An Instructive Moment about Prayer (Luke 11:1-13)

How can I not like this passage since it is dealing with prayer? Something near and dear to my heart? I really didn't get much out of Gire's thoughts on this chapter. After I read it I thought, "Eh..." However, after really looking at the passage I drew several things out of it.

Jesus prayed at every major crisis point in His life. He prayed at the time of His baptism, and the at the time of the choosing of His disciples. I find Him often alone praying. And I find Him praying with others around. Several times He prayed, asking the disciples to pray with Him, and yet they go to sleep!!! He prayed for Simon and He prayed in the garden before His betrayal. He even prayed on the Cross. I remind myself often that if Christ Himself had need to pray, how much more do I need to be in prayer!!!

As I looked at this prayer model I find Jesus beginning with an intimate and direct address. Father. Abba. Daddy. After His address I find He made five requests. The first two dealt with God's interests. (Slightly different than the average person's prayer today, don't you think?) The first request was that God's name be hallowed (hagiastheto, from hagiazo, "to set apart or sanctify" or, as here, "to treat as holy"). To me this emphasis was for God's reputation to be revered by men.

The second request was Your Kingdom come. They had all (John the Baptist, Jesus, the Disciples) been out declaring the coming of God's kingdom. When a person prays for the coming of the kingdom, he is identifying with the message of Jesus and His followers.

The third request I saw was for daily bread. Bread, to me, denotes nourishing and fulfilling food. Therefore, the request is for food that is necessary to sustain life for the day.

The fourth request concerned man's relationship to God...the forgiveness of sins. Luke has already linked the forgiveness of sins to faith. In asking for forgiveness of sins we express our faith that God will forgive us. By doing this we then turn around and show evidence of our faith by forgiving others.

The fifth request is, lead us not into temptation. Now, God doesn't want us to sin. So what could this be meaning? I think this could mean that we, as believers, pray that we would be delivered from situations that would cause us to sin. I find His disciples, contrary to the Law "experts", realized that they were easily drawn into sin. Therefore, we need to ask God for help to live righteous lives that would be honoring to Him.

The first parable I believe does concern persistence in prayer contrary to what Gire writes. [CJ, a little bit of you is coming out in me! ;) Lol!] Don't you love how Luke shows good lessons being taught from bad examples? I do. In contrast with the man who did not want to be bothered, God does want us to pray to Him. I see Jesus encouraging us to be persistent in prayer....not to change God's mind but to be steadfast in praying and to receive our needs.

The second parable shows how God gives us (His children) what is good for us, not what would harm us. We just need to ask. I love the example of the earthly father...I guess because I've seen Jim give/withhold to/from Pilot. It was all based on what was best for Pilot. We already know that God loves us more than we can love our own loved ones, so how much more will God give us which is good?

Of course, the most important gift that we as believers would receive is the Holy Spirit. I love how the Lord gives both heavenly gifts and earthly gifts. Today we don't need to pray for the Holy Spirit because this prayer of the disciples, for the Holy Spirit, was answered at Pentecost. And, we know, that once He comes in, we are "sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemtption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:13-14). [Emphasis mine.]