notes on prayer from Luke 11

We must have a teachable spirit. This should be a desire of ours. We should seek to pray as the Lord would want us to. That is what these 12 men come to ask Jesus about in Luke 11

1-desire to pray

Luke 11:1 NKJV
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.”

So here the Lord is praying and His desciples come to Him and ask Him to teach them. Our Christian walk is all about this. We are desiring to learn the will of the Lord and apply it to our lives and there are those that desciple after us desiring also to learn from example and apply to their lives. We are descipling our children . They could have come to Jesus and asked Him to teach them to do miracles or feed the many but they knew instead that this is where the power really begins. If Our Savior fell to His knees to speak to the Father, should we not also place as high a level of importance on this practice? Allow the Lord to stir this on your heart today. Spend time in prayer and grow a hunger for this in your life.
2- the model for prayer.

Luke 11:2 NKJV
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.

When you think about the "list of rules" that we as Christians have, you have to at some point realize it just can't be done without Jesus. We cannot do what has been asked of us without a relationship with our God. Prayer is that. Prayer is part of your relationship. It is the conversation of your relationship with God. Think about the start of the prayer and just how personal saying, "Our Father" is. Think about the roles of a father. They protect, provide, train, instruct, discipline, comfort, guide, and so much more. This is personal.

Romans 8:15 NKJV
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

Abbas is translated as "daddy". Think about that.

Galatians 4:6 NKJV
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

Now in Matthew 6 we see also the importance of the location of God. He rules and reigns. Our problems can be overwhelming to us because we are in them, but stop and think about where He is and His perspective on our problems.

Matthew 6:9 NKJV
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

Also, note that we are beginning by remembering how holy the person we are speaking to is. He is hallowed and His kingdom is going to come.

Daniel 7:27 NKJV
Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’

And then in Luke 17 we are also told that this kingdom is within us now.

Luke 17:21 NKJV
nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

We are then reminded in our approach that we are not living for nor seeking in any way our will, but rather we are living for God's will to be done through us.

Luke 11:2 NKJV
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.

This living for someone else's will is difficult for many of us because we spend a lifetime in a world that teaches us to live for ourselves, but we are not asked to live for the will of someone we don't know if they're worthy or not. We are to live for the will of the One we can trust with every aspect of our life. HE IS TRUSTWORTHY. Now this first portion of prayer has been upwards and we come to the part where we can pray openly before Him about the daily needs. Ours and others.

Luke 11:3 NKJV
Give us day by day our daily bread.

Then we come to confession. Think about this part. Sin affects our closeness to God. It affects our relationship.

Luke 11:4 NKJV
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.”

In Psalm 32 we hear the result of David hardening his heart and keeping silent about his sin. He had to confess to keep the very life from being sucked out of him.

Psalm 32:3-5 NKJV
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah I cknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

So turn to the Lord in your prayer life and confess and receive forgiveness and also forgive others.

Do not be bitter and unforgiving. You are not entitled to be unforgiving. Do not allow the 1000 reasons we can all think of not to forgive become a priority over being warm hearted and loving. Be forgiving and release whatever you have held on to against others. Be freed from that stronghold.

Then we see the plea for deliverance from sin. We know that we are in a spiritual battle. We need to ask of the Lord and trust in Him to fight with you and for you in this battle. Ask for deliverance from the enemies advances.

Now in looking at this prayer you may note how short and basic and to the point it is. This is a great model to follow. Make it personal to you. You don't have to pray for hours on end to effectively communicate with God. Though there's nothing wrong with that.

3-persistence in prayer.

Luke 11:5-8 NKJV
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; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 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’? 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.

Put this into real life application with how you seek God. Be persistent. Think about it, the man in the story listens to his friend not because he was a friend but because he was so persistent (perhaps even annoying.. LOL) but how much greater does the Lord desire to hear us and answer our prayers as his children who are diligently seeking after His will in our life?

Luke 11:9-10 NKJV
“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. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Keep asking. Keep knocking and seeking. But don't by any means take a "name it and claim it" stance. Just because you are persistent doesn't mean you will get everything you pray for. There is a structure to understand; a motive; a reason behind the request that is know by our Father.

4-nature of prayer

Luke 11:11-13 NKJV
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? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 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!”

Be pure in motive seeking after His will. Know that we have a good and loving Father with good interest in mind.

Romans 8:32 NKJV
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?