Luke 11:1-13

This week, we dive into a new gospel passage, specifically one that is paramount to the commentary that I have been referencing in my work. Charles Wagner, the author of the Take Every Passage to Prayer series, wrote his commentaries from the perspective of a believer praying. He holds up a biblical text next to core doctrine, and submits the passage to the authority of God the Father. Jesus gives us this very model in Luke 11:1-13, which we will be studying today. Open your copy of Take Every Passage to Prayer Vol. 2 to page 405, and read through the biblical text before continuing.

The disciples find Jesus praying one day, and implore Him to teach them how to pray. The disciples’ enthusiasm may have encouraged Jesus to answer in the way He did. Jesus gives them a formula and three lessons for prayer. First, you may be familiar with this prayer model, colloquially known as The Lord’s Prayer. Different denominations have their own wording of this prayer, but all versions of it contain these key principles.

1. It begins with addressing God as Father. This is strategically worded in order to establish a hierarchy of authority. God is above, superior, and more powerful than us, and our prayers must be sent through a heart posture of submission.
2. God’s name, Father, should be hallowed. This word “hallowed” can be understood as setting something apart as sacred. By calling God Father, we set Him apart from ourselves, recognizing his omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent nature. This achieves the same heart posture of submission.
3. We invite God’s kingdom to come to earth. I could write a whole blog about this alone, but the fundamental idea here is that “our purpose in life is to advance the Kingdom of God” (Wagner 406). This looks like tangible love, social justice, and a continuing glorification of a fallen world. 
4. From a heart posture of submission, the prayer should recognize that we are sustained by God. Our ‘daily bread’ is the provision, protection, patience that God so mercifully gives us. These provisions can be as simple as food and water, or as abstract as concepts of forgiveness and glorification.
5. We plead in front of God’s throne asking for forgiveness. Although we know that the blood of Jesus covers our sins, we are still called to repentance. The process of repentance is twofold: an admission of guilt and a plan of action to correct your course. Jesus freely gifts us forgiveness, but repentance is an important part of submission to God’s throne. 
6. Reflecting on repentance, the last portion of the Lord’s prayer is a request to be protected from temptation. Temptation is the starting point of many sins and Jesus Himself experienced this in Luke 4. We come before God asking Him for the strength and willpower needed to fight our sinful urges.

These principles can be applied in any prayer, using your own words. However, I have found it imperative in my own spiritual journey to memorize a version of The Lord’s Prayer. When I can’t find the words to talk to God, or even if I feel disconnected from Him, having a prayer filled with doctrinal truth ready to go helps me move into the heart posture of submission I discussed earlier. Usually, after saying The Lord’s Prayer, I find my own words to say to God. Some of my friends use it as a template, saying each line and then expounding on it in their own words, repeating until the prayer is finished.

Sometimes prayer can feel scary. I mean, coming before the throne of the King of the Universe can cause you to lose your train of thought, and maybe discourage you from praying at all. I implore you, reader, to listen to these three lessons that Jesus gives us about prayer. Firstly, we can approach the throne with boldness, resting in the fact that in verse nine Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9 ESV). We are personally invited to an encounter with our Father, Creator, and King. Second, the Lord answers our prayers with what we NEED, not necessarily what we WANT. This is displayed when Jesus says that His will is that the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask for it, and we know that the Holy Spirit will draw us closer to God’s will, not our own. Thirdly, the greatest gift that we can receive from God is the descension of the Holy Spirit on our hearts, which will empower our prayers and transform our hearts and minds. Let us pray for these things, using The Lord’s Prayer.

Father,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.