Luke 11:1 The Lords Prayer
Before there was a Lords Prayer, there was a disciples prayer.
It was a simple, yet important request: “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Jesus quickly obliged this request with an equally simple, and also important response.
That response is called the Lord’s Prayer.
I talk about prayer on my podcast “Storming the Gates,” but recently I had to ask myself: Do I know how to pray?
The News strikes
Like many Americans these days, the news had become wearisome. I was burned out on negativity and “fear porn” as they call it. Thankfully, I have a place to hide: In the Secret Place of the Most High. I am fortunate to have a little nondescript prayer room I can read God’s Word, meditate, pray, and let my heart just soar heavenward with the Lord as I prepare for a day of work.
This particular day I was up early. As I got ready for the day I took time to listen to a short devotional prayer podcast by a Youtuber I deeply admire and respect: Dutch Sheets. That particular morning, Dutch Sheets was discussing the State of our Nation in order to share prayer points. I was inadvertently bombarded with the recent antics of politicians who seem intent on destroying our nation. Some of it was breathtaking in scope! Lives have been destroyed, rights crushed, and plots to do further damage abounded. Dutch was sincere and right as he called God’s people to pray for the damaged soul of our nation.
That morning, I fled to my prayer room. I was truly shaken. I recognized that I, like so many people, prefer to believe all is well and nothing will ever threaten our comfort and lifestyle. That day I was at a complete loss of what to pray. I found myself simply beseeching God from the depths of a broken heart. “Lord, Teach me to pray! Teach me to pray!”
I could no longer hide in a world of fluffy, carefree, thought. God called reality to step in and he show me the cold hand of truth. I needed to see once again that the world is broken, damaged, and needy. After a time of leave, God was saying It was time for this soldier to get back into the prayer battle for our nation.
God is listening
Thankfully, our prayers never fall on deaf ears. God met me that morning, and I will share more about that at the end of this episode. First, let’s look deeper at this request “Teach us to pray.”
While I may want to flee tragedy and despair, Jesus does not. In fact, when Jesus saw need He went TO it, not away from it. He saw a leper, and when others fled he stepped forward into the harsh sickness in order to bring restoration to a decaying body. He didn’t turn away when a mother mourned the loss of a child, He stepped in and revived the youngster and the mother’s broken heart.
How could He do that?
Yes, He’s God. But on this earth, Jesus was fully man. He lived the exact same life we do with all its pain and emotions. He just did it perfectly! He showed the way.
And part of that way was what His disciples made note of in Luke chapter 11. Before Jesus healed lepers He prayed. Before Jesus raised the dead, He prayed. Before Jesus preached sermons, confronted Pharisees, or calmed storms, He had first spent the morning in prayer. The disciples made that connection! Jesus’s strength to confront the world’s wrongs must have come from His time spent in prayer.
Every day.
Before the sun was up.
And so it was we see the disciples coming to Jesus with this request: “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Teach us to pray
Let’s take a look at that verse:
“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.” Luke 11:1
There are three observations I want to make:
Observation #1
*Jesus was in a “certain place”
He carved out a place, away from the hustle-bustle, and chaos of life to pray.
The kids in my Sunday school class were memorizing Exodus 33:7 as part of their curriculum. It says:
“Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp, some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.”
That tells me something significant: “Before there was a tabernacle, there was a tent.” Moses understood the need to pitch his tent “some distance away” from the thronging Israelites with their many murmurs and many distractions. Interestingly… Moses had favor and power with the Father, and like Jesus, he prayed in “A certain place.” Hmm. Beard stroking question. Not that you and I likely have beards. But If iI did, this is a worthy moment to stroke it and contemplate the connection between “ a certain place” and power in prayer.
Observation #2
Jesus life of prayer made the disciples hungry to understand and know more!
Luke 11:1 says that when Jesus finished praying the disciple came and asked him how to pray. That means he was at least watching, maybe even listening. This disciple had already been learning how to pray. He was observing Jesus as He found a certain place to pray. He saw Him get up and get away early-squirrelly every morning. He may have even been close enough to hear Jesus’ words! Wow. I would love to have heard Jesus’ prayers, wouldn’t you?
Where do we first learn to pray?
Like a child, we first observe those in authority. We catch, rather than being told, what a walk with God looks like by our ministers, pastors, parents, and leaders in the faith. Do they pray? Do they value prayer? Do they have a “certain place” to pray and do they rise early as Jesus did?
I have had a number of prayer influencers. My own Mom used to wake up way early and get a cup of coffee and read her Bible at McDonald’s. She journaled and wrote scriptures out. Although I scoffed at her faith in my teens, I was very aware of the answers to prayer that clearly sprung from my mother’s devotional life.
So much so, that as soon as I gave my own life to the Lord at 21, the first thing I began doing was going to McDonald’s each morning where I had a cup of coffee, read my Bible, and journaled.
There was a good friend in my life at that time whose father was very involved in ministry at the church he grew up in. That same church taught that God has predetermined all that happens and therefore prayer is something that helps us know God but does not change anything. This friend observed his father praying only when others were watching, and the prayers were not borne of a loving relationship.
That same friend battled with the idea of prayer being a powerful weapon in the hands of God’s people. Instead, that friend often challenged me, asking whether my desire to spend more time with God was a “works trip.” Honestly, it made me have to wrestle with that thought, and I am glad I did. But it was also a tool of Satan to dampen my desire to connect with God in prayer.
We learn to pray through the influencers in our lives. Someone may very well be observing you. What are they learning?
Observation #3
The Disciples Expected to be taught a certain style
The Disciples saw prayer modeled by John the Baptists fans, (Joke) so they wanted their role model to do the same thing.
That makes me wonder if part of their motivation was to be just like “the other guys.”
I find myself wondering how did John teach his disciples to pray?
And don’t you find it a bit humorous that the question implies Jesus ought to be a bit more like John?
There He is, God incarnate, the Savior of all mankind, King of the universe, and they are wishing he’d be a bit different. They want to keep up with the Joneses.. er, uh, Johns. And I think it is only fair we shine a flashlight on our own expectations as we come to God and ask “Teach me to pray.” That we don’t expect the answer we get when we ask God to teach us to pray to look the same for us as it may look for others.
For instance: Here is how I have caught myself wording the same question when I come to the Lord: “Lord, can you cause my church to have worship 24-7, with intercessors, a big dynamic prayer room full of people, activities, and fantastic music? Sorta’ like… The House of Prayer in Kansas City? (One of my favorite places on earth, by the way)
And Jesus smiles and He teaches me to pray… simply. Without a band, Without powerful intercessors roaring from a stage. He shares His prayer with me. The Lord’s Prayer.
As we begin this study of the Lord’s prayer, keep in mind our Savior gave us as a template. We have the template, but now, how do we fill it in?
Some may fill it in with music, or writing, or in groups. Some will be called to dwell alone in hidden places. Maybe all of those things at different times.
Yes, we learn and grow by example, as I stated above, but our footprints will be a bit different and take different paths as we all journey forward up the mountain of prayer. It is not about what we do outwardly, but what we are allowing God to do in us.
Observation #4
There was a deeper question hiding behind the disciple’s prayer
The disciples walked with Jesus daily. They observed Him praying. What made them ask a question that should have been obvious? I think they were longing for something much deeper.
When I think about when I was on my face pleading with God to teach me to pray, I realize I was not asking Him to show me how to kneel, or what time to go into my prayer room. Like the disciples, who had a front-row seat to Jesus’ prayer life, we know all the practical and physical ways to pray.
No. It was something much deeper. Much more elusive, yet much more necessary.
“Teach me to have a HEART to pray.”
I needed God’s very heart for people, the nation, and our world to see the sort of difference only God can bring through this failable human. I need the willingness to carve out time, surrender my will, and shut off the faucet of endless personal problems so I can hear what He wants to speak into a certain situation.
I think we instinctively know praying makes a huge difference! The stories of healings, salvations, and deliverances through the power of prayer abound for the cursory seeker. So we ask ourselves: Why don’t I pray more often? More fervently? Why do I break my fasts before completion, or fall asleep during my quiet time?
Let me ask you: What brought you here? Here to this podcast? If you made it this far something in you is connecting with the disciples request. You also must be asking the Lord “Teach me to Pray.”
Observation #5
Jesus Answered
What is awesome, is that unlike some of the disciple’s requests, Jesus does not give them a parable to solve or redirect them. This time, Jesus quickly responds with a straightforward answer. This time, the boys were over the target!
It’s like our rabbi, teacher, Jesus, is grateful his students finally ask the question He’s waited to hear! He pulls out his prepared copies of “How to pray,” and says “Thomas, can you pass these out?”
OK, silly analogy aside, be encouraged because our Rabbi is eager to teach us to pray!
He is excited you are asking! He will rush to your aid the minute you raise your hand with questions about prayer. It’s His jam. It’s His passion. He knows the Father’s heart is to gather all His children to Him in the place of prayer and fellowship.
Jesus is not keeping prayer a mystery.
He answered the disciple’s requests immediately and directly stating “When you pray say…”
What follows is His own, precious prayer.
The same day I prayed “Lord teach me to pray” God answered me as well! Its what He does.
I happened to be reading Zephaniah 2: 2-3
Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, and before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, seek ye the Lord all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger
While not the lightest of fare, it stood out and did indeed speak to my heart. It tol d me that alThough God is just, He delights in showing mercy. And I heard the phrase “prayer strategies” in my mind. I felt God telling me to Seek Him, Receive a Prayer Strategy, and then Pray, or follow through.
In short, He began teaching me to pray for our nation.
God is willing!
The point is: God is ready and willing to teach us to pray.
Let’s begin by praying the disciples prayer.
“Lord, teach us to pray!”
