From the Pastor’s Desk 

“Praying as Jesus Prayed”

Luke 11:1-13 

When we pray little do we realize the potential power that is waiting to be released from the throne room of heaven.  Prayer is the means that God has chosen to act and interact with His creation.  Early in the ministry of Jesus he taught His disciples the difference between powerless praying and powerful prayer (Matthew 6&7).  In the text in Luke He is entering into the final 6 months of His earthly ministry and one of His disciples approaches Him and says; “Lord, we want to pray like you pray.  We want to enter into the will of God and bring God into this world.”  They wanted to affect change in the lives of others just as Jesus did and they had determined that the reason for the effectiveness of Jesus was a result of His prayer life.  Jesus did not rebuke them for their request.  He didn’t say, ‘what you’re asking for is impossible because my ministry as the Messiah is unique to only Me.  Only I can heal the sick.  Only I can cleanse the leaper.  Only I can preach forgiveness of sins.  Instead of rebuking the disciples for the impossibility of their request He gladly shared with them His secret to effective praying.  As you read through this passage you will discover the pattern for prayer, the principles that govern pray and the partner who enables us to pray effective prayers.

In the pattern for prayer Jesus highlighted His earlier teaching (Matthew 6:9-13).  The ‘pattern’ exalts the Father as One who is worthy to be praised for who He is and for His essential nature.  Effective prayer is directed to the glory of God and is not for our convenience.  We must realize that the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21) and so  when we pray for His kingdom to come we are asking for God’s rule and reign in our lives.  That our minds would be controlled by the Holy Spirit.  That our actions and attitudes would be Christ like.  That our thought would be pure and our motives would be right.  It is when we are like Christ that we will receive the answers to prayer as Jesus did.  In simple terms the “pattern for prayer is identifying with Jesus Christ as His true disciple.”

After a brief illustration in our passage Jesus went on to explain the principles that govern prayer.  We can summarize the principles of prayer by saying that when you are praying according to the ‘pattern for prayer’ that Jesus has given to us then persist in your prayer until you receive a clear answer from God concerning the need.  The words that Jesus chose, ask, seek and knock, are in the present infinitive mood.  He said ask and persist in asking, seek but keep seeking, knock and continue knocking.  We persist because there is a refining element that helps to clarify our request as we analyze the nature of our request bring it into sharper, clearer focus.

The ‘pattern for prayer’ is Christ Himself, the ‘principle of prayer is persistency’, the ‘partner who enables us to pray effectively is the Holy Spirit’.  Romans 8: 26-30 expands the teaching of the Holy Spirit and prayer.  It is the Holy Spirit within you that enables you to have a powerful prayer life. 

It is God’s desire to give you answers to prayer, so that we can bring the Kingdom of God into the lives of other people.  But we must follow His pattern for prayer guided by the principle of prayer empowered by the Holy Spirit our partner in effective praying.

May God bless you in your pursuit.                                

Pastor Bruce