How to Pray Like Jesus

INTRO

We started with Matthew who wrote to the Jews that Jesus is King. Mark focused on the Roman audience, and we saw Jesus as the Servant with so much action. Now, we’re in Luke who focused on Jesus’ humanity and His divinity, and we see Jesus as Son of Man. As a doctor, Luke was driven by Jesus’ desire to heal, but there was so much more.

TEACHING

Luke 11:1: In this verse, Jesus was showing His lifestyle of prayer, “praying in a certain place,” and aligning Himself to the Father’s will. “When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.’” Jesus responded by retelling the Lord’s Prayer. Luke placed it in a different place than Matthew did, and he condensed it. Jesus didn’t teach the disciples this only once, but He kept coming back to it, energizing them with the teaching until they understood it.

Luke 11:2–4: Jesus began, “Whenever you pray…” The tense in the Greek indicates prayer is a habit, a lifestyle. The Lord’s Prayer is not meant to be the prayer itself but the outline of the prayer. Mike Breen provides an outline of the elements Jesus included:¹(1) The Father’s Character (Matthew 6–9): “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (2) The Father’s Kingdom (Matthew 6:10): “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (3) The Father’s Provision (Matthew 6:11): “Give us today our daily bread.” (4) The Father’s Forgiveness (Matthew 6:12): “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (5) The Father’s Guidance (Matthew 6:13a): “And lead us not into temptation,” (6) The Father’s Protection/Deliverance (Matthew 6:13b): “But deliver us from the evil one.” This one is not included in Luke’s prayer.

Luke 11:5–8: Luke knew Mark personally. He talked to Mark and got as much information as he could. Luke wanted to document the entirety of the ministry, the formation of the church, the call of the mission, and how that was to be lived out. Instead of including the Father’s Protection/Deliverance, Luke included Jesus’ teaching on lifestyle (v. 5). Jesus told the story of a man who goes to a neighbor’s house in the middle of the night to find bread for a visitor who just showed up at his house. (vv. 5–6). The neighbor refused to get up (v. 7), but the man continued persistently (v. 8). The picture of persistence in prayer was the point. Do we continue persistently in prayer or is once enough, and we don’t feel the need to keep repeating? Jesus presented this as the requirement to be in a persistent position of prayer.

Persistence (anaideia) literally means “shameless, importunity, or over-boldness.” A type of brassiness. Hayford writes, “It isn’t the brassiness of a smart aleck making demands, but the forwardness of a person who is so taken with an awareness of need that he abandons normal protocol. Jesus is saying, ‘Your first barrier isn’t God, it’s your own hesitance to ask freely. You need to learn the kind of boldness that isn’t afraid to ask––whatever the need or the circumstance.”²

Luke 11:9–10: “So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you” (v. 9). The Holman Bible translation does a nice job with the verb tense of this verse––keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking! Jesus followed the somewhat humorous parable with direct instruction on what was involved (vv. 9-10), as well as a reminder of the willing nature of the Father we are addressing (vv. 11–13). Notice that ask, seek, and knock are all persistent actions. It’s constant positioning, getting ourselves in line with where God is going. All three verbs refer to the continuous, uninterrupted act. The practical implication is to begin . . . or keep at it . . . but do so in obedience and in relationship, not legalism.

Ask: The word refers to the act of praying where the will is earnestly fixed on the answering of the prayer. The desire is not merely a vague or halfhearted request. Rather, we often don’t have what we need because we haven’t asked (James 4:2).

Seek: The goal of seeking is to find someone. Our primary goal is to seek God. The word means to seek—as in to worship—after God with all one’s heart.

Knock: The word refers to the urgent sincerity exercised in uninterrupted knocking, praying, and seeking, expectantly waiting for an answer because we are so in tune with the Father.

Luke 11:11–13: If we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children (vv. 11–12), why would God, whose character is perfect, not want to give us what is good (v. 13)?

Luke 11:14–19: Luke then moved to more demonic encounters. The disciples had witnessed Jesus casting out the legion of demons in Luke 8, and then they were sent out to do the same in Luke 10. Jesus taught again on how to do this. Jesus drove out a demon that was mute. The terminology “demon possession” is not a good handling of this. Literally it means “to have a demon,” meaning the demon has attached.” Demons affect people in different ways, generally by how they act. But, if you believe in angels, you have to believe in demons.

The crowds watched and were amazed (v. 14). But some suggested that Jesus’ power came from Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons (v. 15). Beelzebul seems to be a translation of the Canaanite god Baal-zebub (2 Kings 1:2). This was another name the Jews used for Satan, who at best is an archangel. Havilah Cunningham, in Stronger than the Struggle, named Satan as “the angel with a god complex.” The Jews had made him the ruler. Jesus understood what they were thinking; as the Son of God, He knew their hearts. Their logic was faulty. Satan would not have created a family feud against himself—that would have brought ruin to his work (v. 17–18).

Luke 11:20–23: God casting out demons on earth is proof that God’s kingdom is present (v. 20). In Jesus, God has shown Himself to be stronger than Satan (vv. 21–22). The presence of the kingdom of God overthrowing the power of Satan does not call for an impartial audience who is enjoying the battle. Everyone must take sides (v. 23).

Luke 11:24–26: Jesus told another parable to show that casting out demons was not the point of life. We are to do more than just get rid of the bad. Demons do not remain inactive, and the man who is not content - who did not fill in that life with something to replace demons - will come under attack again (v. 26). As a result, the man’s condition will be worse than it was before.

Luke 11:27–28: In the middle of Jesus’ teaching, a woman proclaimed that “the womb that bore You and the one who nursed You are blessed!” (v. 27). In verse 28, Jesus responded to this well-meaning, nice sounding blessing, “Even more, those who hear the word of God and keep it are blessed!” Jesus turned it around on her. It wasn’t about His mother or His teaching. Jesus turned the attention to those who inhabit God’s kingdom, who hear His word and keep it. It’s more than saying good things about Jesus. It means hearing and obeying. Hear and do it!

Luke 11:29–54: Jesus completed this section of teaching with a discussion on the Sign of Jonah (vv. 29-32), the importance of the eye being the lamp of the entire body (vv. 33-36), and pronouncing the woes on those who practice religious hypocrisy (vv. 37-52). Matthew 23:13-36 also lists the woes.

CLOSING

In this passage of teachable moments, Jesus has shown that lines have been drawn: lines between good and evil, between darkness and light. There are several takeaways from this passage:

1. Prayer is an essential part of the life of a Jesus follower.
2. We are in a battle—opposing demonic powers.
3. We have no need to fear Satan because a far Stronger One has come.
4. Let the light of Christ—His Word, His presence—fill you and help you help others.