I am continuing my reading from Luke's Gospel, this morning moving over to Chapter 11. This section is where Jesus teaches the disciples to pray.
Luke 11:2-13 NIV:
[2]He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come (some manuscripts add: "your will be done on earth at it is in heaven") [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. ' ”
[5] Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; [6] a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.' [7] And suppose the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' [8] I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
[9] “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. [11] “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? [12] Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
I like these verses from Luke for they expand upon the teaching on prayer. The Lord didn't just teach them what we call the Lord's prayer, but continued on giving them greater understanding of their situation and the Father's heart. In fact you could almost look at this, starting at the end.
Starting at the end of the story, the understanding that Jesus points to is that what we really need is the Holy Spirit. The one who can meet this need is our Father in heaven. He is like our own earthly fathers in that when He gives us gifts He gives us that which we need and ask for, but He is much more good than our earthly fathers. He will meet our needs, He will answer if we ask, He will open if we knock, He will be found if we seek Him.
He will provide us with what we lack (story of the man and the bread). He will reward our shameless audacity. I did a study of this previously and the focus of His story is the heart of the one asking, not the reluctance of the one who is in bed. The one who asks for bread has nothing, but he knows where to get it, that is why he goes to his neighbor. This is about need and knowledge of where to go to get the need met. The Father is much more good, exceedingly beyond comprehension better than the man in the story. He has what we need (The Holy Spirit), so we can go to Him and ask Him, no matter how late.
Finally the purpose of this whole exercise was to teach them how to pray, how to converse with God the Father. The focus of our prayer should be to bring the Father Glory, acknowledging His awesomeness, and to ask for His will to be done here on earth, as it is already done in Heaven, an expansion of His Kingdom come to earth. We can't do this on our own, we need the Father to act, and we NEED the Holy Spirit to empower us. Because He is good, we can go to Him with expectant faith (shameless audacity is the same thing basically) and ask, knowing that He will provide what we need.
So let us be encouraged to pray, to seek, to ask, to knock, to go to the Father requesting more of the Holy Spirit, that we might see His Kingdom come to earth! He has instructed us how to pray, which means that He is waiting to meet us in this prayer. He instructed us to pray this way! Why? Because He intends to answer in this way.
I was just thinking of an example. I think that this is like the Father instructing us to ask Him for the $100 bill He is holding in His hand in front of our face. He instructs us to ask Him, and when we do He will give us what He is holding directly in front of us. It is clear what His intention is - to give us the $100, since He is holding it in plain sight. Which of us, in this example would doubt the will of the Father? We don't need to perform, or change or do anything other than ask, and He will give us what He intends to give us. This is exactly what Jesus was teaching here, that the Father is just waiting to pour out the Spirit to those that ask.
Amen Lord, I am asking!
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