Luke 11:1-13 Discipline of Prayer

Sam closed his eyes as the elder began to pray with him. It went well the first 10 seconds or so and then he remembered that his wife had called to bring home milk and bread, which reminded him of breakfast, which reminded him of lunch and that his boss needed that report done by 4. Sam’s mind then drifted to how sunny it was today and that he should invite friends over for a bbq tonight, but I need propane. Suddenly Sam heard “Amen,” and the prayer was done.

Being a follower of Jesus is a life long journey of change, of committing ourselves to becoming more and more like Jesus, of being part of God’s work in transforming our communities to be more like the kingdom of heaven. To become such a follower of Jesus, the church developed what we call the spiritual disciplines. The reality of life is that we don’t automatically become better followers of Jesus without working at it. I look at our youth who play volleyball and basketball and I see the dedication and practice they put into it to become better players because they know it doesn’t just happen, they need to work at it, some more than others, but they all need to work at the practices and drills in order to play on the team. The Christian life isn’t any different, if we really want Jesus to use us to help make our world better, we need to work at being true followers of Jesus. In prayer we tell God, “Change me, your will be done, not mine.”

Prayer is all about communicating with God. It’s both talking and listening; though, if we’re honest, most of our prayers are mostly one way, and even then, many times prayer is more daydreaming and following rabbit trails in your mind than a focused conversation. This is why it’s healthy and wise to approach prayer as a discipline. Praying well is something we can learn. This is why the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. Scott Hoezee writes, “Jesus prayed all the time to the extent that the disciples finally just had to know how to do that themselves. All of which leads to an important point when it comes to preaching on Luke 11: often we think that what the disciples asked for were the words to say when praying. But in reality, what the disciples wanted was not a litany of key phrases or a checklist of prayer items. What they were inquiring after was how they could, in imitation of their Master, turn the entirety of their lives into an extended act of prayer, the same as they observed was the case for Jesus himself.”

Prayer’s not about the right words said in the right way, it’s about where you focus your heart; towards God. Prayers don’t need to be filled with beautiful words and lovely phrases; they simply need to be real. Some of the best conversations I’ve had with my dad were hard awkward conversations, but life changing. Jesus said a number of times to use plain talk, simply say what’s on your mind and in your heart. Jesus taught us to come to God as a child comes to her father with openness, honesty and trust. The reason God answers prayer is because his children ask.

Henri Nouwen writes, “Praying is living.” It’s not something that’s just done before meals, bedtime or in church. It’s paying attention to God by listening and watching throughout the whole day. We listen for God’s take on the world, looking at ourselves and others through his eyes. We ask God what he’s doing and how he wants us to join him in the work. In prayer, God invites us to join him in what he’s doing in the world and do things his way; in ways that bless us and others. As we practice the discipline of prayer more, we see more clearly what God’s will is. We learn how to pray and grow in love of God and others. God uses prayer to change us. We begin to see people and life differently the more we pray; we begin to see people and situations through the eyes and heart of Jesus.

Jesus teaches us to ask boldly. In the Lord’s Prayer, the requests “hallowed be”, “give us” and “forgive us” are all commands; more than simple requests, but strong expectations based on our relationship with God. Jesus encourages us, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” The ultimate gift, the best thing God gives us is his Holy Spirit, there’s a trust needed that God gives us what we need and is best for us, even if it doesn’t feel like at the time. Prayer’s not just about asking, but about asking well and wisely. James tells us, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

Jesus tells us in John 14, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Did you hear that, when we come to God in prayer, you can ask for anything when your goal is to “glorify the Father through the Son.” It’s all about God, not us. Before I left for sea, my dad took me aside and said, “Son, I can’t give you anything because we don’t have much, but I have given you an honourable name, make sure you keep it that way for your kids one day.” This is something like what Jesus is getting at. This is why prayer needs to be closely connected to studying Scripture, since the better we know God, the more it shapes our prayer life so that glorifies the Father through the Son.

The story about the “friend at midnight” reminds us that prayer pops up all the time. Prayer doesn’t wait for convenient times and places, and prayer isn’t always polite. Life is too bumpy and unpredictable to only pray at mealtime and bedtime. Prayer’s at the heart of the relationship between us and our father. As parents know, a son or daughter who asks for something to eat is unlikely to ask just once. Our daughter Melissa is learning that kids have this annoying need to eat all the time! And as most moms can tell you, the repetition of “Mom, mom, mom,” sometimes causes even good parents throw up their hands, throw a cookie at their kid, saying, “There! Eat it! You happy now?!” as one writer comments, “Thankfully, Jesus tells us that our Father in heaven holds things together way better than we do as parents or grandparents and responds graciously with what we need.”

It’s important to believe that our prayers are heard and that God responds; that prayer changes things. We misapply the Bible’s teaching that God is unchanging; he’s unchanging in his character, but willingly and lovingly responds to his people’s prayers. Abraham negotiates with God over Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses changes God’s mind over killing all the Israelites and starting over again with him, Hezekiah gets 15 years added to his life; these are just some of the times talking with God changed God’s mind. Who God is, never changes; his plan and will don’t change and yet God responds to our requests because he’s a Father, our Father. We often think that what we pray for is the important thing. In reality, Jesus is more interested in the non-stop nature of prayer and its longing to stay connected to our Father, who alone gives us all good things.

When you read the gospels, you find that most of Jesus’ prayers are for others and come out of his compassion for them. The more we know Jesus, the more we love him and our neighbours, and the more powerful our prayers become as they get rooted in Jesus’ will and desires. The most important part of praying is starting. Start small, pray for the person in the car in front of you at a stop sign. Pray for the person ahead of you in grocery line, or Tim’s drive through, or the cashier, or your farm worker when they drive up, and simply pray something like this, “Lord bless them today and let them experience your presence.” When your eyes open in the morning, start the day by praying, “Lord, use me to be a blessing today.”

Richard Foster writes, “We must never wait until we feel like praying before we pray for others. Prayer is like any other work; we may not feel like working, but once we have been at it for a bit, we begin to feel like working… in the same way, our prayer muscles need to be limbered up a bit and once the blood flow of intercession begins, we will find that we feel like praying.” May prayer become part of who you are and your relationship with God.