Sometimes, in order to do something the best way possible, we need to follow a pattern. Patterns are used in making clothes, and blueprints in designing and constructing a building. In our Gospel reading for this week, we are given a pattern for prayer. We also read that God wants us to pray, and is eager to provide all we need.
As our Scripture from the Gospel of Luke begins, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them how to effectively and rightly pray (vs. 1). They had seen Jesus pray many times, and they knew from His teachings that prayer should not be just the recitation of many words (Matthew 6:7).
Jesus responded with giving His disciples what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus gave this message on two separate occasions. Once was during the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew, and then here. In the days when there was no TV or recording, it would have been very reasonable for Jesus to repeat some of His messages so people in different areas could hear what He had to say. The Lord’s Prayer is a pattern that we should use, and not just the only prayer we say. There is nothing wrong with reciting the Lord’s Prayer, and many Christians do. However, we can use this prayer as a pattern for our other prayers, as well.
In verse 2 the Lord’s Prayer begins with naming who we are addressing our prayer - ‘Our Father”. It speaks of relationship. He is our Father, and as such, provides for our needs. “In heaven” tells us our help comes from heaven, not here on earth. Don’t look to anyone on earth for our help. “Hallowed be Your Name” - God’s Name is holy, sacred, and is to be treated and spoken with respect and reverence. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done - we should pray for God’s kingdom to come, and His will, not ours, to be done. “Our daily bread” - Our provision is daily, not all at once. God wants our communication with Him to be daily.
In verse 4 we read “Forgive us our sins” - we all need God’s forgiveness daily. “We also forgive everyone who is indebted to us” - the Lord forgiving us is predicated on our forgiving others. There is not the slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. No matter what they did we are to forgive, even if they are our avowed enemy. Jesus made forgiveness the cornerstone of our relationship with God. God has forgiven our sins, and we must now forgive those who have wronged us. To remain unforgiving shows we have not understood that we deeply need to be forgiven.
“Do not lead us into temptation” - temptation is the craving towards the wrong things in life. Temptation doesn’t come from God. It comes from Satan (James 1:13). We need to pray against it, and to choose another way. Pray that the Lord will help us in our weakness not to be led into temptation. “Deliver us from the evil one” - there is only one Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Man cannot deliver his fellow man.
First Jesus praised God, then He made His requests. Praising God first puts us in the right frame of mind to tell Him about our needs. Too often our prayers are more like shopping lists than a conversation with God. He, alone, gives both physical and spiritual sustenance.
Jesus then gives a brief parable of a man who has some late night visitors, and goes to his neighbor, requesting some provisions (vs. 5-8). We, as believers, must give the message of eternal life, the bread of life, to all of mankind. On our own we have nothing to give. We need to receive it from God. Jesus also taught here about persistence in prayer. We don’t need to wear God down, but being persistent in our prayers helps us realize where and Who our source is. It helps us recognize God’s work. If sufficiency for daily need can, by persistence, be obtained from an unwilling source, how much more from a willing Giver, the Lord.
God tells in His Word what His will is for us, but we must ask first (vs. 9-10). If we come to God in prayer with the right motives, putting first the Kingdom of God, if we live for Him, He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). Jesus told us we are to keep on praying and trusting that God will graciously and generously supply what we need.
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