One of Jesus’ disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” As a Jew he learned to say prayers from home. But with Jesus he saw a different way of praying.
The disciples had seen that Jesus’ prayers were always answered. And that the constant source of His strength and His freedom of pride came from His prayers that He prayed in isolation.
This created a hunger in them to be able to pray like that.
Luke 11:1
It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished,
one of His disciples said to Him,
“Lord, teach us to pray “
So, once Jesus was praying somewhere, and when He rose again, one of his disciples asked him: “Lord, teach us to pray.”
When Jesus prayed He really had a relationship with God in his prayer.
He prayed because He needed that community in the practice of his life on earth. Prayer was not a religious, pious formality for him, but a condition of life.
The prayer that the Lord Jesus teaches His disciples is therefore not a “formula” to memorize and to say. Unfortunately, many prayers today are no more than a memorized, recited rhyme from a booklet.
Nor is it an occasional prayer for the mountain peaks, or for the deep dark valleys of your life. It is nothing more than an example, with elements that should be present in a prayer; a prayer as it is meant to be prayed. Practicing fellowship with God. Especially in our normal daily life.
What Jesus is actually teaching us here is:
- How to start the prayer (Luke 11:2, Matthew 11:25)
- To whom to direct our prayer (Luke 11.2, John 14:13-15, 15:16, 16:23-26)
- Whom to honor in prayer (Luke 11:2)
- Whose will to obey (Luke 11:2)
- Whose interest to serve (Luke 11:2)
- What to ask for (Luke 11:2-4)
- How to keep an open channel with God (Luke 11: 4, 1 John 3:21-22)
- How to live with our fellow human beings (Luke 11:4, Mark 11:25-26, Ephesians 4)
- How to live with God (Luke 11:4, 1 John 1:3-9, John 17:2-3)
- How to live free from sin (Luke 11:4, Romans 6:16-23, 8:12-13)
We saw earlier that Jesus always sets the right priorities.
The place that God wants to take in our lives is the most important thing for us.
Luke 11:2
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven,
so in earth.
Hallowed be Your Name
With “Hallowed be Your Name,” we also say: Let all people on earth be in awe of You. For when we pray for the sanctification of God’s name, we are actually asking God to work out that He, and His actions will be recognized, honored, and praised, rather than rejected, despised, and cursed, as is almost common today.
Your Kingdom come.
With “Your Kingdom come” we pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom,
▪︎ then we first ask God to rule over us by his word and spirit in such a way that we submit more and more to him.
▪︎ We also ask God to keep and increase His church.
▪︎ And if He will destroy the works of Satan and any opposition to Him.
▪︎ And finally, let His Kingdom come in perfection.
Then all problems will be solved.
Your will be done
With “Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth,” we say: Let what you want be done on earth, just as what you want is done in heaven.
Luke 11:3
Give us day by day our daily bread.
With “Give us every day our daily bread” we ask God to give us every day our daily bread. But with this we also ask Him to meet all our daily needs. Both physical and spiritual. Anything necessary for our life, such as food, clothing, shelter, spiritual support, and so on, may all be a subject of our prayer.
Luke 11:4
And forgive us our sins;
for we also forgive every one
that is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone who owes us something.
By these words Jesus means to say that we can only ask God for forgiveness if we ourselves are always willing to forgive others for what they have done to us.
Forgive us for what we are doing wrong, in the same way that we forgive those who do wrong to us. Are you forgiving?
Do not lead us into temptation
Sometimes this is translated to “Don’t test us”.
But because we know that God is not tempting anyone, we also know that this explanation is not correct.
James 1:13
Let no one say when he is tempted,
“I am being tempted by God”;
for God cannot be tempted by evil,
and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
“Do not lead us into temptation” does not mean “do not tempt us” but “do not surrender us to temptation which will lead to waste”. In other words, father please hold us weaklings and save us.
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ENGLISH
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