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You can pray like Jesus. Really.

In Luke 11:1, the disciples come to Jesus after one of His frequent prayer times, asking Him to teach them how to pray. In other words, they were saying, “Teach us how to do what you’ve been doing.”

Of course, He grants their request, and in so doing, teaches how to pray like Him.

Let me pause here for a brief detour, relevant to our discussion.

Much of what I share with you in these articles comes directly from my study and understanding Scripture, influenced as it is by all the men who have taught me God’s word and how to study it down through the years.

But that doesn’t mean it originates with me. It doesn’t. Or, more to the point, it shouldn’t. Ever. Peter instructs us to serve one another out of the spiritual gifts God has entrusted to each of us. 

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.     1Peter 4:10-11

He speaks broadly of two categories of gifts. Gifts involving speaking, and gifts involving service. In both cases, ministry to one another is to be rooted in our dependence on God. Those who serve are to serve by the strength which God supplies. Those who speak are to do so “as one who is speaking the utterances of God.”

So, anything that I share with you should be coming from God. And it has been my heart for years that this always be the case. So, when I say that much of what I share with you comes directly from my study, I mean that God has taught it to me through my personal study of the Scriptures.

But, obviously, that is not the only way He gives me His truth.

I have been thinking and praying about how to approach this question of hearing from God for several months. Recently, I attended the Free Grace Alliance Conference. Dr. Tom Constable, a Bible Exposition Professor from Dallas Theological Seminary was one of the speakers. He chose the passage we are going to look at in this article — Luke 11:1-13 — to speak on. I am indebted to him for several of the key insights in this article. Or, more properly, I am grateful to God, who gave me the words that I am going to share with you, for giving me some of those utterances through Dr. Constable’s teaching.

So, let’s return to the conversation between Jesus and the disciples to look for what God wants us to see, and listen for what He wants us to hear.

The first portion of Jesus’ response (Luke 11:2-4) is a condensed version of what we’ve come to recognize as The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Here in Luke, there are six elements:

• “Father…”

In my NAS95 version, it is easy to slide past this greeting as simply the first word of the first line. But in my Greek text, it is a separate line, effectively emphasizing it as a distinct element.

Indeed, the perspective from which we approach God may be one of the most important aspects of our prayer because it reflects our attitude and sets the atmosphere. Jesus says to approach God as “Father.” Not Eternal God. Not Lord God Almighty. Not Creator of Heaven and Earth. Not Righteous Judge. But Father. Jesus will return to this in a bit.

• “… hallowed by Your name…”

If you’re like me, “hallowed” is not a word that comes up in your vocabulary often. Outside of religious context, the only time I think of hearing it is in the description of something that stands apart because of ancient roots and historical significance. Something like the hallowed ground of the battlefields of the American Revolution or the Civil War. Grounds set apart because of the blood shed there; the sacrifices made. Knowing your in the midst of something weighty, you tread there carefully, with deep respect. The word is an imperative verb. Jesus is not simply telling us to acknowledged the special nature of the Father’s name. He is saying that prayer begins with the express desire that God’s name — His reputation — be hallowed – set apart, venerated.

• “… Your kingdom come.”

There is a lot of confusion about what this means today. Some interpret it in a purely spiritual sense, as if it is fulfilled in the recognition of Jesus as King in the hearts of individuals.

On the other hand, I take it as the literal fulfillment of promises to Israel that the Christ will rule on David’s throne. Over Israel. In Jerusalem. On earth. For 1000 years.

The differences between these two views is significant. In fact, they require two distinct methods of interpreting Scripture and present two very different versions of the Story that God is telling. Volumes have been written on these differences, and I couldn’t begin to address them here, but for a limited expansion of the literal interpretation, check out Looking For “The Kingdom”. Why is this important to us? Again, much could be written, but Serving The Christ gives a key motivation.

• “Give us each day our daily bread.”

The familiarity of these words lubricates them so that they too tend to slide right past us.

A literal translation would be something like, “The bread for the coming day, give us according to the day.” In this request, we are depending on Him to provide for us day by day, as each day comes.

In this instruction, the same attitude that we have seen again and again throughout The Story (e.g., The Lesson of the Manna, The Sermon on The Mount, and The Sending of The Twelve) is made normative for each of us.

• “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

Contrary to popular opinion, every person is not one of God’s children. Such status is a right granted only to those who believe in Jesus (John 1:12). Therefore, if we are addressing God as Father, we have already believed in Jesus and have received the forensic forgiveness that brings justification and a righteous standing before God (Romans 3:21-4:3).

Thus, the forgiveness that Jesus speaks of here must be something other than forgiveness that bring justification. It must be the relational forgiveness that is needed to walk with God. Even though we are His children, we still sin. Although Christ’s death paid the penalty for those sins, they nevertheless create turbulence in our relationship with God if they remain unconfessed. So, we confess them, and are restored to full fellowship with the Father.

This is a critical part of our prayer. Not just for our benefit — to make us feel better or happier —  but because it is essential to effective prayer. How can we ask God for anything if there is dissonance in our relationship with Him?

Note that such reconciliation is based upon our willingness to be reconciled to those indebted to us.

There are no half measures here.

Given the pain my sin causes the Father, how can I expect Him to forgive such hurt so completely that I can come to Him in unhindered prayer, if I am unwilling to grant the same kind of forgiveness to those who have hurt me? No matter how true and legitimate their debt to me may be, it is less than my debt to the Father. Since He has forgiven me, resolving all the turbulence and dissonance my sin brings, then I can do no less toward those indebted to me.

• “And lead us not into temptation.”

As Dr. Constable points out, this is a figure of speech known as a litotes. It is an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite (e.g., “not bad at all” meaning “really good”).

Unpacking the figure, then, “temptation” would be the enticement to disobey God. The opposite of such disobedience is doing His will. So, the last element of prayer is to ask God’s guidance in pursuing His will.

Now, while we can identify six elements in Jesus’ instruction doesn’t mean that He meant it as “Six Easy Steps to A Better Prayer Life” or “Five Tips for Successful Prayer.” He wasn’t much for tips and techniques. That was the domain of the religious types with whom Jesus was at great odds. Jesus was concerned with the heart. And if we will take another look at this passage, we will see that here.

After orienting toward God as our Father, the first two requests have nothing to do with us. They are all about God and His agenda. His name being glorified. His Kingdom coming. Both are things that He says are going to happen. The point of these requests is not so much about making them happen. They’re about aligning our will with His.

For most of us, this is a major adjustment. Contrary to our assumption, prayer is not about getting God to bless our agenda. It’s about aligning ourselves with His agenda.

With that adjustment made, we move on to the requests that benefit us. Provision, forgiveness, and guidance. Certainly, these are categories under which our requests can be grouped. But the point is not to figure out the correct group for all the things we want so that we can request them properly, as if God is some procedure-obsessed supply clerk.

Note the progression. The provision we are to ask for focuses on the immediate present. “Father, give me all I need to get through the next 24 hours.”

Then, we move to forgiveness, which looks backward. What’s done is done. We can’t change anything in the past. All that matters is whether it conformed to the Father’s agenda or not. If it did, great. If not, we need His forgiveness. So we ask for it. With that, everything in the past is taken care of.

Finally, we turn to the future.

We have a lot of ideas about the future. And probably, no small measure of anxiety. We think we know what we need, but are afraid we won’t get it. We are faced with a decision and are not sure which choice is the right one. We anticipate a potential disaster in the future and fret over how we can avoid it.

But, as with the past, there’s really only one critical issue – whether or not we please God. The problem is, we don’t know where the choices we make today will lead us. Seemingly innocuous choices may, in reality, lead us to situations of overwhelming temptation as they play out. But because we’re not omniscient, we don’t know that.

God, on the other hand, is omniscient, and does know which choices are the right ones. And He’s willing to tell us, so that we can avoid the pitfalls. So, Jesus tells us to ask Him.

We cannot overlook the fact that this request anticipates a direct, personal leading from God. It expects that He will indicate the way we should go. That He will communicate with us.

So, in these last three elements of prayer, nothing is left out that relates to our benefit. Provision deals with today, forgiveness addresses the past, and guidance looks to the future. Everything is covered.

Now, we said that Jesus was not just concerned about our actions. He cares about our heart. What is the heart that He is cultivating with this teaching?

A heart of dependence.

Prayer has been called the discipline of dependence. That’s what Jesus modeled. That’s what He taught. If we want to pray like Him, we will align ourselves with the Father’s agenda, and rest in complete dependence on Him.

But Jesus isn’t done answering the disciples question. He much more to say. We will continue the discussion with the next article.

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