When You Pray…

10th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/24/16
Luke 11:1-13


When You Pray…
I. What do you pray for?
II. How do you pray?


An agnostic once told me, “Praying for something to happen in your life and experiencing it is directly proportional to the event happening all on its own.”

In other words, this man had no use for prayer. And that shouldn’t surprise us. By his own definition, he didn’t know if there was a god. So why would he pray to something he didn’t know existed and expect that his prayer would be answered?

How vastly different it is for us, Christians, who know and believe in the Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the God who is eternally active in our lives, the God of holy love and perfect faithfulness, the God who not only gives us the blessed opportunity of praying to him but also deeply wants to hear and answer our prayers only in the way that is best for us.

Jesus himself was known for taking advantage of the opportunity to pray to his Father. The gospels record numerous times that Jesus went away by himself to pray. We have one of his prayer events before us this morning from Luke 11. Today’s text tells us, “When he finished [praying], one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray…’” Jesus then provided divine instructions for praying, instructions that serve his followers even today in their prayer lives.

We have the blessed opportunity to review those instructions this morning and then the blessed opportunity to put those instructions into practice when we pray. So put those instructions into practice when you pray. When you pray… Let’s ponder that Christian activity for a few minutes.

Part I.

When you were a child, what things did you pray for? Well, many of us prayed before and after our meals as we gathered around the kitchen table with our parents. In our bedtime prayers we may have asked the Lord to watch over us while we sleep and to bless our family members as we listed them by name, one by one. But we also prayed about things that seemed to be so important to us at the moment. Perhaps you prayed that God would cause your parents to give you a pet. Maybe you prayed for a new bicycle, just like the new one that a friend received. Once you were in school, you prayed for God to help you get a good grade on a test, or to give you courage in a fearful situation. Maybe you prayed for grandpa after he suffered a heart attack. What other things did you pray for as a child?

And now that you’re an adult, has your list of things you pray for changed? Likely so. It’s matured along with you. You pray about the things that worry you. You pray earnestly for your children. You pray about your finances. You pray about your health issues. But you also pray for others. You pray for your social media friends who have made it known that they need your prayers. You pray to God for the United States of America. You pray that the Lord ends the brutal oppression of Christians here and around the world.

But did you catch what Jesus told you to pray for? “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.” No doubt you noticed this version of the Lord’s Prayer is somewhat different from the one we use. Why? Our version comes from Matthew’s gospel where Jesus spoke this prayer during his Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s account occurred at a different point in time and for a different reason. Like any teacher does when presenting a lesson more than once, the material isn’t repeated verbatim.

Instead, Jesus was teaching his followers of every age in general what to pray for. The words before us can be listed under two subject headings and the number of items under those headings varies considerably.

First and foremost, Jesus is teaching us to pray for spiritual blessings. He mentions four of them in this version of the prayer that bears his name. In Matthew’s account, he lists six. Keeping God’s name holy means teaching his word in its truth and purity and then living according to his word. We never want to dishonor our God by teaching his word falsely or by proclaiming this is what God says we should do and then going against it—in other words, sinning. We want God’s kingdom—his saving activity—to come to us and all other people. In other words, that God would work faith in Jesus in us and everyone else through the spread of the gospel. We ask God to forgive our sins—to justify us, declare us not guilty—for the sake of Jesus and then to motivate us with that forgiveness to forgive others. And lastly, we pray that God would help us overcome every temptation and win the victory over the devil, the world and our sinful flesh.

Secondly, we pray for daily bread. Bread. Not caviar and tenderloin. Bread. Daily bread. And by that Jesus means whatever we need for our bodily life. Need, not want. Daily bread includes everything from home and family to good government and good weather. Daily bread is peace and good health, it’s a good reputation and good friends.

That’s what Jesus teaches us to pray for. So, when you pray…what do you pray for?

I’m going to let you answer that question for yourself because everyone’s prayer list is going to be different. But our hearts are all the same—sinful. So when you pray, check your heart. Examine your motivation. Is your prayer driven by greed or discontent? Is selfishness or sinful pride darkening a corner of your heart? Are envy or worry the reason you’ve decided to pray? Lord, “Forgive us our trespasses.” The Lord hears and answers that prayer of a Christian every time. He does forgive us. So then, rest assured, that even when our prayers are not pure and holy, our gracious God forgives that sin of weakness as well. The blood of Jesus purifies us and our prayers so that, for Jesus’ sake, our loving God listens intently to those prayers and answers them. So pour out your heart to the Lord! When you pray…let your Lord know what’s on your mind and heart.

Part II.

A family with young children decided they were going to spend a few minutes praying for other people. When the father asked his young son, “Who are you going to pray for?” he received the reply, “I’m going to pray for Trevor because he’s always so naughty at school.” So that’s what the family prayed. A week later they were gathered to pray again and the father asked his son if he was going to pray for Trevor again. His son replied, “No, I did that last week and he was still naughty.”

A Christian’s one-time prayer is a prayer that is pleasing to God. But there’s a better way to pray and Jesus speaks about it in this account. He stated, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” Jesus isn’t advocating rudeness. He isn’t implying that we should make God miserable with our incessant pleading.

He’s teaching us shameless persistence when it comes to prayer. There are times in our lives when we feel ashamed to ask another person for the same thing more than once. That should never happen in our prayer life. As Luther one wrote, plead with God like a dear child with his dear father. Children won’t take no for an answer. They tend to pester you until you give in. When you pray…be persistent.

One further instruction from Jesus regarding our prayers. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater. Even though you are a sinful parent with limited knowledge, you know what’s good and what’s not for your child. So, when your child asks you for something good, you give it to him.

Then wouldn’t our holy, all-knowing heavenly Father do the same? If we pray to him for something good for us, he will give it to us. But if he knows it won’t be for our good, he will keep it from us. So pray confidently to your God!

Pray confidently for the best of gifts—the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit who strengthens your faith in Jesus. It’s the Holy Spirit who brings you the forgiveness of sins. It’s the Holy Spirit who uses God’s word to guide you in life’s decisions. And when we’re not sure what to pray for, the Holy Spirit fills in for us. Every time you pray for the Holy Spirit and then focus on the word of your God, God gives the Holy Spirit to us, the greatest of gifts.

So, when you pray…how do you pray? In Christ pray persistently and confidently.

How’s your prayer life? Persistent and confident? Hardly. More than likely it’s intermittent and woefully weak at times. There was only one person who prayed perfectly. Thanks be to God, it’s your Savior, Jesus. His perfect prayer life is another part of his work as your Savior. His flawless life in every aspect is your holy life by faith in him. His innocent death on the cross is the punishment for your sins. Forgiven, redeemed, a dear child of God—you now have the privilege of offering persistent and confident prayers to the God who loves to hear them and answer every one of them. So when you pray, begin with a prayer of thanks to the God of your salvation and then let him know what’s on your mind and heart. Amen.