiritual life. This is the same prayer Jesus gave to His disciples in the garden after He found them sleeping: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are asking for deliverance from both a crisis and a process. In referring to temptation, Jesus used the word peirasmos, which implies that temptation is a process. This means, Don’t put me into a place of seduction where I wrestle with temptation every day.

When a football team beats its cross-town rival, it does not have to beat them every day to be the best team. They schedule one game a year, and the winner is the best team. So when we pray the Lord’s Prayer in the face of temptation, we are praying, “Don’t allow us to be continually tempted by a particular sin.”

Life itself is a process. When we gain victory over one sin, another temptation always seems to be waiting to trip us up. Therefore, praying “Lead me not into temptation” is an appeal for God to enable us to go “from victory to victory.” We are praying, “Lord, give me a victory today”; and tomorrow you will pray again, “Lord, give me a victory today.”

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are also asking for deliverance in a crisis. Perhaps you have never been tempted to steal. Suppose, though, you had the opportunity to walk away with a million dollars … no one would know … absolutely no one would know … positively no way of getting caught. All you have to do is say a simple yes. When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are asking for deliverance from a massive crisis that would destroy your soul. You are asking for the courage to say no in a crisis.

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are like a night watchman who discovers a blazing inferno in the warehouse. He does not try to fight the fire himself, but runs to call the fire department to fight the fire. You also call for God’s help to face your own fires of temptation.

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are establishing a watchful attitude over your spiritual life. This is the same prayer Jesus gave to His disciples in the garden after He found them sleeping: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” ().

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are asking for deliverance from both a crisis and a process. In referring to temptation, Jesus used the word peirasmos, which implies that temptation is a process. This means, Don’t put me into a place of seduction where I wrestle with temptation every day.

When a football team beats its cross-town rival, it does not have to beat them every day to be the best team. They schedule one game a year, and the winner is the best team. So when we pray the Lord’s Prayer in the face of temptation, we are praying, “Don’t allow us to be continually tempted by a particular sin.”

Life itself is a process. When we gain victory over one sin, another temptation always seems to be waiting to trip us up. Therefore, praying “Lead me not into temptation” is an appeal for God to enable us to go “from victory to victory.” We are praying, “Lord, give me a victory today”; and tomorrow you will pray again, “Lord, give me a victory today.”

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are also asking for deliverance in a crisis. Perhaps you have never been tempted to steal. Suppose, though, you had the opportunity to walk away with a million dollars … no one would know … absolutely no one would know … positively no way of getting caught. All you have to do is say a simple yes. When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are asking for deliverance from a massive crisis that would destroy your soul. You are asking for the courage to say no in a crisis.

When you pray “Lead us not into temptation,” you are like a night watchman who discovers a blazing inferno in the warehouse. He does not try to fight the fire himself, but runs to call the fire department to fight the fire. You also call for God’s help to face your own fires of temptation.

Believers Persistence(11:5-10)

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4618 Take Three 15-Minutes

Take Three 15-Minutes

When Billy Sunday was converted and joined the church, a Christian man put his arm on the young man’s shoulder and said, “William, there are three simple rules I can give to you, and if you will hold to them you will never write “backslider” after your name.

“Take 15 minutes each day to listen to God talking to you; take 15 minutes each day to talk to God; take 15 minutes each day to talk to others about God.”

This young convert was deeply impressed and determined to make these the rules of his life. From that day onward throughout his life he made it a rule to spend the first moments of his day alone with God and God’s Word. Before he read a letter, looked at a paper or even read a telegram, he went first to the Bible, that the first impression of the day might be what he got directly from God.

Jesus gives us here a model for prayer. He tells us that we should address our prayers, that they have purpose, that we should pray for our physical as well as our spiritual needs and that we need to pray for God’s protection.

"If we don't want to experience God's closeness here on earth, why would we want to go to heaven anyway? He is the center of everything there. If we don't enjoy being in His presence here and now, then heaven would not be heaven for us. Why would He send anyone there who doesn't long for Him passionately here on earth?" (Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (Zondervan, 1997), pp. 58-59.)

How is your prayer life? Do you spend intimate time with the father daily?

Once a man was asked, “What did you gain by regularly praying to God?” The man replied, “Nothing…but let me tell you what I lost: Anger, ego, greed, depression, insecurity, and fear of death.” Sometimes, it’s not what we gain but, what we lose!

Gods Faithfulness(11:11-13)

God has called his church to be one of prayer to seek his face with their whole heart. God wants prayers that contain the weight of your heart more than the repetition of your words. God gave us the Lords Prayer not as a form of prayer but, as a model. We see here in Luke the content of prayer, the believers desired persistence, and God’s faithfulness for those who do so.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4618 Take Three 15-Minutes

Take Three 15-Minutes

When Billy Sunday was converted and joined the church, a Christian man put his arm on the young man’s shoulder and said, “William, there are three simple rules I can give to you, and if you will hold to them you will never write “backslider” after your name.

“Take 15 minutes each day to listen to God talking to you; take 15 minutes each day to talk to God; take 15 minutes each day to talk to others about God.”

This young convert was deeply impressed and determined to make these the rules of his life. From that day onward throughout his life he made it a rule to spend the first moments of his day alone with God and God’s Word. Before he read a letter, looked at a paper or even read a telegram, he went first to the Bible, that the first impression of the day might be what he got directly from God.