Prayer (Luke 11:1-13)
Jesus is praying again, and His disciples ask Him to teach them to pray. Interestingly, the gospels show us a desire to have special prayers that single Jesus’s disciples out from others. Despite the aversion many have to communal, liturgical prayers, Jesus gives us one. (Or two, considering the wording Luke and Matthew give us are different. The point is not rote repetition, but the themes of the example prayer.)
We are to address God the Father directly. We are to seek after His holiness and His purposes. He is our King, and we want to see His Kingdom. Note that the prayer is not, “help us make your name holy,” nor “help us bring about your kingdom.” God is doing this, we are recognizing and seeking the fulfillments.
Jesus then teaches us to collectively ask for: his provision (physical but also spiritual can be implied), his forgiveness (as we are also willing to forgive), and his protection from temptation and sin.
If that is what we are to pray, how are we to pray it? Jesus proceeds to give two analogies. First, we are to have the audacity to approach God even when it might feel like it is too shameful or bold to do so. The story of the host and the neighbor is not an illustration of God. He is not anything like the inconvenienced neighbor. Instead, we are compared to the unprepared host. We need to have the boldness to approach God with all our requests. He is ready to give us what we need.
This is illustrated in Jesus’s next comparison. Just as a loving father will not give their child a snake when asked for fish, or a scorpion when asked for an egg, our Heavenly Father is even more loving and caring and will give us the best things at our request.
We are to address God the Father directly. We are to seek after His holiness and His purposes. He is our King, and we want to see His Kingdom. Note that the prayer is not, “help us make your name holy,” nor “help us bring about your kingdom.” God is doing this, we are recognizing and seeking the fulfillments.
Jesus then teaches us to collectively ask for: his provision (physical but also spiritual can be implied), his forgiveness (as we are also willing to forgive), and his protection from temptation and sin.
If that is what we are to pray, how are we to pray it? Jesus proceeds to give two analogies. First, we are to have the audacity to approach God even when it might feel like it is too shameful or bold to do so. The story of the host and the neighbor is not an illustration of God. He is not anything like the inconvenienced neighbor. Instead, we are compared to the unprepared host. We need to have the boldness to approach God with all our requests. He is ready to give us what we need.
This is illustrated in Jesus’s next comparison. Just as a loving father will not give their child a snake when asked for fish, or a scorpion when asked for an egg, our Heavenly Father is even more loving and caring and will give us the best things at our request.
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