Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Teach us to Pray

Luke 11:1–13

The Lord’s Prayer

[1] Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” [2] And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

[3] Give us each day our daily bread,

[4] and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.”

[5] And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, [6] for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; [7] and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? [8] I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. [9] And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. [11] What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; [12] or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] 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!”

Today’s passage is about something that should be familiar to every believer: prayer. Yet many of us—including me—struggle to live a prayerful life. I often find it easier to worship, serve in ministry, attend church, or join MC than to make time to pray. Perhaps we do not know how to pray or where to begin. Perhaps we quietly wonder whether prayer is really essential. Whatever the reason, prayer is a crucial part of the Christian life. Paul commands us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18: “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Pray without ceasing! Does that mean we must literally pray every moment of every day? I do not believe so. Rather, it means living prayerfully—remaining conscious of God, depending on Him, and enjoying fellowship with Him throughout the day. For a Christian, prayer should be like breathing. Yet many of us hold our spiritual breath for too long. We pray only about the big things, pray just enough to tick a box, or treat prayer as a wish list for God.

A life of prayer comes out of our continual dependence on God.

What is prayer to you? Is it simply a time to bring requests to God, or is it a life-changing daily habit of communion with Him? The Lord’s Prayer is one of the church’s greatest treasures. So today we ask: How should we pray when we are suffering? How should we pray when life is going well? This passage not only teaches us how to pray; it also shows us how deeply our Father loves us.

The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. You may remember a similar prayer in Matthew. The two prayers are closely related, but they are not identical. Matthew begins, “Our Father in heaven,” and includes a longer form. Matthew’s account appears in the Sermon on the Mount, while Luke’s occurs on the road to Jerusalem. These are separate occasions. Would Jesus teach about prayer only once? Of course not. This also reminds us that the Lord’s Prayer is a model that shapes our prayers, not merely a script we must repeat word for word.

Tonight we will consider three points: how to pray, the parable of prayer, and our confidence in prayer.

1. How to Pray

Luke 11:1-4

[1] Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

If you struggle to know how to pray, you are not alone. Even the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. Like them, we all need to go deeper, so let us come with the same request today: “Lord, teach us to pray.” The Lord’s Prayer has two movements. The first is vertical: it begins with God and centres on His glory—“Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.” (Luke 11:2). The second is horizontal: it brings our needs before Him—“[3] Give us each day our daily bread, [4] and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” Before we turn to our needs and desires, we acknowledge the almighty God. Prayer is first about Him. Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life, suggests that one reason we struggle to pray is that we focus too much on the act of praying and not enough on God. At the heart of prayer is knowing God.

So, let’s look at the vertical part, God’s glory.

Father

The prayer begins with one word: “Father.” For Christians, calling God “Father” may sound familiar. Many of us learned it in Sunday school, and even new believers quickly come to know God this way. In the Old Testament, however, God’s people knew Him by many names. They knew Him as the Father of Israel, but they did not ordinarily address Him personally as Father. They honoured Him as the sovereign Creator who rules and reigns. His holiness filled them with reverence, and there remained a sense of distance between God and His people. They did not approach Him with the intimacy of a child coming to a loving father.

Jesus introduces a new and radical way to pray, and He teaches it because this is how He Himself prayed. He invites us to approach God as children speaking to their loving Father. The word Jesus used was “Abba”—not the band, but an Aramaic word for father. It carries the warmth of “Dad,” “Papa,” or “Daddy,” yet with deep reverence: “Dearest Father.”

For a traditional Jew, this would have been astonishing. God is referred to as Father only fourteen times in the Old Testament, and then as the Father of the people rather than the personal Father of an individual. Yet Jesus teaches His disciples to begin, “Father”—their Abba. We too may call God our loving Father, who cares for us and rules over us. For some, that language may be difficult because an earthly father has disappointed, wounded, or been absent from their lives. But we do not define God by the failures of human fathers or by our family experiences. We know Him through His Word. In Scripture we see His perfect love: He cares for His children, protects them, provides for them, and knows exactly what they need.

Hallowed be your name

After beginning with “Father,” we pray that God’s name would be hallowed. God’s name expresses His character and nature. To “hallow” His name means to treat it as holy, to set it apart, and to revere it. We are not asking God to become more holy—that is impossible. We are asking that His holiness would be recognised and displayed in the world. We begin by asking that our own lives would show His holiness. Do our thoughts, words, actions, and choices—in public and in private—reflect who He is? When you know God the Father, your life will also reflect his holiness to those around you.

We also pray this for our families, friends, church, community, nation, and world: that God’s holiness would be known. Calvin asked, “What is more unworthy than for God’s glory to be obscured partly by our ungratefulness?” In other words, an ungrateful heart fails to honour His name.

Tim Keller wrote, “To ‘hallow’ God’s name is not merely to live righteous lives but to have a heart of grateful joy toward God—and even more, a wondrous sense of his beauty. We do not revere his name unless he captivates us with wonderment for him.”

When we pray, we must not forget to hallow God’s name.

Your kingdom come

After praying that God’s holy name would be known, we pray for His kingdom to come. From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus preached the kingdom of God. That kingdom has already come in the person and work of Jesus Christ—in His preaching, teaching, healing, and ministry. The kingdom of God is His sovereign rule and reign. When we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we are asking for two things.

First, we ask God to rule and reign in our hearts so that we will follow and obey His will. Then we extend that prayer to our families, friends, church, community, nation, and world. Luke also tells us in Luke 17:21 that the kingdom of God is in our midst. It is both present and still to come. So we pray for God’s kingdom to advance in this broken world.

Second, we pray for the day Christ returns and brings His kingdom to its fullness—a day with no more tears, pain, or suffering, but complete joy in the Lord. Until then, “Your kingdom come” is both a prayer of surrender and a prayer of hope.

Having prayed for God’s glory, we now turn to the horizontal part of the prayer: our needs. Jesus teaches us to ask for daily provision, forgiveness, and strength in the face of temptation.

Give us each day our daily bread

This petition begins with our everyday needs. Christians are to ask God each day for daily bread. Scholars debate whether “daily bread” means bread for today or for tomorrow, but either way the emphasis is clear: we are to live day by day, depending on God to provide what we need. Who here loves dessert? I know many of you do! Yet Jesus does not tell us to ask for an almond croissant or fluffy pancakes with butter and maple syrup. He tells us to ask for daily bread. God cares about the ordinary details of our lives—the day-to-day “white bread” needs. He cares whether we have a home, food on the table, an education, and family. This doesn’t mean that we can’t ask for anything other than bread though. It means that every request, large or small, is brought to our generous Father and he is able and willing to provide.

“God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows.” Tim Keller

I think this is such a beautiful prayer because it reminds us that God cares about every part of our lives. When we bring our needs to Him, whether they are great or small, He meets us where we are. Even in the ordinary, everyday needs of life, we have an opportunity to honour and glorify Him by recognising our dependence on Him.

This prayer is a humble acknowledgement that everything we have comes from God. Our strength, our provision, and our very lives depend on Him. As we trust Him day by day for our daily bread, we grow in faith and learn to rest in His faithful care. Our dependence is on God alone.

forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Christians are to ask regularly for the forgiveness of sins. We do not come to God confident in our own righteousness; we come pleading for His mercy and grace. The Lord’s Prayer is for sinners, not for people who have it all together. As surely as we need daily bread, we need daily forgiveness and a renewed awareness of God’s grace.

You and I will not reach perfection in this life. Martin Luther said that the whole life of a Christian is one of repentance. Our sins are forgiven through the cross, and whenever we sin, we confess honestly and receive God’s forgiveness in Jesus’ name.

Yet Jesus does not stop with receiving forgiveness; He also calls us to forgive others. This is a difficult part of the prayer. We cannot sincerely ask for forgiveness while refusing to show forgiveness. Those who have received God’s forgiveness are called to extend forgiveness to others. When Jesus taught this prayer, the cross was still ahead of him. But for us, we understand that forgiveness ultimately comes from the sacrificial death of Jesus. God does not overlook sin, He deals with through the atonement of Jesus.

When someone sins against us, they put themselves in owing us a debt. So who is your debtor? Who has wronged you? Whom do you need to forgive? A refusal to forgive is incompatible with a heart that has received God’s grace. Those who are forgiven learn to forgive. If we truly mean this prayer, we must be willing to take that difficult step.

John Calvin said, “if we retain feelings of hatred in our hearts, if we plot to revenge and ponder any occasion to cause harm, and even if we do not try to get back into our enemies’ good graces, by every sort of good office deserve well of them, and commend ourselves to them, by this prayer, we entreat God not to forgive our sins.”

In other words, if we cling to bitterness or nurture a grudge, we expose the hypocrisy of asking God to forgive our own sins. A believer is called to become a forgiving person. That does not mean forgiveness is easy or immediate. Many people carry deep hurt, bitterness, and anger. But do not lose hope. Even the struggle to forgive can be evidence of God’s grace at work in your heart, if not then you would have just let hatred consume you. Let us pray for forgiveness and to forgive others.

lead us not into temptation

In the final petition, we ask God not to lead us into temptation. At first this may sound puzzling, because Scripture says that God does not tempt us. James 1:13 says, “[13] Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” The petition therefore asks God to spare us from situations that would overwhelm us and draw us into sin. Although God does not tempt believers, He may lead us through difficult circumstances that test and strengthen our faith. James 1:2–4 says, “[2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Trials and tribulations are meant to help us grow in our spiritual maturity, and James argues that it should be counted as joy. Whenever we are tempted, it is because of our own sinful desires. Let us pray for God to protect us and lead us away from temptation.

This, then, is the pattern Jesus gives us. We begin with God’s glory, praying to our Father that His name would be honoured and His rule extended. Then we bring our needs: daily provision, daily forgiveness, and daily protection.

2. A parable of prayer

After giving His disciples a pattern for prayer, Jesus tells them a parable that shows how they should approach God.

Luke 11:5-10

5] And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, [6] for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; [7] and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? [8] I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

If any of you asked me for help in the middle of the night, you might meet one very grouchy friend! I would probably help—but perhaps a little begrudgingly.

Jesus describes a man knocking on his neighbour’s door at midnight. He asks for not one, not two, but three loaves because a travelling friend has arrived and he has nothing to serve him. The homeowner responds with two complaints: “Do not bother me,” and, “My children are with me in bed.” Homes often had a single room, with the whole family sleeping close together, so getting up risked waking everyone. No wonder the homeowner was frustrated.

Hospitality was extremely important in that culture. A guest who arrived after a long, tiring journey needed food and refreshment. Jesus says that although the homeowner may not rise simply because the man is his friend, “because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.” The Greek word translated “impudence,” anaideian, is translated in different ways: “importunity” in the King James Version, “persistence” in the New International Version, and “impudence” in the English Standard Version. The word carries the idea of shameless boldness. Jesus is teaching us to bring our requests to God boldly and persistently. If even a reluctant neighbour eventually responds, how much more can believers approach the God who is always gracious and loving?

[9] And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Have you ever lost your keys? You do not glance around the room once and give up. You keep searching because the keys matter. The more valuable the object, the more persistent the search.

Jesus continues to tell his disciples to ask God, in other words to pray to God, to seek God and to knock before God. Do you see how these actions escalate? It encourages a continual life of prayer, meaning to come before God again and again! “Everyone who asks receives” does not mean that you will always get what you asked for, but God is wiser than we will ever know and he has the best plans for us. Be persistent in your prayer. Be passionate in your prayer. Keep asking, seeking, and knocking.

We can confidently ask God for what we need, knowing that in His wisdom and love, He will give us what is truly needed.

If the parable teaches persistence, these verses give us confidence.

3. Our confidence for Prayer

Luke 11:11-13

[11] What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; [12] or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] 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!”

Many fathers here today love their families deeply. Jesus says that an ordinary father would not give his son a snake when he asks for a fish, or a scorpion when he asks for an egg. Imagine a child saying, “Dad, I’m hungry. May I have some fish?” “No son here is a snake!”. That would be cruel. Jesus’ point is striking, if we, though sinful, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Our Father does not merely give good gifts; He gives the perfect gift. That is the greatness of His love for us.

But how can we pray this way? Some of us may find it difficult to call God “Father.” Jesus taught His disciples to begin with “Father” because that is how He prayed. Every recorded prayer of Jesus begins with “Father”—except one. On the cross, Jesus bore the full weight of God’s wrath against our sin. There He cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was cut off from the Father’s favour and fellowship so that we could receive salvation, come to God, and call Him Father. Because of the cross, our sins were forgiven, we have been reconciled with God, and we are adopted in God’s family. Now we can call him Father.

Have you put your faith in Christ? It is because of the Father’s love, shown through the Son, that we can pray this prayer. When we pray, we come to the Father who loves us and delights to give us what we truly need. How deep the Father’s love for us.

Here is the heart of the passage: prayer reveals what is in us, but it also opens our hands to receive the Father’s greatest gift—the Holy Spirit. The Son promises that the Father will give us the Spirit. After his death and resurrection, and ascension, Christ pours out the Spirit on his people. The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift. The Spirit helps us know God through Scripture, exposes our sin and leads us to repentance, and gives us new life.

Let me finish with two simple practices that can help us grow in prayer.

Applications

Prayer tools and prayer cards

First, use a simple framework. ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. It helps us begin with God’s character, confess our sin, give thanks for His grace, and then bring our requests to Him.

Second, consider using prayer cards. Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life, describes a prayer card as "A prayer card is a non-complicated, actual note card where you start writing down things that you're asking of the Lord so that you can remember. It's a tool that is helpful for keeping track of what you're asking the Lord to do."

These tools are not formulas; they simply help us practise the life of dependence Jesus teaches. So let us come to our Father—honouring His name, seeking His kingdom, trusting His provision, receiving His forgiveness, resisting temptation, and asking boldly for the gift of His Spirit.

Discussion questions:

What struck you the most from the sermon?
If you can point out your number one struggle in praying, what is it and why?
How does it look for you to live out the Lord's prayer in your daily life?
How does the gospel propel you to come to God in prayer?