Jesus on Prayer

 Read Luke 11.

Though He was God in the flesh, Jesus carved out time to regularly talk to God the Father.  He set an example for the disciples to follow.  They saw and heard Jesus pray.  On this occasion, one of them asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."

1. The Model (vv.2-4)
Verses two through four were not the praying words of our Lord.  It was a lesson on prayer.  He had no sins for which to seek forgiveness.  So, this is not the Lord's prayer.  He never prayed it.  A lengthy prayer of Jesus is found in John 17.  Though memorizing and quoting Scripture is certainly commendable, there is no instruction that these verses were to be repeated, word for word, as a prayer.  But this is a model, a lesson, in order for His followers to know some key elements to keep in mind when talking with the Father.

2. The Illustration (vv.5-8)
What is prayer like?  It is akin to a person going to a friend in the time of need.  The first lesson of prayer, then, is found in the word relationship.  In the model, the One we speak to is called "Father."  That indicates a personal, family relationship.  Here, in this example, Jesus used the word "friend."  There is such an established, personal, relationship that at any hour of the day or night, a person knows they can go this "friend" for help.

Jesus did not stop there.  He continued unpacking the illustration to highlight the need for persistence in prayer.  The purpose is not to keep on and on, saying the same thing over and over again, in order to talk God into something we want.  Rather, as followers of Jesus have discovered, persistence in prayer hones our own willingness to accept and trust of what God wants.  Most often, God has a very different timetable than we do.  At other times, He has something far better for us than what we originally wanted.  Persistence in prayer requires time, a surrendered heart, and spiritual work.

3. The Principles (v.9-13)
With each key word describing the initiative and persistence of prayer comes a promise.
A-Ask.  How many times have we had a need and never stopped to talk to God about it?  The encouragement from Jesus is to ask!  Our heavenly Father wants us to bring our concerns to Him.  If we would do that, the promise is "it shall be given to you."

S-Seek.  How many times has the answer to our prayers been right in front of us but we did not see it immediately?  God wants us involved in the process.  Sometimes, His delays are for the purpose of motivating us to do our homework.  As Jesus said to the disciples in Mark 6, "How many loaves do you have?  Go and see."  He was not just going to hand them a miracle.  They would have learned nothing by doing so.  The promise is "you will find."  Once the disciples did the research, what they discovered was their total dependence upon Jesus to meet the needs they faced. 

K-Knock.  How many times have we prayed for something and then forgot about it?  That would be like looking at a door but never knocking.  This underscores again the need for persistence in prayer.  As our yielded hearts cast our dependence upon the Father, the Holy Spirit takes our burdens and translates them into the very will of God (Romans 8:26-27).  The promise of such praying is "it will be opened to you."

Then, Jesus closed the lesson on prayer by comparing our heavenly Father to a good and caring earthly father.  God knows "how to give good gifts" to His children.  Trust Him and see.