A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
LUKE 11:1-13
Lesson #32
INSTRUCTIONS ON PRAYER
- Memory Verse: Eph 6:18
- In the process of training His disciples, Jesus is asked to teach them to pray.
- Jesus gives us what is usually called the Lord’s Prayer. However, this is not Jesus’ personal pray, but it is a model of prayer. A model is what Jesus intended by this prayer.
- It is not a prayer Jesus intended to be words repeated by rote memory.
- His disciples did not want to know a technique or a ritual.
- Read Luk 11:1-4 Teach us to pray
- This prayer is also found in Matthew 6:9-13.
- Phrase by phrase explanation of the what is called the Lord’s Prayer: [Elements your prayer should include]
- “Our Father which art in heaven,…” (2)
- [1= Relationship]
- Begin your prayer with your personal relationship as a member of God’s family through Jesus Christ.
- Recognize who He is as your heavenly Father and that He is sovereign.
- “…Hallowed be thy name…”
- [2= Worship / Thanksgiving]
- Identify something of His character by magnifying His name placing you in a lower, humble position.
- Your prayer and its answer should magnify the holiness of God.
- “… Thy kingdom come…”
- [3=Rulership]
- This is the purpose of your prayer. Put yourself in the context of a Godly perspective with the desire that the sovereignty of God dominate the situation for which you are praying.
- It is that God and His kingdom be glorified through the answer to your prayer.
- “…Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” (2)
- [4= Will]
- This is the means by which your prayer is answered….according to God’s will.
- Notice that in heaven everything is ordered according to God’s will. Your prayer is to bring that heavenly order down to earth.
- Your submission to God’s will is necessary whether the situation works out to conform to your will or not.
- “Give us day by day our daily bread.” (3)
- [5= Petition]
- This is your personal petition of provision.
- Notice that there is no doubt that God’s provision is God’s will every day of your life.
- “And forgive us our sins…”(4)
- [6= Pardon]
- All men are sinners in need of forgiveness.
- Because sin separates man from God’s presence, it is necessary that you keep short accounts with God to maintain your forgiveness before Him.
- Confess any sin that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind so your prayers are not hindered.
- “…for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.”
- [7= Release]
- Our relationships with others can affect our ability to receive answers from God. (Eph 4:32)
- God is concerned about our relationships with others.
- God wants believers to extend to others the same forgiveness we enjoy from God.
- “…And lead us not into temptation…”
- [8= Guidance]
- The desire of the believer is that God guide his life.
- Because the believer is to walk by faith, he trusts by faith that God will guide him to greater Godliness.
- “…but deliver us from evil.”(4)
- [9=Surrender]
- The word “evil” refers specifically to the “evil one”.
- This is the recognition that the believer is in a spiritual battle between God and Satan.
- The believer desires the answer to prayer promote the superiority of God over the enemy so that the believer continues walking with God by faith.
- “Our Father which art in heaven,…” (2)
- Matthew’s gospel adds an ending we do not see in Luke. (Mat 6:13)
- “…For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
- Why does Luke not include this aspect?
- Jesus taught many things repeating them many times in many different locations to many different people.
- While Luke does not include this final benediction, it is based on David’s prayer.
- Read 1Chr 29:11
- The end result of your prayer is that God receive all the glory and honor.
- “Amen.” This word means = so be it!
- Read Luk 11:5-8 The Parable of the Friends at Midnight
- The timing in the parable:
- What is the significance of the midnight hour?
- This hour represents an inconvenient time for a friend to come to visit because the host is undoubtedly sleeping.
- The background of Jewish culture:
- There are three friends in the parable:
- The visiting friend, the willing friend without bread, and the unwilling friend who eventually gave the bread.
- To every true Jew, the Law of hospitality was very important and constituted a sacred duty.
- In the average Jewish household, bread was baked fresh every morning.
- The unwilling friend who eventually gave it.
- Notice that this friend did not give in because of friendship or because of duty. He gave it because of annoyance. (8)
- The King James Bible uses the word, “importunity”. This is the only place in the New Testament that this Greek word is used. The word “importunity” means = shamelessness.
- There are three friends in the parable:
- On the surface, if we would interpret this parable as Jesus presented it, we could come to the conclusion that Jesus is teaching that He is the willing friend but does not have sufficient resources to meet our needs, and that God, the Father, like the unwilling friend, is annoyed by our constant prayerful begging.
- Is this an accurate description of Jesus Christ and God, the Father?
- Obviously not.
- Then, how are we to interpret the parable?
- People and things in parables do not always represent something directly.
- Sometimes people and things represent something by contrast. That is true in this parable.
- Who does the visiting friend represent? (6)
- The visiting friend represents believers in Jesus Christ.
- Believers have some need and come to the Lord by prayer to knock on the door of heaven.
- Who does the willing friend without bread represent by contrast (6)?
- By contrast the willing friend without bread represents Jesus Christ.
- We must make sure we understand this is by contrast because Jesus Christ certainly is not without bread (resources), and Jesus Christ certainly is not unable to give.
- Then why does the parable depict Jesus as the friend who has a shortage of resources and is unable to help?
- Because it is man who often sees Jesus as unable to give those things that we need.
- Notice that bread represents a basic necessity of life and something that every household made fresh daily.
- Who does the unwilling friend represent by contrast (7)?
- By contrast the unwilling friend represents God, the Father.
- This representation is by contrast because in the parable we see this friend sleeping.
- God never sleeps. However, we often think that God is unaware of our needs when we do not receive an answer to our prayers.
- Why is God depicted as unwilling?
- God is not unwilling to meet our needs because His word tells us over and over that He loves us and blesses us abundantly.
- God is not unwilling. It is man that sometimes thinks that God is unwilling when we do not get our prayer answered immediately and in the exact way we wanted.
- What is the central truth of the parable?
- God is not without resources, neither does He sleep. There is no hour of the day or night that is inconvenient for God.
- God is not unwilling to answer our prayers. Instead, God is both willing and able to abundantly do all that we ask.
- However, God desires that we persevere in prayer, not because He is reluctant, but because:
- …prayer changes the one who prays.
- …prayer is an exercise of persistent faith.
- …prayer is communication with a God who loves to hear from us.
- Remember the kingdom principle is that nothing in the kingdom of God comes easy and without struggle. That is especially true of answered prayer.
- How do we know that God, the Father, is willing and that Jesus Christ is able to answer our prayers?
- The timing in the parable:
- Read Luk 11:9-10 Progressive prayer: The attitude of the heart in prayer
- Jesus uses three words that give an emphasis to God’s willingness and Christ’s ability to supply what we need.
- In fact, the Greek words for “ask”, “seek”, and “knock”, are progressive tense commands that mean = keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.
- -1- Ask
- In the sovereignty of God He knows our prayer even before we ask. (Isa 65:24)
- Then why do we need to ask.
- It is a test of our faith in God.
- Prayer changes the one who prays. It puts us in a family relationship with God as our father.
- Asking once is sometimes not enough.
- There are those who say that we are to ask God in faith for something only once.
- If we ask more than one time, are we demonstrating a lack of faith?
- This parable teaches us that asking more than once does not negate our faith.
- The progressive tense of the verb “ask” means we are to keep on asking.
- Why must we keep on asking in prayer?
- In the sovereignty of God He knows our prayer even before we ask. (Isa 65:24)
- -1- Ask
Sometimes it takes time for us to conform our own attitudes to a Godly perspective and accept God’s will in a situation.
Sometimes it takes time for God’s perfect will to come together with God’s perfect timing.
Sometimes there is an enemy to defeat who hinders the answer to your prayer.
-
-
-
- Read Dan 10:5-14
- -2- Seek
- What is it we are to seek?
- We are to seek God’s perfect will in all situations.
- We are to keep on seeking God’s perfect will because sometimes we initially miss His perfect will.
- We are to seek that God be magnified and glorified through the answers to our prayers.
- Sometimes in seeking God’s perfect will and that He receives the glory means that I must humble myself to be conformed to His will, His time, and His purpose.
- What is it we are to seek?
- -3- Knock
- The Greek word for “knock” means = a vigorous, persistent knock.
- Why must we be persistent in prayer?
- The mental illustration is like a huge bolder sitting on the edge of a cliff. That bolder represents your problem.
- With persistent prayer, you move that bolder inch by inch closer to the edge of the cliff until finally it falls over the cliff.
- There is a marvelous Biblical example of persistent prayer:
- Read Gen 32:24-32
-
-
- Read Luk 11:11-13 The character of God, the Father, as the basis of prayer
- Answers to prayer are backed by the essential character of God which is love.
- We know God is not without resources.
- A good Jewish father would make sure his wife made bread every morning for the family.
- God’s kingdom is not without provision for His children.
- We know that God wants the best provisions for His children.
- A Jewish father would not deceive his children into thinking something was good when it was not.
- In the same way, God provides exactly what His children need at the time they need it.
- Therefore, God is both able and willing to provide the answers to our prayers.
- We know God is not without resources.
- God’s supreme love for us the basis on which we can come to Him with our prayerful needs.
- Asking for bread and receiving a stone, asking for fish and receiving a serpent, asking for an egg and receiving a scorpion:
- Notice that Jesus mentions three likenesses.
- A smooth stone can look like a loaf of bread.
- A fish with scales can look like the scales on a coiled snake.
- The shape of an egg can look like the back of a scorpion.
- In other words, God is not deceptive in nature. He only gives good gifts to His children.
- Why three likenesses? The number 3 refers to the Holy Trinity.
- When a believer receives Jesus Christ, he also receives God, the Father, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
- Notice that Jesus mentions the Holy Spirit in verse 13 after speaking about the goodness of God, the Father.
- The disciples received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when they were born again in John 20:22. Being a member of God’s family by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the reason we have open access to God in prayer.
- The disciples received the filling of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. This gave them the power to serve God and receive answers to prayer that glorified God.
- Answers to prayer are backed by the essential character of God which is love.
Homework
Luke 11:14-54
- Application of Luk 11:1-13
- In what way can you improve your prayer life using what you have learned about prayer in this lesson?
- Preparation for Luk 11:14-28
- Read Luk 11:14-28
- If both God and Satan have power to do miracles, how can you tell the difference?
- Read Luk 11:14-28
- Memory Verse: Luk 11:23
