You can find a free downloadable discussion guide to go with this sermon at https://getencouraged.blog/resources/.
Read Luke 11:1-13
Introduction
A young boy asked his parents for a baby brother, and seeing a perfect opportunity to teach their son a valuable lesson on prayer, the parents said, “Alex, if you pray each morning and evening for one month, you will get a baby brother.”
Alex was all in for a couple weeks. He didn’t miss a prayer time. Each morning and evening he prayed for a baby brother. About the third week, Alex was tired of praying and stopped, but he didn’t say anything to his parents.
The month ended, and Alex’s mom left for a few days. When she came home, she called Alex into her bedroom. Alex entered the room to see his mom sitting on the bed holding her newborn sons. The couple had twins.
“Look at your baby brothers,” mom said. “Aren’t you glad you prayed for one month?”
Alex thought for a moment and responded, “Aren’t you glad I stopped after only two weeks?”
Though 55% of respondents say they pray daily, a study revealed that prayer is on a downward trend, especially among younger generations. Prayer, as we know, is powerful and effective, yet it does not seem like Christians are taking full advantage of the opportunity to approach the Lord in prayer. What stops us from praying?
It can be any number of distractions interrupting our prayer life, but you and I need to ensure we pray consistently. Jesus’ disciples were so impressed by his prayer life they asked him to teach them. Luke 11:1 says, on a certain occasion when Jesus had finished praying, his disciples came to him with this request, “Lord, can you teach us how to pray?”
Think about their request for just a moment. Standing before them was the master of all things, and they want to learn how to pray. The disciples realized the importance of prayer, and they wanted to learn from the master of prayer. Jesus teaches them how to pray, and in doing so, gives you and I some pointers. Here are five things every Christian needs to remember when we pray.
POINT 1: Eloquent Words are not Required
The first pointer we see is our prayers do not have to be fancy.
Do you ever stumble over your words when you pray? You hear other people offer eloquent prayers. You hear these well-crafted masterpieces and compare your own prayers which you believe are anything but well-crafted masterpieces.
“I’m not eloquent enough,” you and I think. We tell ourselves, “My prayers are just not good enough.” The Bible says differently though.
In our text, Jesus says, “When you pray, start by saying, ‘Our Father….” God is our Father and we are his children, so we don’t have to be eloquent in our prayers.
Prayer is a conversation with our Dad, so we should talk with him as if he is our Dad. How many dads care if their children mess up a word or two. I don’t, and I can’t imagine you do either. We are just glad when our kids have a conversation with us. We are not tabulating how many words they say wrong or how many mistakes they make. We are engaged in the conversation.
The Lord is the same way. He wants to hear from us; he’s thrilled when we talk with him. Mispronouncing words or not having completely cohesive sentences is not a bother to him. He is thrilled when we pray. He is thrilled when we talk with him. Prayer does not have to be eloquent.
POINT 2: God Answers in His Timing
The second point is God answers prayer in his timing. This is a valuable point for Christians to remember. Praying and thinking there is no answer coming can be discouraging; however, God always gives us an answer. He gives us the right answer in his timing.
The Bible helps us understand how God works in his timing by telling us the story of Israel in Egypt. If you’re not familiar with the Exodus account, Israel was moved to Egypt to escape a severe famine and while they were there, the country served as an incubator to grow the nation as God had promised.
Many years after arriving in Egypt, the Israelites find themselves enslaved to the Egyptians who are treating them harshly. Day after day the Israelites pray for relief, and day after day, they remain in slavery. It does not seem God was hearing their prayers.
Can you relate? Day after day you pray for something, but you do not receive your answer. We become discouraged, and just want to stop praying. But that is the wrong thing to do. God will answer us in his timing.
Exodus 2:25 says, “He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.”
Years passed as the Israelites prayed; years passed as they were in slavery, but God waited. He waited until it was time. Not just time, but the perfect time. You see, God’s timing is perfect. He answered them when Moses was prepared to lead them out of Egypt.
He wasn’t ignoring them for years; he was preparing Moses to lead the people of Israel to the promised land.
In faith, we know God is not ignoring our prayers. He is waiting to answer us. Our prayers will be answered in the best way in the perfect timing of the Lord.
POINT 3: We Can Ask for Help
The third point we need to remember about prayer is we can ask for help. My paraphrase of Luke 11:3-4 is, “Lord, can you help me?”
This was a plea Jesus heard often in his earthly ministry, and he never turned anyone away. People asking for help were not turned away by Jesus. They were welcomed by Jesus. He welcomed them with compassion and grace.
He welcomes us with compassion and grace. In an ever-changing, chaotic world, we can ask the Lord for help. When our morning is off to a rough start, the Lord will help us. When we need to cultivate a better character, the Lord will help us. The Lord will help us if we ask.
POINT 4: Pray for One Another
The fourth point is we are to pray for one another.
By his choice of words in Luke 11:3-4, I believe Jesus is telling us to pray for one another. He uses “we” and “us.” Both are plural; not just focusing on ourselves.
There are many situations in which we see our neighbors hurting, and we long to assist, Yet, we don’t know what to do. We can always pray; in fact, we should pray.
1 Timothy 2:1 says, “I urge you, first, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them. Intercede on their behalf. Give thanks for them.”
When the neighboring town is devastated by the tornadoes, we can pray for the citizens. When our friend or family member receives a terrible diagnosis form the doctor, we can pray for peace for that individual and wisdom for the doctors. When our daughter is heartbroken, we can pray that the Lord will heal her hurts. Our prayers are powerful and effective, and we have the privilege to pray for one another.
POINT 5: Be Unashamed and Persistent
The final point we find in Luke 11 is to be unashamed and persistent.
Jesus uses a parable in which a man has an unexpected guest and no food to offer. So, he runs to his neighbor and begs for food. The man inside the house finally gets up to give the man food because of his persistence. The man requesting food was unashamed and persistent.
The foodless man would have been embarrassed to have an empty pantry with a gust. Not offering food was a big no in that culture, yet he doesn’t try to hide the fact he is out of food. He openly tells his neighbor to fix the problem.
We can follow the foodless man’s example and not be embarrassed in our prayers. This is hard sometimes. It’s easy to talk about our wins with the Lord, but when we make mistakes, we don’t want to tell him. But we don’t have to hide those mistakes. God will be gracious with us.
He knows our heart, anyway, so why would we try to hide anything from him. In his grace and mercy, he’ll help us fix the mistake and return to where we need to be. We can be honest and unashamed in our prayers.
We can also be persistent like the foodless man. The man got a no, but he kept asking. Eventually, the neighbor in the house became tired of the banging on the door, so he gave the man what he wanted.
Jesus encourages us not to stop praying. “Keep asking,” he says. Remember, God answers prayer in his timing. We can be unashamed and persistent in our prayers.
Conclusion
James says the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. We know that it is as we’ve seen prayer’s power in our own lives. The Bible tells us we need to pray consistently.
C. S. Lewis once said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He laughs at our work. He mocks our toil. He fears nothing from prayerless efforts, but he trembles when we pray.” Will you join me in making the devil tremble? Will you join me in praying consistently?
You can find an accompanying discussion guide for this sermon at https://getencouraged.blog/resources/.
