The Posture of A Proper Prayer

Luke 11:1–13 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And 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 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” 5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell 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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 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!”

Jesus is regularly seen praying throughout His life throughout the Gospels

Luke & Acts Commentary

(3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28–29; 10:21; 23:46)

The disciples notice this and they want to learn from His example.

Lord, teach us to Pray

Right at the start, we need to make a few simple, yet crucial observations.

Jesus has been praying again in this passage. He frequently teaches by example, and the disciples have many opportunities to observe Jesus’ prayer life, as do we, in Luke’s record, which in turn prompts His disciples to want to pray and ought to prompt us to do so as well.

Notice first of all in this instance, the disciple does not ask to be taught how to pray, but rather, that He will teach them to pray. This is a subtle difference, but one that is important to recognize.

You see this is important because the difference is the difference between religion and relationship. Religion is easily accomplished though outward acts, without a proper heart. God’s desire, is to help us to comprehend His goodness and righteousness, and to have a relationship with Him, which transforms us and causes us to worship and adore Him and Him alone.

Luke 11:2 ESV

2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

So here in Luke 11, Jesus is teaching them to pray. In His explanation of “When you pray, say” He is not so much giving the to specific words to say, He is guiding them or showing them the heart and attitude that is necessary for prayer.

Proper Prayer is coming to God to seek His will and seek His way, with a heart of worship.

Prayer is not merely the recitation of vain words, nor is it simply offering a wish list of wants, or a checklist of demands.

Secondly we should also note that Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer is slightly different, as are some of the manuscripts we have of Luke’s Gospel.

These variations in no way alter the overall message, but simply highlight some aspects of a “proper prayer” more than another.

Matthew may be recording a completely different instance of instruction from Jesus, or Luke may have, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, recorded Christ’s prayer more succinctly. The message does not change, though Matthew’s account gives a more broad and descriptive picture. Luke’s record, again as He was supernaturally moved by the Holy Spirit, is more focused on certain aspects of the prayer. This seems to be quite consistent in the disciples writing styles throughout both of their texts.

Luke lists five pleas, requests, statements, confessions that Jesus described as being necessary for us to be taught to pray to the Father.

That is also of importance. We pray to the Father, in the name of the Son.

Say, “Father . . .”

It would be a grave error to skip over this very important identifying title that Jesus begins the illustrative prayer with.

The God of the universe, desires that we know and trust that He is our Heavenly Father. I will suggest that the adjective “Heavenly” ought to offer comfort to those whose earthly fathers were less than exemplary in their God given responsibilities as a father.

Jesus illustrates the importance of God as our Father in the parable following the illustrative prayer.

Luke 11:5–7 ESV

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?

The parable which follows Christ’s illustrative prayer, is about two men. One is asking for bread, the other is in bed.

The culture wherein Christ was speaking is particularly important for us to understand, as it greatly differs from our culture today.

Today, we would be offended if a friend came to our house in the middle of the night to ask for some food, especially in an area where food is available at a store or restaurant that is open 24/7. We however would not be so offended if a friend showed up with an emergency need, that we could lend assistance.

The middle eastern culture of this time would have allowed the listener to fully comprehend Jesus’ point as almost being somewhat rhetorical.

A host would be shamed if he could not supply food to a guest, and a friend would to all within his power to avoid the shame of not helping the friend in need.

The point of this is we need to see God in contrast to the second man. God is far more loving and able to meet our needs than a neighbor sleeping in his bed, who might have some bread, that we can feed to our guests.

Luke 11:8–13 ESV

8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell 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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 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!”

“Father, Hallowed be Your name.”

Father, may your name be:

Sanctified/ Preserved as worthy of adoration and praise.

Preserved as Holy/Consecrated or Dedicated as Sacred/

Regarded as Righteous.

Name= His title/Reputation/office/Fame/ The understanding of His character, the sum total of all His glorious attributes.

As we come to God with the attitude and desire to more fully know, comprehend and worship Him we are praying as we should.

This happens by our heart’s desire to know and to acknowledge His infallible being as He is revealed to us in His Word by the Holy Spirit.

Proper prayer begins as we seek to gain a correct comprehension of God.

“We must think worthily of God. It is morally imperative that we purge from our minds all ignoble concepts of the Deity and let Him be the God in our minds that He is in His universe.… That God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible. The high honor of God is first in heaven as it must yet be in earth.” A.W. Tozer Knowledge of the Holy

John the Baptist said this of Christ’s words . . . in John 3

John 3:33 ESV

33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

Luke 11:2 ESV

2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

“Your Kingdom Come”

God’s Rule/Reign/Domain

We are living in a culture where the dominate worldview is such that it no longer recognizes the existence of “any higher power” let alone the One True God. I truly believe we need to be prepared to forfeit our “good standing” in society, if we are going to welcome the Kingdom of God in our lives and live as He commands us to live, and as we stand up for TRUTH.

Every knee will bow, Every tongue will confess- May we bow to His governing authority now, and do so with a willing heart, not regretfully admitting His rightful reign in hindsight. As we pray, we are told to pray for His Kingdom, His will to be done and we are admitting that there is a battle, a spiritual battle that is ongoing.

In a proper prayer, we acknowledge God the Father’s kingdom is the kingdom we wish to see ruling and reigning, which happens when His will is being done.

Next we are shown, the need to recognize God as our provider and sustainer.

Luke 11:3 ESV

3 Give us each day our daily bread,

“Give us, this day, our daily bread . . .”

Our daily bread, today, for the present day, the portion that will supply our need right now. Jesus doesn’t teach a name it and claim it, prosperity Gospel. He instead suggests that we ask God for the basic necessity for life, which comes from God, as does anything else we have for that matter.

When we grasp the truth that God is our provider and that His provision and portion control is perfect, what joy and contentment it brings.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain!”

Luke 11:4 ESV

4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

“Forgive us our debts . . .”

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

“For we ourselves, forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

They are told to state this as a matter of fact. Our part of forgiving those who have trespassed against us is past tense. It is virtually impossible for one who has been forgiven of their sins to choose to withhold forgiveness from another. Parable of the two debtors (one who was forgiven a huge debt, chooses not to forgive a very small debt).

Luke 11:4 ESV

4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Lead us not into temptation

In asking that He won’t lead us into temptation, we are in essence seeking a hedge of protection around us, from the wiles of the devil! It confesses that God is our shelter from the onslaught of the devil’s schemes.

James says, God cannot be tempted, nor does He tempt anyone.

Even as Christ is drawing very near to the cross He expresses the disciples need to pray for themselves in this manner. This is a confession of humility and weakness.

Luke 22:40 ESV

40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

As we pray, asking God to keep us from being lead into temptation, we are admitting, that we can’t handle the temptation. We won’t resist it as Christ was able to.

Proper Prayer explained

Prayer when it is done inside this framework, will be effective in its purpose. When it comes to our prayers, the purpose not always as it seems and Jesus knew that was the case for His disciples and for us, so He that is why He explained this through the parable in verses 5-10ff.

Christ’s lesson here is that GOD is undeniably, more than a just a friend we can go to for some bread in the middle of the night. God is more than willing and more than able to give us all that we need and He will do so. His name will not be shamed, He will give us what we need, when we need it.

The Posture of A Proper Prayer

As we approach God, speaking to Him:

Humbly, Confidently, Expectantly

Prayer, that is Proper Prayer, will only happen in the following way.

As we see God as Sovereign, as above us. When we see our need for His help and as we believe in His divine nature. All powerful, all knowing, eternally righteous, loving and just who will not allow His name to be shamed!

Prayer that Christ exemplified and taught us is prayer that lacks any manipulative or convincing arguments. We are no longer orphans fending for ourselves, we are God’s beloved and cherished children, and our Father earnestly desires to give us what is best for us. He knows us and our needs better than we know ourselves or perceive our needs to be.

Luke 11–17: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 5: Jesus’ Pattern for Every Prayer—Part 5: God’s Promise (Luke 11:5–13)

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Prayer, Proper Prayer gives us a correct understanding of God.

That very fact teaches us to pray. Because in the very act of praying a proper prayer, we come to know Him more clearly and fully.

Poem, Author unknown-

I cannot say OUR - if my religion has no room for others and their needs. I cannot say FATHER - if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my  daily living. I cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN - if all my interests and pursuits are In  earthly things. I cannot say HALLOWED BE THY NAME - if I who am called by His name am not  holy. I cannot say THY KINGDOM COME - if I am unwilling to surrender my own sovereignty, and accept the righteous reign of God. I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE - if I am resentful of God's will in my  own daily life. I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN - unless I am truly ready to  give myself to His service, here and now. I cannot say GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, - without expending honest  effort for it, or if I ignore the genuine needs of my neighbour. I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR SINS AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US,-  if I continue to hold a grudge against anyone at all. I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION- if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted. I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL - If I am not prepared to fight in the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer. I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM - If I do not give the King the disciplined obedience of a loyal subject. I cannot say THINE IS THE GLORY - If I am seeking my Personal glory first. I cannot say FOREVER - If I am overly anxious about the affairs of  today. I cannot say AMEN - If I cannot honestly say :-"This is my prayer, cost whatever it may!"

The Lord’s Prayer song/video, (time permitting)