Teaching about Prayer Luke 11:1-13
11 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:
“Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. 3 Give us each day the food we need,[b] 4 and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.[c]”
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. 9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “You fathers—if your children ask[e] for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people 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.”
Often in scripture we find Jesus going off alone to places to pray (if Jesus did this how much more do we need it)… If we do not put into practice anything else I beg of you to please take your prayer life and your study time with God seriously, this is our source of power. A lamp is just a lamp until you plug it into the power source and it only then becomes light, that expels the darkness all around it which was it designed purpose.
I would strongly suggest that you start off by having a special place, and time, that you pray at every day. I prefer morning times. I strongly suggest morning times because it starts the tone of your day but regardless of when and where just make sure daily this happens. Remember intimacy is intentional and it requires time, time alone with God.
I invite you to ask God to teach you how to pray. I personally have done this and my life has not been the same. He is faithful to answer this prayer. Here is the model of prayer that we see in this passage:
1) Recognizing that God is our Heavenly Father, this is personal and intimate. He is your Daddy, and he is your Heavenly Father. Our earthly fathers may have hurt us or disappointed us or left us but he never will. He loves you perfectly and unconditionally. It is with this heart, with this relationship that you enter boldly into prayer with God.
2) We need to keep in mind that our God is holy, he is set a part, he's worthy of our praise, he is worthy of our admiration, honor and glory. Take time to praise your God for who he is. This process is not for him. He knows who he is but when we start reciting who our God is it does something within us. It reminds us of his power and how awesome he is. It builds confidence in us. It gives us strength just in the recognition of who he is!!!
3) We should be praying for Jesus to return and for his will to be done. Praying for God's will will help you to know what his will is and that he would give you the strength to walk in it and to obey it.
4) Asking for our daily bread is a spiritual reference. We cannot store up his provisions for us and try to live off of them. He wants us to daily come to him. He wants that daily intimate personal time with him which is where our love relationship with him is developed
5) When Jesus taught them how to pray he made forgiveness the corner stone of their relationship with God. Because we are forgiven, we must also forgive others. We also know in scripture that willful sin , unconfessed sin, un-repented sin, puts a barrier between God and us so that he will not hear us (Psalms 66:18). We also know through scripture that God forgives us to the same extent that we forgive others (Mathew 6:14) Relationships are important to God. Our relationship to him and our relationship to others. Look at the great command: "love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul all your mind and all your strength and love others as you love yourself."
6) We need to ask for protection from going the wrong way. Pray that he will not let us go to the left or to the right but instead to stay on his course for our life. Pray that he would give us his word so that it would be a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path so that we will know his will and walk in it.
7) You should ask for deliverance from your enemy and pray that God would go before us and remove and destroy any traps that the enemy sets before you. Pray for a hedge of protection around you. Pray that he will protect your mind and protect your heart. Read Ephesians chapter 6 if you're not praying the spiritual armor on yourself daily you need to start. A soldier never goes into battle unprotected!!!
As we go further into this passage Jesus teaches the importance of persistence and he promises to answer us if we keep asking. This does not mean he gives us everything we ask like he's a genie in the bottle, remember we start off by asking to know his will. We are to pray that his will be done not our own. The process of persistently asking him gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to change our prayers to change our hearts to change our minds so that our prayers will start aligning with what his good and perfect will is for that situation. Persistent prayers break down spiritual barriers. It also eliminates short sighted request. He's a good Father, who gives good things to his children. He tells us that when we pray his will that he promises that if we keep asking that we will receive it, if we keep seeking that we will find it, if we keep knocking that the doors will be opened. He wants you to be that woman who prays fervently and faithfully and persistently. "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." (James 5:16) God desires that everyone of his children to have that type of prayer life. Do not let the enemy silence your prayers. Do not let him take away the power of praying God's will into this world. Take this article as your call to wake up spiritually. Let's get serious about our prayer life! Let's change the world for our God. He has chosen to work through his people to change this world and the key is prayer!!!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I just pray that you would teach us how to pray in a way that pleases you. Help us to know how to be a game changer, to pray in such a way that impacts the world around us for you. Father please put this desire in our heart. In the name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior I command the enemy to remove his lies from the person reading this article. When it comes to prayer Father God bury this in our hearts and teach us the importance of prayer. Holy Spirit, set our hearts on fire with a desire to pray like this. Help us Father for only you can do this in us. Change us and make us what you want us to be. Help us to become mighty prayer warriors for you. I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus - AMEN