Luke 11:1-13 At least part of this will probably sound familiar. You can read it here if your Bible isn’t close by: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2011%3A1-13&version=ESV

The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.  I guess John had taught his disciples and maybe they were hoping Jesus was going to give them “the secret sauce” that even John didn’t know? Maybe that is why Jesus’ answer is so brief.  He has no interest in teaching them a formula.  In the times when Jesus’ prayers are recorded, they sound nothing like this, so it’s safe to guess he isn’t telling them exactly what to say and how.  Jesus spent whole nights out on his own talking to his Father.  Clearly the conversation was longer than this.  

There is other teaching on prayer both directly from Jesus and from his disciples in their letters, so this isn’t Jesus giving a master class.  This prayer that has come to be called “The Lord’s Prayer” shows up in other gospels so it was probably one that Jesus brought up from time to time.  As we look at this account of it, I feel like Jesus was providing some principles of prayer and not necessarily a free-verse poem that we are meant to repeat.  Especially the fact that he then goes into some detail about persistence in prayer and the nature of the one to whom we pray indicates to me that he is providing talking points and not a script.  Let’s have a look. 

Father, may your name be treated with honour.  Jesus says, pray to the Father with the desire that his name and reputation would be treated with respect.  Know him to whom you pray, and approach him with the foremost desire in all you ask being that he is glorified and respected.  If you filter the things you bring to him through the desire that he is revealed as holy, that will colour your prayers.  It’s true, you’re coming to God because you don’t have enough money to pay your rent, or your kid is sick, or you are just really hoping the weather will be nice for your barbecue on Saturday.  Don’t ask me why, but your Father God actually cares about each of those things.  1 Peter 5:7 instructs us to hand all of our worries to him, because he cares for us.  All of them.  He wants us to share the stuff that is weighing down our hearts.  This is crazy, by the way.  The God who is concerned for the broken heart of the victim of human trafficking who cannot seem to beat drug addiction, also cares that you want your barbecue to be a happy time.  You absolutely know he has better things to worry about, but he cares about every thing that we care about.  So never hear anyone tell you that God doesn’t want to hear about your petty problems.  It’s a lie.  Bring them to God.  But bring them to God not because he is a mindless genie waiting to fulfill your every wish.  Bring them to God because he is amazing, and he actually has the power to do something about the stuff that concerns you.  Bring them to God because he has a good failure-proof plan to rescue this whole world and restore it to the mind blowing place it was designed to be.  Bring it to God because he is too smart to say yes to something that won’t work out for your good.  Bring it to God because he can and will use the struggles of your life to show others that he is the only one who is worth worshipping.  We are saying, Father, I’m bringing my cares to you because I want you to use them to show how amazing you are.  

May your kingdom come.  This is what we are praying when we talk to God about how broken the world has become.  Things like – My friend’s kid has a scary diagnosis.  I cannot seem to communicate with my husband without aggravating him.  I just don’t want to get out of bed, ever again.  I can’t remember the last time my news feed wasn’t full of war and disease.  My friend can’t find a job and her family is suffering.  Let’s be real.  The world isn’t ok.  I don’t know anyone who looks around and thinks, “Yep, I love it here.  I wouldn’t change a thing.” 

But what is it in our hearts that instinctively knows this is not alright?  If all of life is just a cosmic accident, then there is no standard for what should and should not be.  Yet you and I know that some things are good and beautiful and admirable, and some things are just entirely wrong.  How do we know this?  We know this because we are designed by God.  The whole universe was designed by God to be a certain way, to function a certain way.  People were designed to interact in certain ways.  Our bodies were meant to operate in certain ways. And let’s be honest, nothing is running to designer specifications.  And those certain ways, those designer specifications, are the kingdom of God.  When God takes his proper place and his name is respected and worshipped by all of creation, the universe will operate to design and it is going to be amazing.  People often call it heaven but it’s more than any picture we can conjure of that.  It is perfection, fulfillment, freedom from pain, and evil.  Jesus is on a mission to make a way so that the universe can be restored to original design.  And he is suggesting that when we pray, we tell God that we are looking forward to his kingdom.  We see all the ways that our world looks nothing like his kingdom and we want it to be set right.  

Jesus also encourages us to pray about the stuff that we need today.  This is the daily bread.  Right here, right now we need God to step into our lives and take care of us because we really can’t do it alone.  Bills to pay, time to get through our to do list, patience to avoid snapping at a random stranger on the highway.  These are our daily bread.  God cares and he invites us to ask him.  He loves to say yes. He’s too smart to say it when it isn’t for our best, but he loves to show his compassion and his power by meeting our daily needs.  Jesus says, bring it to the Father.

And he reminds us that we need to be forgiven.  He knows that we often add to the brokenness of this world.  We make choices that stand in defiance against God’s kingdom.  We lie. We cut corners. We put others down to build ourselves up.  In a million different ways we act in opposition to the kingdom of which God designed us to be a part. It’s not ok.  We need to bring this to God too. We need to be sorry. We need to ask his forgiveness and we need his help to live like citizens of his kingdom.  There is a subtle caveat in this prayer that we can’t miss.  Father, please forgive me as I forgive those who hurt me.  This is challenging, a bit uncomfortable if I’m being real, but it’s really important.  God forgives us the same way we forgive others.  God’s kingdom has no room for bitterness and grudges.  He loves to forgive us, but he won’t do it if we are holding onto unforgiveness against people who have hurt us. He isn’t telling us to blindly act like we have never been harmed.  This isn’t a command to stay in a trusting relationship with someone who cannot be trusted.  What it is, is a command to trust God to deal with the person who has hurt you.  In God’s kingdom, he makes things right.  It’s not our job. 

We want to be forgiven.  We would prefer not to pay for the wrong we have done, and sometimes in this life God saves us from the consequences of our own stupidity.  We are agreeing that he has the right to do the same to the one who has hurt us.  Ultimately, as we will see, Jesus pays the price for every wrong.  God is just.  No hurt is insignificant to him and each one is paid for, but not by us, not if we truly ask for forgiveness and offer it freely to those who need it from us. Father forgive us in the same way we forgive others. 

One final thing Jesus encourages his disciples to pray about is temptation.  That is some good advice.  Ask God to help us stay away from temptation.  Let’s be real, temptation is the easy place to go.  We seem to find it everywhere.  It really does take divine intervention to avoid it.  God, instead of helping me resist temptation, would you just keep me away from it? That’s just a really smart thing to ask from God!  

So Jesus has given his disciples (and through them he has given us) some ideas of the kinds of things to pray about and the way we should approach prayer.  

Now he gives some illustrations of how prayer works.  The first is basically a reminder that it’s ok to keep asking.  God isn’t going to be offended that you keep asking him the same thing.  Be bold.  When it seems like God is ignoring you or doesn’t want to help, it’s ok to keep asking.  You can even be loud.  God’s timing is a wild thing.  He is orchestrating everything, EVERY thing, towards his kingdom coming on earth.  The end goal is that everything becomes as it should be.  That takes some master timing.  The fact is, God loves to be kind to his children.  He loves to help and bless us.  Sometimes, though, the time isn’t right.  For a billion different reasons, today may not be the right day for God to say yes to you.  That doesn’t  mean he has no intention of ever saying yes.  It means today it wouldn’t be the best thing.  But keep asking. When and if the time is right he will say yes with enthusiasm.  When you pray, don’t give up.  Ask.  God loves to give.  Seek.  He loves to help you find what you’re looking for.  Knock.  He loves to open doors.  When his time is perfect he will, he will respond perfectly.  

Jesus reminds us, he is a very good father.  He loves to give good things to his children.  Just like those of us who are parents love it when we can say yes to our kids, he is the same – only more so.  It is genuinely joy inspiring to give our kids a treat they love, to help them figure out a problem, to let them enjoy some new experience.  But there are good and bad times for each of those things.  Sometimes being a good parent means saying no to the treat.  It’s bedtime and a chocolate lava cake is going to get you wired.  Sometimes a wise parent gives a kid room to figure out the problem on their own so they develop the skill.  Sometimes they aren’t ready for that experience, but when they finally are, it’s so fun to invite them to try.  If we find genuine satisfaction in being good parents, how much more does God love to be a perfect parent? God loves to love us!  When you pray, remember that is the kind of God you are talking to.