Vision365: Pray

Intro:

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.”

Last week, I introduced [Vision365]. God is calling us to ask ourselves the same four questions every day:

Have I prayed today?

Have I read my Bible today?

Do I need to fast today?

Have I lived for Jesus today?

We’re going to take the next few weeks and look at the need to: pray, read, fast, and live for Jesus. Then, toward the end of April we will dedicate 365 days to Jesus as a congregation.

Today, let’s focus on the need to pray everyday.

Why is it important to pray EVERYDAY?

I could ask, why should we commit to do ANYTHING every day?

For some reason, when I thought of this question, my mind went back to when I began piano lessons in the fifth grade. My teacher was strict about reading the notes and playing precisely what was on the page.

That was good to get me started, but I did not have aspirations to play Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven. I wanted to play in church. But I went along with the books and I practiced.

I quit after two years and took the limited knowledge I had and taught myself to play chords for church. I joined the youth worship team and eventually began playing the organ.

I would practice, over and over and over. Then in the ninth grade, I started lessons with a new teacher, Mr. Staton. He asked, what do you want to learn?

He tailor made the lessons for me. I picked the songs and we worked on them at my own pace. I played Southern Gospel, Hymns, Jazz, and Classical Arrangements.

Sometimes we would get stuck on a song for a long time, not because of my teacher, but because of me. There were weeks when I would practice everyday and then there were weeks when I had not practiced at all between lessons.

There was always a difference between those weeks and the teacher could tell. It was not until I lived in Salem that I was on the other side of that equation.

I gave lessons to one of the youth for a few months, which I do not do, because I am not a patient or nice teacher. We worked on the lesson and the next week I could tell she hadn’t practiced.

I said, Alex, you have natural talent, but you did not practice this week. She looked at me wondering how I could tell. I explained, I wasted a lot of time faking it and trying to get along. If you will take time EVERY DAY, you will get amazed at how you will grow.

As I have thought about dedicating EVERY DAY to God in prayer, my mind went to practicing the piano.

I have noticed a difference in my life when I make time to pray everyday, throughout the day and when my week has got busy.

Prayer is similar to developing a skill in that it takes daily effort, but prayer is vastly different in that prayer is our life source, our direct connection to God.

I still get amazed that when we pray, God Almighty, the One who sits on the throne in heaven, actually cares to listen to us. He longs to speak to us.

Prayer is our source of strength. Let’s think of what happens through prayer:

prayer saves the lost

prayer heals the sick

prayer empowers the believer

prayer encourages the discouraged

prayer changes situations

prayer connects us to God

I am thankful that we make prayer a priority in our church. We experience the presence of God in our services because of our commitment to pray.

But this message is not designed to explain the power of prayer, we know all about that. Instead, I want us to look at the importance of CONSISTENCY in prayer.

We know prayer works.

How often do we pray?

Is there a day that goes by that we do not pray?

Do we take time to pray throughout the day?

Are there moments in our day when we find ourselves praying just to be closer to Him?

Jesus modeled this type of lifestyle on earth. Over and over, we find Him praying.

Luke 5:16 NKJV

16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

Luke 6:12 NKJV

12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Luke 9:28 NKJV

28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

Luke 18:1 NKJV

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

Luke 22:41 NKJV

41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,

Luke 22:44 NKJV

44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus prayed every day and He prayed throughout the day. Let’s look at a conversation Jesus had with His disciples and look at the importance of praying EVERY DAY.

I have three points, [Request about Praying], [Requirements of Praying], and [Results of Praying].

Let’s begin

1. Request about Praying

Luke 11:1–4 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.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”

By this point, the disciples had followed Jesus for nearly two years. Once again, they found Jesus praying. One of them decided to ask Him, Lord, teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples.

In the first-century, it was normal for a rabbi to teach his disciples a prayer that they would memorize and repeat. It is likely that is what Jesus’s disciples wanted.

To their surprise, Jesus was less interested in them learning a written prayer and more interested in them knowing HOW to actually pray.

What led them to even ask Jesus to teach them to pray?

Jesus modeled a consistent prayer life. They knew He prayed for a number of reasons. One of those is they SAW and HEARD Him prayer.

Another reason was the effects of His prayer life. Even if they never saw Him bow to His knees, raise His hands, or lift His voice in prayer— the evidence of His prayer life was obvious.

Everything He accomplished was a result of His diligence in prayer. He prayed, and God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power.

They saw Jesus’s knew how to pray and they wanted to learn. Luke’s description of Jesus’s words are very similar to Matthew 6:9-13.

We call this the Lord’s Prayer. Should we read both passages side-by-side, we would see a little difference in the wording.

One of the differences is Matthew probably recorded Jesus speaking to a large crowd while Luke wrote what Jesus said to His disciples.

This prayer was never to be something we just memorize and repeat. Instead, Jesus outlined pattern on HOW to pray: praise, intercession, and request.

In our prayer life, we should take time to PRAISE our Father in heaven.

I try to discipline myself to spend much of my “prayer” time in praising and thanking God. If praise and worship consumed most of my time with God, that is okay.

He deserves ALL of our praise.

After praising, we intercede, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

After we’ve praised God, the Holy Spirit is present. The Spirit will intercede through us, praying on our behalf to the Father. Paul explains it this way:

Romans 8:27 NKJV

27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

My asking God for His will to be done, we’re aligning our lives with what God desires for us.

After praising and interceding, then we can bring our requests:

provision— our daily bread

forgiveness— our sins

forgiving— those who’ve hurt us

help in temptation

There is so much more to the Lord’s Prayer, but I want us to see that it came as a result of a request. The disciples wanted Jesus to each them how to pray.

After laying out an outline of HOW to prayer, He reinforced THAT we should pray by giving the...

2. Requirements of Praying

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.

Jesus provided a parable or an illustration to make His point. To fully understand what He meant, we need recognize something about Jewish culture.

Jewish law required hospitality. This was the problem for the man knocking at the door. He had an unexpected visitor come at midnight and he had no food to give him.

The man goes to his neighbor and knocked on the door. He needed three loaves of bread to feed the out of town guest. The man in the house was not interested in getting up to help.

The disciples would have understood how the houses looked back then. If someone came to our house at midnight for a loaf of bread, they would beat on the door and I would get up, walk down the hall, and get to the front door and ask, WHO IS IT?

The home of the man in the parable would not have had a house with rooms, hallway, kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Instead, the house would have the family sleeping upstairs and likely the animals asleep downstairs.

When the man tells him do not trouble me, my kids are in bed with me and I cannot get down to you, he was serious.

He would have to get up, light a lamp, which would wake the kids, stir the animals, and probably ruin the rest of their evening.

In the illustration Jesus used, eventually, the man did get up, give the three loaves of bread to his neighbor.

Why did he do this?

Was it because of his good hearted nature?

No, Jesus tells it was because of the PERSISTENCE of the man at the door.

In the original language, the word persistence means shameless and bold.

What is Jesus trying to say?

In prayer, we have permission to be shameless and bold. The parable is less about the man in the house and more about the man who beat at the door.

Sometimes in prayer, God answers us immediately. Then there are the needs that we pray about over and over and over. If we are not careful, we will listen to the whispers of Satan who seeks to discourage us.

Why do you keep praying about that need?

People are going to wonder what is wrong with you?

You have asked before and you did not get an answer?

Jesus refutes those lies from Satan and tells us BE PERSISTENT, SHAMELESS, AND BOLD.

The disciples had a request from Jesus, teach us to pray. One of the requirements of prayer is to KEEP PRAYING. When we do, we will find the...

3. Results of Praying

Luke 11:9–13 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. 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!”

Jesus gives us full permission to pray, persistently and consistently. He instructs to ask, seek, and knock.

The disciples wanted to learn to pray, here was Jesus’s summary, great results come from those who do not give up in their daily prayer life.

There is twofold responsibility in this passage, our part and God’s part.

We are to ask for God to do what only He can do.

If WE ask, THEN God will answer.

We are to seek for something that only God can provide.

If we seek, then God will help us find what we need.

WE are to knock on the door that only God can open.

If we knock, THEN God will open the door to our request.

What a promise, we do our part and God will do His part!

I love what Jesus says next. He makes it personal, He tries to get the disciples to see prayer from the perspective of the Father.

If they, the disciples, had their son ask for bread, fish, or eggs, would they give them, rocks, snakes, or scorpions?

Of course not. If imperfect parents know how to take care of their children, HOW MUCH MORE does the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

Notice what Jesus is doing, He gave two stories back to back about prayer.

At first glance, they might have compared God to the man in bed who did not want to get up and give the bread. To make sure they did not have this flawed perspective of God, Jesus shows them, the FATHER is READY to answer their prayers and meet their needs.

First, God is not begrudging and stingy with us. Instead, He is willing and ready to meet our needs. WE have to ask. And in HIS timing, He will answer.

Second, who does He give in result to our requests?

The Holy Spirit. The results of praying EVERYDAY is the promise that the Spirit will walk with us, lead us, guide us, talk to us, direct us, encourage us, help us, and empower us.

When we think of prayer from that perspective, Paul’s words make a little bit more sense:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV

17 pray without ceasing,

That does not mean to kneel down at an altar 24/7. That means to live with the constant awareness that GOD IS ALWAYS there through the Holy Spirit.

So we can talk to Him at any time, no matter what, no matter when, He is always there, ready to communicate with us.

Close:

This message is not about the concept of prayer, for we know that prayer works.

Instead, I read Luke 11 to answer the question of WHY should we pray everyday?

Prayer is God’s means of communicating with us.

The God of the universe wants to speak to us. How often does He want to talk with us? Every day.

Let us be like the disciples, Jesus, teach us how to pray. When we do, He will show us what He requires and the results.

He requires persistence. Let us shamelessly and boldly keep asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer. As we do, He will generously answer us.

Do we agree, we need to pray every day?

But what happens if we do not?

We have looked at prayer from the perspective of US calling on God and Him always standing ready to spend time with us.

What about the opposite, are there time when Jesus longs to hear from us, but we do not want to answer.

Revelation 3:20 NKJV

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Jesus spoke these words to the Church in Laodicea. They were the type of Christians who seemed to have everything they needed. Because of their busy schedules and their increased wealth and prosperity, they determined they really didn’t need anything from God.

Think of the picture of Jesus, standing on the outside knocking, just wanting to come in and visit with His people.

There is another reason we should pray every day. Not just because it helps us, but because it is God’s sincere desire to SPEND TIME WITH US.

I have shared these lyrics before, but I want to again.

There He was just waiting, In our old familiar place An empty spot beside Him, Where once I used to wait To be filled with strength and wisdom For the battles of the day I would have passed Him by again If I didn't hear Him say

I miss my time with you Those moments together I need to be with you each day And it hurts Me when you say You're too busy, Busy trying to serve Me But how can you serve Me When your spirits empty There's a longing in My heart Wanting more than just a part of you It's true, I miss My time with you

What will I have to offer How can I truly care My efforts have no meaning When Your presence isn't there But You'll provide the power If I take time to pray I'll stay right here beside You And You'll never have to say.

Do we live in such a way where God misses HIS time with US.

Prayer is for us, but it is ABOUT God.

We should check ourselves every day, have I prayed today?

Not because prayer is a religious duty we need to fulfill, but because prayer is our means of communicating the LIFE Himself.