Lord, Teach Us To Pray

This morning, I am reading from Luke 11:1-13. I had a couple of meditations on these verses back in July and was looking back over them. Here are the verses and the meditations.

[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. ’ ”

[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!”

These are such interesting verses as they relate to prayer, especially when we realize that this is Jesus teaching His followers how they should approach the Father, in prayer. Looking at His teaching on prayer with a fresh eye we see:

1. Focus on the Name of the Father, bringing Him Glory and honor, recognizing that there is no other God, and He is wholly worthy of our praise.
2. A calling forth of the Kingdom of God - one would expect this would then result in its demonstration (healing, signs & wonders, deliverance, etc.)
3. A call for blessing and provision, in a very practical sense. God is not just interested in our spiritual condition, but also our natural condition.
4. Asking for forgiveness for those wrongs we have committed in our relationship with Him, and a commitment to forgive others for those wrongs they have committed against us. "Freely you have received, so freely give." (Matt 10:8)
5. Asking Him to guide and direct us and keep us on the correct path, to protect us from the deception of the enemy, and unhealthy pursuits of the flesh and the world. The Greek word can be literally translated trial - with both a positive and negative context. The idea is either that the Lord is testing our character and His work in us, or they are specifically designed to lead us to walk away from God and His plans, and thus from the enemy, or both.

After finishing this brief teaching, it seems Jesus tells His followers to persevere in prayer, almost to the point of obnoxiousness (verses 5-8). This is where it gets interesting, for He is teaching His followers how to approach the Father. I think that sometimes we misunderstand these particular verses, because these verses are really to help us to understand the character of the Father, not teach us to persevere in asking, for He isn't anything like the friend Jesus mentions. Jesus is using the story of the friend, who won't help until you just keep banging on their door, to illustrate that the Father isn't anything like them. The real focus is the attitude we should come with when we go to the Father. The NIV translates it shameless audacity, other translations use the word persistence. I like shameless audacity, for that is how I see the Lord wants us approach Him in the confidence of knowing Him. There is no shame in recognizing and our admitting our need, nor in going to the one who can really meet my needs.

Next, the Lord goes us simple directions, ask, seek knock, depending on your particular need. He has established that the character of God is completely different than the character of man, and where a man might give us something if we ask many times, the Father will always. There's is no hesitancy, no waffling, no extensive questioning from the Father. There is no misunderstanding, no bait and switch, no shaming, no rejecting, just answering our need.

Our Father is so much more capable, so much more loving and so much more faithful than any person we have ever met, even the best earthly father. If we can received good things that we need from these types of people, who are sinful and limited at their best, how much more will our Father in Heaven, the one who created us, loves us and has a plan for us, give us exactly what we need. We don't need to be ashamed when we come to Him in our need, we don't need to fear His answer, we just need to ask, seek and knock, and He will deliver.

This is all related to the teaching on prayer, all to help us understand how to approach the Father in prayer. He loves us, and desires the best for us. Let us approach Him with shameless audacity, knowing that He is indeed that good and that faithful.

Continuing that meditation -

I had a very interesting time of insight on Luke 11, and had a bit more as I was thinking about it later, breaking the passage down and taking a different perspective about what is generally taught as the need to persevere in prayer. I am continuing on my thoughts around those verses - how I really think we have generally been focused on the wrong thing.

Luke 11:5-10 NIV
[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."

So, Jesus has just finished teaching them to pray using something we call the "Lord's Prayer". To further clarify this teaching, He uses the example above. So I was thinking about why He used this specific example., and figured there must be some things that we often overlook if we always thought this next story was about persevering in prayer.

First, the assumption that Jesus makes is that you have a need. It is not a big need, but one that is based out of a desire to be hospitable. I was thinking about the fact that Jesus could have used any example of need, but chose to use this, one that is not critical, one that doesn't even involve our own needs. We wouldn't need the bread for ourselves, but for a visiting friend. However important the need, the attitude of the one asking is not even apologetic, and that is the point. There is an expectation, and understanding that this need is one that will be met, no apologies needed. It is as if this was a common need, and everyone understood that of course you would be given bread if you needed it. The timing is the only questionable thing.

Second, why would we go to any friend in the middle of the night for bread? The answer is actually pretty simple, its because we would know that he had bread! You wouldn't be wondering if he had bread, especially if it was the middle of the night and you just keep knocking. You kept knocking because you had no doubt that this person had bread. So your attitude is simply that you won't leave until he gives you what you want, and what you know he has available. You know that he will give you as much as you need, no doubt about.

Third, Jesus calls it shameless audacity that wins you the bread. That is exactly what I just described, no shame, no apologies in asking, and an absolute certainty that the bread would be provided. This is the real focus of what Jesus is talking about - the attitude of the one in need, not the attitude of the one with the bread. In other words, Jesus is giving us direction about our attitude, as we approach the Father - and calls it shameless audacity. We could just as easily call it expectant faith.

Fourth, I was just thinking that another similar example would be sitting at the table when your father is distributing the food and you hand him your plate. There would be no shame in handing him your plate because you know that he has food that he is giving out, and you are his son or daughter. You would not be ashamed of your hunger, its only natural, and you wouldn't be apologetic about asking for something that was a given. You would however be thankful for the food.

Fifth, I think Jesus was contrasting the heart of the one who was asked for the bread, and comparing him to the Father. The Father is in no way like this friend and He does not require perseverance, or incessant asking. He does not sleep, or grow weary, (Is 40:28) but is always watching over us ready to respond (PS 18:6; PS 34:15). So to contrast, if we need to continue knocking to get bread from the friend, in contrast the Father will respond immediately. If the man is in bed too tired to answer, in contrast the Father is waiting and listening and ready. If one persistent approach is required for the man, in contrast, we don't need to use that approach with the Father. Jesus was trying show us the Father's heart.

Finally, Jesus goes right from this story of going to friend in the middle of the night to telling us to ask, seek and knock. He is freshly applying the principles He just described, and simply calls us to approach the Father directly with our needs, whatever they may be. We should do so without shame, knowing that He has exactly what we need, and He loves to give us that very thing. Jesus doesn't add any qualifiers, or any conditions, and that is why I believe He was really talking about our heart condition and attitude toward the Father.

So let us be encouraged in prayer, in turning to the Father. Let us realize that He loves us and does not need to be convinced of our need, nor moved by our incessant asking. He will answer, will open the door and will direct us as we need. Let us repent for any wrong view we have of the Father and let us ask, seek and knock for what we need.