Pentecost 9C/Proper 12 Luke 11:1-13 “The Secret(s) to Prayer”
Assistance from: Rev. Clyde Kieschnick
It never fails-you see someone doing something you’d like to be able to do-or something you’d like to be able to do better on your own. So you ask what the secret to their success is. For example, as much as Ken Krause has tried to help Pastor Kieschnick with his golf swing, something’s still definitely missing. Pastor Kieschnick will always be wanting to know what the secret is to consistently hitting a golf ball that lands in the middle of the fairway and travels over 250 yards. Or, how about the secret ingredient to that wonderful batch of chocolate chip cookies grandma makes. Somehow, no one else can do it quite the same way.
Do you know what else is like that? People’s prayer life. There are some people that seem to have the “secret ingredients” to a good prayer life and can offer the most beautiful prayers, and do them right off the cuff. That’s not something a good Lutheran is usually able to do-or at least that’s what the humorist Garrison Keeler would say. He’s always poking fun at Lutherans because they are afraid to pray unless their prayers are all written out for them. But, in all seriousness, ever notice how some people just have it all together when they pray? They seem to know the right words. They seem to know what to pray about. They seem to be able to do it with such confidence. They have such confidence in the power of prayer. And, well, to put it bluntly, they make prayer look easy and natural. We know that coming up with just the right prayer at just the right time, just ain’t all that easy!
The life of a Christian is definitely a life filled with prayer. But, unfortunately, we do not come naturally by prayer. We just aren’t naturally good “prayers.” Are you surprised by that statement? But if these are some of your concerns, and if you wish you could improve on your prayer life-maybe learn the secret to a good prayer life-don’t feel bad. Look again at the disciples in our Gospel reading for today. Notice the request they made Luke tells us “One of His disciples came up to Jesus and said ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’” And, Jesus did. So here goes-the secret to a good prayer life. We’ll make it easy for us to remember the main points of this reading by listing the 4 “P’s of Prayer”.
Secret # 1-Per Request
The first secret seems to be that we have the courage to ask someone to teach us to pray. That’s what the disciples did. They had often seen Jesus pray. It’s interesting just to note the number of times that Luke mentions that Jesus prayed. For example, Jesus prayed in the Jordan as He was baptized. Luke mentions that when the crowds who followed Jesus became overbearing, Jesus would often “withdraw to a quiet and lonely place to pray.” Once Jesus spent all night in prayer. Had the disciples seen that, I’m sure they would have made their request sooner.
The disciples not only felt awkward around Jesus when he prayed, Luke says they also felt awkward around John’s disciples who seemed to know how to pray. I could understand how awkward one might feel if you called yourself a disciple and really didn’t know how to pray. It seems then, that prayer is not a natural thing. It doesn’t “just happen.” It’s something that has to be taught. So if you struggle with “how to pray” at times, don’t feel bad-the disciples struggled with the same thing.
I’m not sure what their prayer struggles were. Maybe they weren’t sure of what words Jesus used-that often happens to us, doesn’t it? Trying to find the right words to say at times isn’t always easy. Maybe they were impressed with how Jesus positioned Himself when He prayed. Quite often when we see pictures of Jesus praying, He used a certain “prayer posture.” Jesus often knelt to pray. That doesn’t come naturally, either-that has to be taught. Maybe they were impressed with how much Jesus accomplished through prayer. But, the fact remained; they didn’t know how to pray!!! The disciples-and maybe at times that seems like us-were simply uncomfortable with their prayer life. They knew there had to be a secret or secrets to having a good prayer life. So they did what we ought to do-make a request to be taught how to pray. As a matter of fact, one of the lessons taught in 7th and 8th grade confirmation class-dealing with the lesson on prayer-is that Pastor Kieschick requests the students learn to write several different kinds of prayers. They have to be taught how to do that. That’s because until we are taught how to pray, and until we recognize the Holy Spirit’s power, prayer is not a natural thing. St. Paul even admitted in Romans 8:26 “In our weakness, when we do not know what we ought to pray for, the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
How many kinds of prayers are included in your prayer life? If you are parents, how do you teach your children to pray? Yes, the first secret to a powerful prayer life is having the courage to ask someone to teach you to pray. The disciples requested Jesus to teach them.
Secret # 2-“Pattern”
What’s good to know and what is helpful in any prayer life is knowing that there is a pattern to prayer. Although there may be times when we simply call out to God in prayer-not worrying about format or words, especially in times of stress or distress-prayer is not a haphazardly put together bunch of words. Notice that when the disciples made their request, Jesus responded by teaching the Lord’s Prayer. That’s because Jesus wanted them to have a “prayer pattern” to follow. How often we follow patterns or directions when we’re not sure how to do something. The Lord’s Prayer provides a neat set of directions if you will on what to say, it’s a “model prayer.”
In this pattern, Jesus begins with an acknowledgment of who God is-our Father. Jesus wants us to know that we can say “Father” because of our brother, Jesus, who opens our lines of communication with God by means of the cross. Please notice, Jesus did NOT say “Our Father/Mother” or “Our Mother”. Jesus did NOT pray “Our Mother.” Those phrases used by many today can only be confusing. Jesus doesn’t want us confused when we pray. Praying is hard enough work without having to start out by being confused as to who God is. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, Jesus very distinctly said “Our Father.”
It is important to acknowledge God as our Father, because then we ask of him the kinds of things we need. The perfect analogy is that a father is to provide for the needs of his family. God, our Heavenly Father, does that for His family of believers. Jesus informs us that our three most basic needs are: 1) that our daily needs be met, 2) that our sins be forgiven, and 3) that we be delivered from the power of the Tempter who wants us to sin. The implication here is that if you never prayed another prayer, but prayed this prayer with meaning every day, that would be plenty enough. If you were to be in prayer 365 days of the year, you would have to come up with 365 totally original prayers if you’d want to say something different every time. And that would be O.K. But, Jesus wants us to know that God knows the desires of our hearts even before we mention them.
The pattern of the Lord’s Prayer acknowledges our dependence on God and it acknowledges our inadequacies. It is a good habit to follow the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer. We are creatures of habit. Patterns and habits play a vital role in our lives. What better pattern to follow, what better habit to have than saying the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus wants us to know that what’s most important is that we pattern ourselves to acknowledge our dependence on God, to ask for forgiveness of our sins, and to request God’s help with our daily needs. Yes, regardless if we pray the Lord’s Prayer every day, or whether we made up a new prayer every day, there is a pattern to our prayer.
Secret #3 “Persistence”
One of the greatest secrets to prayer is persistence. And now the child-father analogy really is applicable. A little child does not hesitate to trouble his dad when he wants something. If he really wants it, he keeps troubling his father until he gets what he wants or needs. Jesus tells an interesting parable here that teaches God’s children to do the same thing with their Heavenly Father. Be persistent in prayer!!
The parable is about a traveler who knocks on a friend’s door at midnight-and often travelers in Palestine traveled at night to escape the heat of the summer-and asks for a loaf of bread. Everyone in the family is already asleep. Back then, most of the family all slept in the same room and so it would disturb the whole family to get up, turn on the lights, and answer the door, not to mention trying to find a loaf of bread. So the request is refused at first. But if the traveler is persistent enough, sooner or later, the request will be granted-if for no other reason, so that the family will be left alone.
Now the point of the parable is not that we are “bothering” God or that he is like the man in the house who is being inconvenienced by the persistent request. God certainly does not consider it a bother when we come to him, day or night, with our requests.
We need to know what the word “persistent” means here. It means “to ask with unashamed boldness.” In other words, it means that one doesn’t get embarrassed or tired of asking. Persistent prayer is something that gets results. This man is going to help out this so called friend, not because they are good friends, but because this friend is being persistent to the point of being rude! And please note, at the end of the parable-the traveler doesn’t just get a little. He gets “as much as he needs.”
God is more than a friend to us. He is a friend, and a loving Father! And you might say that persistence “pays off” with God. The more persistent you are with prayer, the more He loves to answer. All too often we think that if we pray once, maybe twice, or even three times, God ought to act. Rather, God wants us praying until He acts in His time. We may be asked to pray for something many times, expressing our faith during that time as we wait for God’s timing in His answer.
Some fishermen were caught in a sudden storm on Lake Superior. It seemed that unless something happened, their boat would be swamped. One of the men were experienced at prayer, so they selected one of theme to pray. The one selected to pray hadn’t been to church in a number of years and confessed he hadn’t done much praying during the recent years either. Nonetheless, he was asked to speak on their behalf to the Almighty. As he prayed, the words came…”O Lord, I haven’t asked you for anything for 15 years. And if you deliver us from this storm and bring us safely to land again, I promise that I won’t bother you for another 15 years.” This man needs to learn the real secret to prayer. The more persistent we are-the more we “bother” God-the more we ask, seek, and knock, the more we prove we know one of the secrets to a good prayer life.
Secret #4 Promises!
Now you might respond, “Promises?? It’s no secret that God promises to answer our prayer.” But all too often we are tempted to think that maybe there’s been a prayer or two that’s gone unanswered. But, we can always trust that God will give us what we need, when we need it.
Would you like yet another father/child analogy or illustration? That trust we have in God is like the little girl who crawled up into her dad’s lap while he was reading the newspaper and told him how much she wanted him to build her a dollhouse. She didn’t climb down until her daddy promised to do just that, although he was somewhat distracted and agreed mostly because he wanted to continue to read the paper. He forgot his promise until he walked into her room one evening and saw all her dolls and doll furniture were packed to move into the new dollhouse. When he asked her about it, she simply told him that she knew he would be building it because he promised he would. That promise was good enough for her!
God’s promises are more than good enough for us. And what a beautiful definition of faith this story gives. Our part is, with the Spirit’s power, to trust that God will give us what we need, and to trust that what we get from God is always for our best. It’s like Jesus said in the parable “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish, give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
The neat thing about God’s promises are, that if we did receive a scorpion instead of an egg, or a snake instead of a fish, God promises it would still be for our good!!! And the reason we are able to believe that is because we are promised that through asking for it, we receive the most perfect gift of all-the Holy Spirit-who puts the words that we pray into our hearts and mouths.
And there you have it-4 of the many secrets to a good prayer life according to this text are:
1) Per Request. Please have the courage to ask for help in your prayer life. Someone is always there to respond to our request and will teach us.
2) Pattern. We have the perfect pattern for prayer in the Lord’s Prayer. Even if we didn’t pray another prayer the rest of our life, the Lord’s Prayer is a good pattern to follow and it reinforces our Father/child relationship with God.
3) Persistence. When we are persistent in prayer, it pays off! Not because we are good at prayer, but because God is good to us.
4) Promises. God promises to answer and to give His best to us when he does even when it may not seem like what’s best for us at the present time.
And oh yeah, don’t forget several other “P” words that go well with prayer: POWER and PRACTICE! Remember the phrase “practice makes perfect?” As often as we practice our prayers, God’s promise is to send the power of the Holy Spirit, the most perfect answer to any prayer. And as you practice praying with your families, remember, you might well be answering a request by someone in your family at home or your faith family in the church, who wants to learn more about the secret to a good prayer life. Amen.
