We often talk about prayer each week in our Bible study – do we pray? do we pray enough? are we building our relationship with the Lord? Here’s some thoughts Pastor Steve shared with us today in his teaching.
Creating a Culture of Prayer – Luke 11:1-13
He said that we need prayer to be a part of our culture. Prayer leads to a deeper understanding and a deeper faith. Prayer should be what we turn to – especially when things are happening to us and for us. We often refer to Matthew 6:9-13 as “the Lord’s Prayer.” It is actually “the Model Prayer” (I never made this distinction but when I came home and looked in my Bible it has Model Prayer as the heading!). This Scripture, Luke 11:2-4, is different – some things were added and others are not seen elsewhere. Pastor said “the disciples were dense – just like you and me.” Sometimes they just didn’t get it. Sometimes Jesus repeated His messages to help them get it. He said that John 17 is the Lord’s prayer. He suggested that we read it, re-read it and meditate on it. THIS is the Lord’s prayer. He said, as Christians we don’t pray very much, but it should be like breathing. We should be able to say, “Lord, what’s going on here?” when things are difficult and especially be able to call out “Lord, HELP!”
He said if you look at Luke 11:2-4 and break it down you will realize that 40% of what Jesus says focuses on God and surrendering to His will; 25% of it is about sin and forgiveness; 25% is about the evil one and rebuking the enemy and 10% is about personal needs and blessings. Is this what we do? So often we get out of whack and spend the higher percentage of our time asking for things for us and so little of our prayer time focusing on Him.
He asked us to just stop and deal with the bitterness in our hearts. He referred to the inauguration and said they are angry and bitter and then we want to get angry and bitter on them. Instead he asked us to stop and pray for them.
Culture of Prayer – Listen to Know His Will
(vv. 5-8) This Scripture is not about the one who has the bread; it is about the one who needs the bread. He asked us if we know where to go when people “just show up.” This man knew that his neighbor had the bread and he could go there – even in the middle of the night. God has our interest in mind and will supply what we need. We just need to run to Jesus.
This is about persistence which is very different than begging, whining, hounding God until He gives us what we want.
Perseverance is:
- to be earnestly resolute
- to move ahead with purpose (when we come to God is there a purpose behind it?)
- to be steady and eager in pursuing something
- to be shameless at the core
Why we need to persevere in prayer:
- it takes time to know God’s will. (We don’t know God’s will but we continue to pray for Him to reveal His will. Each time we pray He reveals a little bit more until we know the mind of God / the will of God.
- it builds our faith by preparing us to receive from God. (If we received before we were prepared to receive it, we wouldn’t be able to deal with it. Our faith is being built – showing He loves and cares for us. We keep coming to Him in prayer because God is making us ready to receive something great!)
- it delights God when we come to Him. (Hebrews 11 reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God. God is pleased because we are allowing Him to work in our life. We are bringing pleasure to Him.)
- it nurtures our relationship with God. (Everything He does in our life is to build that relationship. If we don’t come to Him in prayer we will not have much of a relationship with Him. Bathe everything in prayer.)