How to Pray

Reading: Luke 11.1-13

A fortnight ago we were thinking about the parable of the good Samaritan. We saw that the Law was summed up in the commands to love God "with all we've got" - as someone has put it - and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves (Lk. 10.25-37).

We noted further that the teacher of the law asked no question about how to love God - he seemed satisfied with himself on that count. Yet the deficiency in loving our neighbour shows up our failure to truly love God. The problem, we said, is "upstream", even though it is most glaringly obvious "at the mouth" - like the present erosion in the Maroochy River.

Strikingly, the very next passage in Luke 10 is about the visit of Jesus to the home of Martha and Mary (vv. 38-41). We have tended to identify with Martha - the injustice of her practical hard work without the help of her sister. We are uncomfortable as we hear Jesus saying that Mary, in sitting at his feet and listening to his teaching, has "chosen the right thing" - over against Martha's concern and elaborate preparations.

To love God is "the greatest and most important commandment" (Mt. 22.38). Jesus was quick to link our love of God with love for our neighbour - if our love of God is genuine, it will lead to practical love of neighbour; if we fail to love our neighbour, there is something wrong in our love of God. John puts this down very clearly, "We love because God first loved us. If someone says he loves God, but hates his brother, he is a liar. For he cannot love God, whom he has not seen, if he does not love his brother, whom he has seen. The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love his brother also" (1 Jn 4.19-21).

Prayer to our Heavenly Father

Prayer was a natural, regular and frequent part of Jesus' life. It is not simply that he prayed before all the major decisions of his ministry (often spending a whole night in prayer, as in Lk. 6.12 before naming the twelve apostles). Prayer was not a religious routine or duty. It required no special occasion. His life was spent in the presence of and in communion with his Father.

That is why Luke 11 begins with the words, "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place." Because Jesus lived in the presence of God - because prayer was such a constant part of his life - the day and place are of no account. I am sure this is what prompted "one of his disciples" - not specified, since it was an issue exercising them all... One of his disciples asked, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

The response of Jesus was a shortened form of what we know as the Lord's Prayer. We should not be surprised at this shortened form, since Jesus was teaching how to pray rather than giving them a neat ready-to-use prayer.

The key to prayer is our relationship with God. "Father: may your holy name be honoured; may your Kingdom come." This is what was different about the prayer-life of Jesus. This is what is different about Christian prayer. The "feminists" within the church who want to replace "Father" with "Creator" at every opportunity miss the point. Our heavenly Father is truly the Creator - all people could rightly call him so. But God's grace to us in Jesus Christ - grace that we receive by faith - brings us into God's family. We have a special right to call God "Father".

On the basis of grace, we come as children to our heavenly Father. And the first two requests have to do with our commitment to that relationship.

"May your holy name be honoured." At the heart of our praying is the knowledge of who God is, his revealed character. From time to time someone will comment that "the bloke upstairs must be looking after me". He does indeed spend a lot of time looking after us - even when we don't give him a thought! But prayer involves acknowledgment of who he is and rightly begins with praise and worship. And it implies commitment to honour the name of God - and to show our Father's character - in our daily lives as well as a desire to see that name honoured in society.

"May your Kingdom come." In Mt. 6.10b we have the added words "May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". The Kingdom of God is the reign of God, the rule of God in people's hearts and lives. To pray for the coming of the Kingdom involves us in a commitment to live in the Kingdom ourselves, to express the Father's will for us and his redemptive love for others in every aspect of our life.

It is on the basis of our relationship to the Father and his will that we make our other requests to him. The most basic of these is "Give us day by day the food we need."

We don't have to be in the grim situation of that poor widow. However, we all need to exercise our simple dependence on our heavenly Father, a profound thankfulness for his provisions for us and a commitment to share with others what he has entrusted to us.

Then we are to pray, "Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong." Forgiven, we are to forgive others. On the basis of the completed redemptive work of Christ we are forgiven - otherwise we could not take our place a children in the family. But as we come for our daily bread, so too we are to confess our daily sins. The goal of redemption is that we be set free from the power of sin as well as its guilt. Meantime it is important that the character of the Father begin to be seen in us.

As Jesus had told them earlier, "Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6.35-36).

"And do not bring us to hard testing." Peter wrote that "it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine" (1 Pet. 1.6-7). Paul counselled that "Those who think they are standing firm had better be careful that they do not fall. Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out" (1 Cor.10.12-13).

All of us will face some times of "hard testing", but we don't seek them. We pray to avoid them - and to be steadfast when they come our way.

Ask, Seek, Knock

How are we to pray? Well, Jesus asks, what is it like when unexpected visitors arrive late at night needing a meal and you have nothing to put before them? The best you can do is knock up a friend at midnight asking for bread. Your only hope is your friend - there is no way you could take your request anywhere else. In those days as much as today, you feel terrible about it, embarrassed to ask, sensing a groan of reluctance on the other side of the door. And yet, "he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking". In no sense is Jesus suggesting that the Father is reluctant to answer our prayer. In fact, he is making a contrast - "how much more will the Father in heaven give..."

We note these important principles for our praying:

  • We are free to come in prayer because of our relationship with the Father.
  • Do we really know our need? Our Father knows before we ask him!
  • Asking - acknowledging our need - is important if we are to receive.
  • Seeking - persisting in prayer - often changes the way we ask and what we are asking. We earnestly desire and this prepares us to receive what God desires for us.
  • Knocking is prayer moving into action, acting in faith in the promise of God.

    Sometimes God makes us wait for things, simply because we are so unbelieving and insipid in the way we ask for his heavenly favours.

    God is our heavenly Father who loves us. We need to learn to pray - to praise him, to ask him, to trust him. "For all those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks" (v. 10).


    © Peter J. Blackburn, Buderim Uniting Church, 26 July 1998
    Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Good News Bible, © American Bible Society, 1992.
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