02-25-2024 – “Jesus Teaches Us How to Pray”
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February 25, 2024
“Jesus Teaches Us How to Pray”
Read Luke 11:1-4… Notice (verse 1), Jesus just finishing praying, and one of His disciples asks Him to teach them to pray, not just any old way, but “as John (John the Baptizer) also taught his disciples.”
John the Baptizer, was, according to Luke 3:4, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight” (pp. Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3), all of which are quoted from Isaiah 40:3.
Jesus’ older cousin John was a prophet; in fact, he was the last prophet of the OT, and the first prophet of the NT, John had a following of disciples, who evidently prayed to God the way you should pray to God; not like the Pharisees, who prayed with many words and in a showy fashion, so as to elevate themselves.
Luke 18:11-14, “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
John’s followers had been to taught to pray more reverently and fervently, along the line of what we read in the Psalms.
Psalm 5:1-7, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, at Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.”
Psalm 116:1-2, “I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.”
Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”
Back to Luke 11:1… This is not the first time the Lord has given instruction on how those who believe in Him ought to pray. And remember, the present chronology here in Luke is near the last 6 months of Jesus’ life before going to the cross. However, toward the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), where Jesus taught His followers how to pray.
Matthew 6:5-8, “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
Prayer that honors God should focus on who God is and on the relationship God has with those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, as Savior and Lord.
The Lord’s Prayer should not be recited in mechanical repetition, but with thanksgiving, and in alignment with the expressed will of God.
John 16:23, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.”
Ephesians 6:18, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit.”
Philippians 4:4-7, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”
1Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Nowhere in the NT is a prayer repeated or used in a repetitious or ritualistic manner. God knows what we need, we don’t have to try and convince or coerce God, for He knows our needs and provides for us..
Back to Luke 11…. Luke’s narrative is much shorter than Matthew's narrative, concerning the Lord’s teaching on how we are to pray. Notice again, Luke 11:2, “And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.” This prayer is between two persons, God the Father and one of God’s children, one who has been born-again by the Spirit of God in response to genuine faith in God’s Son.
You will not find any prayer in the Old Testament that addresses God as Father; in fact, the Jews never called God their Father.
Once Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath (John 5), and the religious leaders began to persecute Jesus, to which Jesus responded (verse 17), “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” And John records (verse 18), “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”
John 10:30-33, Jesus said, “‘I and the Father are one.’ The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus [said], ‘I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?’ The Jews answered Him, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.’”
In the New Testament, God is called Father over 60 times in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), and in John’s Gospel God is referred to as Father over 100 times.
The Greek word for father is pater, but the religious leaders of the Jews spoke Aramaic, using the word abba, a very intimate and endearing term of family love that is still used in Hebrew families today. And so, in Christ’s instruction here in Luke 11:2, Jesus addresses God as Father, as should we.
God is the Creator of all but only the Father of His children through spiritual birth (See 1Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 3:26-29; Romans 4:3,13).
John 1:12-13, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
We become children of God though faith in God’s Son to save us, and we are to then pray Luke 11:2a, for God’s kingdom to come. How does God’s kingdom come? One saved soul at a time, for every time a person repents of their sin and trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, the kingdom of God is expanded.
In Matthew 6:10, Jesus tells us to pray to the Father, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” There is no sin in heaven, it is God’s perfect and sinless domain; although, here on earth, God is allowing sin and Satan to exist, but sin and Satan will end exactly when God has determined, according to HIs sovereign will.
2Peter 3:3-7, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’ For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
2Peter 3:11-13, “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
God wants everyone to repent, believe and be saved, and to spend eternity with Him in heaven (1Timothy 2:3-4), “God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
We have everything we need to help advance God’s kingdom by sharing the message of Christ with everyone who will listen.
God is a loving Father who desires to provide for his children (Matthew 7:7-8), “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” 11, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
God desires intimate relationship with His children through His Word, His Spirit, and through prayerful communion with Him. And so, God encourages us to come to Him in prayer and to (1Thessalonians 5:17) “pray without ceasing.”
We are pray for God to (Luke 11:3), “Give us each day our daily bread.” Not our weekly bread or monthly bread, but our “daily” provision, and so, we are to petition God to supply our needs through Jesus Christ as we come to Him daily.
God our Father is Holy and deserving to be worshipped; we express our worship of Him by sharing the message of forgiveness for sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ; and so, as we do that, we help to advance His kingdom here on earth, as it is in heaven.
In Luke 11:4a we are told to pray for God to forgive our sins (1John 1:9), “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (Romans 10:13), “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved,” 17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
As Christians, we have received God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, when He paid our sin debt to God in full, when He cried out, “Tetelesti!” Meaning it is finished or completed, full payment has been rendered and accepted by God the Father for our sin; and therefore we ought to love others and forgive them for any offenses they have committed against us.
Sin is our greatest enemy, therefore, we confess our sinfulness to God, and He forgives us completely, for all our sins (Hebrews 10:17), “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
In Luke 11:4b, we are told to pray for God to "lead us not into temptation.” What does that mean? I believe we should pray for God to protect us from trials that could turn into temptations, knowing that God tempts no man, but He does allow us to be tested.
James 1:13-14, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”
1Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
We are to pray for God to place a guard over and around our eyes, ears, mouth, feet, and hands -- so that, wherever we go, whatever we do, we will not give in and do that which is sinful. We need God’s help to avoid the influence of world, the devil, and our own flesh, and so we confess our need for God’s protection and deliverance from sin.
We must recognize and acknowledge that God has granted us everything we need for life on earth and life in heaven, everything we need to know Him, love Him, serve Him, and declare Him to everyone who will listen.
2Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
2Peter 1:3-4, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
God loves us and allows us to experience His love now and forever; and so, we pray to Him continually, always giving praise, glory, and honor, to His Name, His Kingdom, and His Will, thanking Him for the forgiveness and eternal life we have received. “For His is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen!”
Pastor Mike Hale
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