Learning How to Pray Luke 11:1-13

Learning How to Pray  Luke 11:1-13

Christian Assembly

September 30, 2007

Larry Craig 

            I am always intrigued when I hear a guest speaker in a church.  They are usually there for one sermon, and I want to know what one thing they want to tell us.  If you had to preach a sermon in a church, one sermon, what would it be on? 

When a preacher is in that position, there are generally two options.  One is to pray and ask God to lay a specific passage on their heart, believing that this passage is the appropriate message for that congregation at that time.

            The other option is to simply ask that question: if you had one thing to say, what would it be? 

            The first two weeks I was here, I asked God what I should preach on, and given the time frame I had to get an answer, I preached what I thought I should.  The sermons were good foundational sermons that could be developed into a series, if that possibility existed.

            These next two weeks I thought I would use the other approach: If I had two things to say, what would they be?  These two topics are both topics on which I have written books, so whatever I say this morning will just introduce you to some big subjects.

            In Luke 11:1, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.  Do you find that strange?  After all, what is there to teach?  Isn’t prayer just talking to God?  If you haven’t been taught to pray, how does that affect your prayers?  Does it make any difference?  What differences would it make?

            If God just gives you what His will is anyway, what do our prayers have to do with the outcome?  Imagine two people in similar circumstances.  One was taught how to pray and one was not.  If they both prayed about their situations, would they both receive the same answer, or would the person who was taught how to pray receive a    ‘better’ answer?

            I would not presume that one sermon will teach you everything you need to know about prayer, but I do believe there are some important principles here that are rarely taught.   Luke 11:1-13

I.  Daily, early prayer  11:3

            The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, and He does.  He doesn’t correct them; He doesn’t tell them that it is unnecessary.  He just does it.

            He begins by saying ‘Whenever’ you pray.  I can’t imagine that He wants us to repeat this prayer verbatim every time we pray, and that is all we pray.  I do believe that whatever else we say in our prayers, this prayer should be a basic part of it.  How can it not be? 

            I’ve heard people say that if you say the same prayer over and over, it loses its meaning.  That’s up to you.  It depends on whether you think the prayer actually makes a difference.   There are many things that we do everyday, things that we can do without thinking, but we don’t. 

            When I was driving to work, I would take the same route everyday.  I could drive there in my sleep.  But I didn’t.  I knew I had to stay alert, even though I didn’t have to think about where I would turn and how I would get there.  I brush my teeth everyday.  I am actually caring for my teeth, and I want to protect them, so I brush my teeth consciously.  I do dishes everyday.  And if I don’t pay attention, I get feedback that they were not cleaned sufficiently. 

            When you are praying this prayer, you are praying for things in the will of God, and God will answer your prayer. 

For now I want to single out the petition  Give us this day our daily bread.  If God told you to do something and you didn’t do it, would it matter, would it make a difference?

A disciple asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, and Jesus said, whenever  ( àOtan)  you pray, say: to\n aÃrton h(mw½n to\n e)piou/sion di¿dou h(miÍn to\ kaq' h(me/ran: 

What if we don’t pray this?  Will we still get it?  And if so, why did Jesus say we had to pray it? Would Jesus tell us to pray for our daily bread if it was automatic?  Would Jesus tell us to pray for our daily bread if God was going to give it to us anyway, if our praying for it didn’t really affect whether we were going to get it or not?

.           And if we don’t get it, can we say that it was God’s will for us not to receive it?

            But let’s break in here for a second and ask what is our daily bread?  I find 4 references in the Bible as to what bread can mean here.

The first meaning for food would obviously be physical food, physical provision.    

Bread is also used to speak of our spiritual life.  In John 6:32-25, 59, Jesus said that He is the Bread of Life.  He that comes to Him shall never hunger, and He that believes in Him shall never thirst.

There is the Book of Sirach, an ancient Hebrew book that was a part of the Greek Old Testament.  It speaks of the bread of understanding and the water of wisdom.  Other Scriptures tell us that we should ask for wisdom.  James 1:5

And lastly there is Matthew 15:26, when a woman who was not an Israelite asked for healing and deliverance for her daughter, and Jesus told her that this was the children’s bread.

So bread can be spoken broadly of as your basic human needs, whether food, physical health, or spiritual health.

            So, like we said, Jesus said that we should ask for these things, whenever we pray. 

            But wait a second.  Jesus called this our daily bread.  There is no question in my mind that He was referring His listeners back to a story in the Old Testament.  In Exodus 16, when the Israelites were traveling to their new home in Israel, they had to pass through a wilderness. 

            Every morning, God would leave manna on the ground for the people to gather for food.  They had to go out early in the morning, before the sun got, to gather what they needed for the day.  If they did not go out, they would not have any for the day.  If they gathered a little, it would last for the day.  If they gathered a lot, it would just be enough.  If they tried to keep some for the next day, it would spoil.  So every day, early in the day, they had to go out and gather what they needed.

            Jesus is saying that everyday, early in the day, you are to go to God and ask for your daily bread.  Did you do that already today?  Why not?  He told you to do it.  Will it make a difference whether you will get it or not?  If it doesn’t, why would He tell us to do it?  And if it does make a difference and you don’t ask for it, will you always receive it?  And if you don’t, would that be God’s fault, or I mean, God’s will for you?  After all, He told you to do it. 

            But there’s more.

II.        Preventive Prayer

                        This same prayer says that we are to pray for our bread daily also tells us to pray Deliver us from evil¹.

            This Lord’s Prayer is found twice in the New Testament.  Here and in Matthew 6.  The earliest texts that we have of Luke end the prayer where it says Lead us not into temptation, but we have this same prayer given by Jesus on another occasion which includes this phrase.  We can speculate on why the two texts are different, and the answer is only that, speculation. 

 So this means, everyday, early in the day, we are to pray for deliverance from evil.  Did you pray today for God to deliver you from evil?  Why not?  He told you to.  If you don’t pray this prayer, might you experience evil today that God did not want you to experience?  After all, He told you to pray for it.  And why would He tell you to pray for it, if it didn’t make a difference whether you did it or not?

            Now some translations say ‘Deliver us from the evil one.’  And that is a legitimate translation based strictly on grammar. 

[1] Out of context, this verse can be translated three different ways.  Grammatically, the expression a)po\ tou+ ponhrou= can be  understood either as ‘from (that which is) evil’, ‘from the Evil One (the devil)’, or even just as ‘the evil person.’    Traditionally in the West, this has been understood as ‘from evil.’  In the East, as ‘from the Evil One.’  Elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel,  o( ponhro/j  (ho po – nay – ros’) occurs twice at least where it refers to the devil   (13:19, 38). 

So the question is: is the prayer a prayer for protection from evil in general or for protection from the devil?  Obviously a prayer for protection from evil would include protection from the Evil One, but not necessarily vice versa, depending on your theology. 

            I accept the more general ‘evil,’ for two overlapping reasons.  I believe the theme of protection from evil is found in other places in the Bible, so this is not some foreign concept only found here; and one of those places is Psalm 91, which has already been featured prominently in Matthew’s Gospel in chapter 4.  Psalm 91:10 says: “No evil shall befall you, and no plague shall come near your tent.” ;!×elFhf):B bÛar:qéy-)ol (agèenºw÷ hÕf(fr !yØel") hØeNu):t-)×ol

(agån  n.m. stroke, plague, mark, plague-spot -- 1. stroke, wound, inflicted by man on man. . stroke, metaph. esp. of a disease, regarded as sent by a divine chastisement. . mark, indeterm.; of leprosy, regarded as the heavy touch or stroke of a disease; identif. with a person having it; in garment, etc.; in house; i.e. house-wall; in stones of wall; = garment, etc., with plague-spot.

   90.10 ou) proseleu/setai pro\j se\ kaka/, kaiì ma/stic ou)k e)ggieiÍ t%½ skhnw¯mati¿ sou,  

The rest of the Psalm speaks equally strong about an incredible protection from evil.  And that is what I think is part of our problem:  it’s too incredible for us, so we don’t believe in it.  Other similar passages include Psalm 121:7, Proverbs 1:33, 12:21. 

Craig, The Importance of Healing, p. 337

  Psalm 121:7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 

    ;!×e$:pán-te) rèom:$éy÷ (Õfr-lfKim Û!:rfm:$éy hèfwh×:y 121.7
      120.7 ku/rioj fula/cei se a)po\ panto\j kakou=, fula/cei th\n yuxh/n  sou. 

Proverbs 1:33 but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of evil." 

    ;h×f(fr daxÛaPim }èanA)a$ºw÷ xa+ÕeB-}fK:$éy yilø ×a(Ø"mo$ºw 1.33
hf(fr  evil, misery, distress, disaster, wrong

    1.33 o( de\ e)mou= a)kou/wn kataskhnw¯sei e)p' e)lpi¿di kaiì h(suxa/sei  a)fo/bwj a)po\ panto\j kakou=.    

Proverbs 12:21 No harm happens to the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble. 

    ;(×fr U):lØfm {yèi(f$:rU÷ }åwÕf)-lfK qyØiDaCal hØeNu)ºy-)ol 12}ewf) n.m. trouble, sorrow, wickedness -- 1. trouble, sorrow. 2. idolatry; abstr. for concr. = idols. 3. trouble of iniquity, wickedness; oft. of words and thoughts.

(ar  bad, evil

 12.21 ou)k a)re/sei t%½ dikai¿% ou)de\n aÃdikon,   oi¸ de\ a)sebeiÍj plhsqh/sontai kakw½n.  

           

If you are not asking God and believing Him for protection from evil everyday, could you be experiencing things in your life that God  does not  want you to go through? I would have to say Yes, because I can’t imagine why He would tell us to pray this everyday if it didn’t make any difference or not.

.           We often assume that everything that happens to us is what God wants to happen to us.  Is this really the case?  I would be careful before I concluded that.  We often ask why God lets something happen.  Maybe the question should be: Why did we?  Doesn’t this same prayer ask that God’s will would be done?  Again, why would Jesus tell us to pray that God’s will will be done, if it already always is?

Can this or should this be a cause of despair?  How can we cover for our human frailties.?  Matthew 16:5-12  Mark 8:14-21   cf. Mark 6:52, see Mark 6:35-44

These verses show an example of a time when the disciples forgot to do something: they forgot to bring food on their trip.  In addressing their concern, Jesus reminded them of the two times He fed thousands of people with a few loaves and fishes, and He then chided them for their lack of faith.  In other words, faith covers a multitude of sins.  In other words, faith is the answer to our human weakness.  When we are confronted with our failures and our forgetfulness, faith that God can and will make up the difference is what we need. 

III. Persistent Prayer

            The last principle of prayer that I want us to look at today is persistence. 

            Here is Jesus instructing His disciples how to pray.  The disciples are His chosen inner circle of followers.  He gives them the exact petitions to pray for, so we know that what we are praying for is God’s will.  They’re doing all the right things, yet . . .

Now He tells them that praying is like going to a friend’s house at midnight.  You need some things, but your friend still won’t get up to get them for you.  So you have to get loud and persistent, so that your friend realizes he is not going to get any sleep until he gives you what you want and you then leave. 

a)nai/deia, av, Ó (also a)naidi/a)    (1) in a negative sense, as insensitivity to what is proper shamelessness, boldness, insolence (possibly LU 11.8); (2) in a positive sense persistence, tenacious insistence without regard to time, place, or person (possibly LU 11.8)

           

And this is what prayer is like.  Maybe not every time, but expect it. 

            There is a common thinking about prayer that says that if something is God’s will, He will give it to you.  Sounds simple enough.  The problem is knowing what His will is.  For example, if you pray for something, at what point will you say that God has answered your prayer?  Would you accept whatever happened as being God’s will, and how soon would you wait before you reached that conclusion?  If this is the case, then there is no need to go banging on God’s door at midnight.  And I think we are then missing something that Jesus was trying to tell us.  And that is that prayer does make a difference in our life.  A big difference.    

Conclusion: 

1.         Jesus wouldn’t tell us to pray about something if it doesn’t matter whether we did nor not.

2.         If we are not going to God daily in the morning for our needs and our protection, we may be going through a lot of things that God does not want us to go through and that we don’t have to go through.

3.         If Jesus does tell us to pray for something, then we can believe that it is God’s will for us and we can and should believe for God to give it to us.