He [Jesus] was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” So he said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (New Revised Standard Version)
If we desire to see the power of prayer become a reality in our lives, we will have to avoid drive-by prayers in favor of sustained and focused prayers taught to us from the Lord Jesus.
Prayer empowered Jesus in his earthly ministry. His disciples saw this, and wanted it, too. So, Christ encouraged them in what to pray, and to keep persistently praying, despite the circumstances.
We are instructed by Jesus to approach the heavenly Father just as he himself did – in a straightforward and intimate manner. The content of our prayers ought to encompass the following five petitions:
- Let God’s name be made holy. In other words, we are to let the Lord’s name be seen by others as holy within us in our daily lives. This is a petition for God to establish divine sovereignty and holiness in the heart of the believer. When this happens, the name of God is exalted and set apart as holy before a watching world.
- Let God’s kingdom come. This is a prayer that asks for the reign of God to extend over the entire earth in a very practical way – to have God’s rule draw near to everyone and everything, including ourselves.
- Let us have our daily bread. That is, pray that God will give us everything we need for life and godliness in this present evil age, including physical sustenance, mental acuity, emotional intelligence, and spiritual food. None of us lives by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
- Let forgiveness come. Sin is a reality. Therefore, every one of us needs forgiveness; and everyone needs to forgive others. Forgiveness is powerful; it releases us to freedom. And thus, we have the power to release others through the act of forgiving the egregious sins of others. The failure to do this is why the kingdom of God is so disestablished in this world.
- Let us not become victims of the cosmic conflict. There is a continual struggle of unseen powers on this earth that no human is armed to deal with. Apart from God’s intervention, humanity gets caught in the crosshairs of the conflict. We are to pray that this trial does not overcome us.
These prayers are to be consistently and persistently prayed every day. Christ wants us to keep asking, seeking, and knocking.
Jesus, in his teaching ministry on earth, often used the lesser-to-greater argument in getting his point across. And that is precisely what he was doing with his disciples in today’s Gospel lesson by instructing them about the nature and motivation of prayer.
The lesser-to-greater argument implies a comparison of values. It’s grounded on a common sense and logical convention that if this lesser thing is true, then, of course, how much more is this greater thing!
If something less likely to happen is true, then something more likely to happen will probably be true as well. The technical phrase for this is an argument a fortiori – a Latin term meaning, “for a still stronger reason.”
Jesus wanted his followers to understand that prayer has value because God is a loving Father, not a begrudging friend. Whereas the friend in the story was badgered just so the person could get some real necessities, God needs no badgering to generously give good gifts that may or may not be considered as necessities by us.
Jesus desired to highlight that prayer has veracity because of whom those prayers are directed.
In the ancient world, it was common understanding you needed to get the local gods attention if you wanted something. Which is why, for example, in the prophet Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal, that Baal’s worshipers were yelling, gesticulating, and even cutting themselves for hours. They fully expected to put a lot of work into getting Baal’s attention, maybe even needing to convince him of intervening in their ancient version of a wild West shootout.
In contrast to four-hundred prophets of Baal, a single prophet of the Lord utters one simple prayer, then fire comes rushing down from heaven. Much like the person who badgered the friend for bread, the prophets pestered Baal for hours. (1 Kings 18)
In Christ’s story, it all comes down to who really cares. The friend? Not enough to jump out of bed right away and meet a need. Baal? Not so much. God? Now we’re talking.
We typically don’t ask, seek, or knock, if we believe we will not get a response – or if it will take a lot of energy, time, and effort we don’t have. Yet, if we are confident of being heard and our requests taken seriously with care, then we are likely to have a habit of asking, seeking, and knocking.
If a friend begrudgingly gives to you because of persistent knocking, how much more will God graciously, generously, and with gaiety give you goodness when you ask?
Because God is good, God gives. The largess of the Lord is willing and ready to dispense grace from an infinite storehouse of mercy.
This is why Jesus encouraged people to not pray like those who don’t know God, babbling on because they think they’ll be heard because of the sheer volume of words. (Matthew 6:7-8)
Two misconceptions of prayer existed in Christ’s day (and today); they come from non-Christian sources:
- There must be a lot of prayer before prayer “works.” Although I believe repetition is important for forming good habits, praying the same prayers over and over again so as to be heard betrays an ignorance of God, not to mention an actual lack of faith. Many ancient religions were based in learning how to manipulate the spiritual forces out there to get what we need. It’s kind of like a divine version of hustling for love in all the wrong places. Christians need to know they don’t need to have thousands of people praying in order to get God’s attention to answer prayer.
- I must convince God of the need to answer my prayer. God is not a reluctant listener. The reason the Lord already knows what we need before we ask is because God has been paying close attention to us well before we got around to asking, seeking, and knocking on the divine door. God’s ear is already inclined to hear us – expectantly and anxiously awaiting our petitions. This is a tremendously freeing idea, that I can come to God openly and honestly, without drudgery, and without wondering if I am heard, or not.
May we be encouraged to pray, to truly connect with God, because the Lord is available without appointment, and is waiting for us to ask with bended ear.
Eternal God, by whose power we are created and by whose love we are redeemed: Guide and strengthen us by your Spirit so that we may give ourselves to your service and live today and every day in love to one another and to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 