Luke 11:1-13

If we want a stronger body, we begin to work it out and we eat a good diet. We lift some weights and watch our diets. If we want a stronger mind, we do some studying and work our mind – maybe reading a book. Some people, as they get older, like to work cross word puzzles and so on to keep a stronger mind. But how about the spirit inside of us? Don’t we want confidence, calmness in the midst of chaos, courage and strength for facing all that life throws at us?

Who doesn’t want an attitude that is more loving and joyful to face each day? What about the spirit?

I was recently at a YMCA conference, and they were asking that question. Their concern was they’ve spent so much time working on the body and the mind, they seem to have drifted away from the “C” part of their name. They were asking, How do we help people grow in spirit through our organization? Good question!

One thing I have figured out is I cannot, by myself, grow inside and make myself stronger. The good news is, God can and He wants to do it through a wonderful tool He has given. This tool is called prayer.

A few years ago I came across a statement in a book on prayer. It says, “As you grow in prayer, God will reveal more of himself to you, breathing more of his life into your spirit.” He wants to make us stronger inside.

God’s prevailing power is released through prayer into you. It may come in the form of wisdom, or an idea you are looking for, courage you can’t muster in yourself, or confidence, perseverance, staying power, patience with other people, changed circumstances, even outright miracles. God loves it when we pray and His power is released into our lives. Sometimes it comes as a miracle.

A few years ago when my mother was alive, she was in the midst of fighting a terrible disease called lupus. I had talked her into coming to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for some tests. Maybe they could get some answers for her. That night she called me from her motel room, and she was crying. She said the doctors had run some tests and learned her kidneys were shutting down, (caused apparently by the medications she had taken). It didn’t look good at all. So my wife Julie and I went to Mayo and prayed with mom. We asked for healing and put her in the Lord’s hands.

The next day, when she went in for another battery of tests, the doctors were puzzled; her kidneys were looking better. So they ran some more tests and found the kidneys had totally cleared up from the day before. The doctors said, “I can’t explain this.” But my mother smiled and said, “I think I can!”

Now I ask you, was that simply a coincidence or the power of God answering prayer?

As we read the Old and New Testaments with some great stories about prayer, we learn some amazing things can happen inside of us and to us and through us when we take the time to regularly pray. So let me ask, How is your prayer life these days?

We talk about how wonderful prayer is, but some of us never get around to being much of a regular at it. There are so many barriers, I suppose, to prayer. Maybe it’s our autonomy – the attitude that I can fix this myself. God doesn’t have time. Or it’s our laziness. We just don’t develop the habit. We leave it until it’s time for a crisis to hit us, and then we find ourselves praying more. Or maybe it’s a disappointment along the way – God has let us down. Perhaps it’s a lack of trust in God. We wonder if He cares, and if He is able to do anything anyway. For others of us it might be we just don’t know how to pray.

Well, in response to the last couple reasons, Jesus has something for us to consider today.

The disciples came to Jesus after they noticed He was always about the task of praying. He prayed a lot! He seemed so strong, even in the face of opposition and rejection, attacks and pressures, and so on of life. He always seemed to maintain His cool and calm. So they decided to ask Him to teach them to pray. “Lord, teach us to pray.”

It’s interesting isn’t it? The men upon whose shoulders rested the responsibility of christianizing the world, came to Jesus with one supreme request. They didn’t say, Lord, teach us to preach; they didn’t say Lord, teach us to do miracles; they didn’t say Lord, teach us to be wiser. No, instead they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They obviously had seen the power of prayer at work in Jesus.

So Jesus gave them a model for prayer. We call it the Lord’s Prayer. It’s really better titled the disciples’ prayer for it asks for forgiveness, and Jesus was sinless. This prayer is not a magical incantation we put at the end of a meeting in order to give the signal its time to go. It’s not something to mindlessly ramble through. It is a model for approaching God in prayer.

Jesus says that when you approach God in prayer, first of all, talk to Him about His person. Call Him “Father,” an intimate image. Come as a trusting child to a loving trustworthy father.

“Hallowed be your name.” It’s a time of worship. God’s name has been dragged through the mud over the ages. Lord, may you be worshiped. I worship you, and may everybody come to recognize how wonderful You are. How wonderful Your name and Your person!

Jesus goes on to tell us, when we’re done talking with the Lord about His person, talk to Him about His program. “Thy kingdom come.” May Your program, Father, take over this world and bring it to completion. May there be signs of Your program at work in my life and in the lives of those who come in contact with Your Good News. May Your kingdom come.

When we’re done talking about the program, Jesus says to talk to Him about provisions. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Notice He didn’t say, Give us this day our daily cake, meaning whatever we want. He’s talking about our day-to-day needs. Declare your dependence on Him. Ask Him to provide.

When you’re done with the person and the program and the provisions, you should also ask Him for pardon. Say, “Forgive us our sins (our debts) as we forgive our debtors.” It’s something we need to do when our sins act as a barrier in our communication with God. We need His forgiveness and His help to forgive others.

Then He says, When you’ve talked about the person and the program, and the provisions and the pardon, ask your Father for protection. “Lead us not into temptation.” Jesus is using battle language here. Protect me and keep me from falling away, Lord. He is actually using a negative to state a positive. For instance if I were to say to you, that’s no small matter, what it really means is, it’s a big deal. So when Jesus is saying, “Lead me not into temptation,” He’s saying “Keep me away from temptation.”

I love how Jesus then goes on to give a couple pictures of the One we are talking to in this prayer in order to give us more confidence and assurance as we approach God in prayer. He tells the story of a man who is awakened by his friend in the middle of the night. His friend is asking for bread to serve someone else who is visiting. The man finally gives in to his friend. It is Jesus’ way of saying, if this friend responds after all this pestering, your heavenly Father is such a better friend than that. He’s so attentive to your needs. He’s not like that friend at all.

Some scholars will say Jesus in fact wasn’t really talking about the fact that the man was being pestered by a friend. Jesus was basically saying, Can you imagine a friend who won’t answer his door in the middle of the night? This would not happen in a Middle Eastern village. It would be a shaming thing for an individual to turn a friend away. If that man is able to get up in the middle of the night after been called upon by another friend, how much more will your heavenly Father respond to you and pay attention to your cries?

Then Jesus asks,“What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, instead will give him a snake? Or if he asked for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God is greater than any friend, Jesus is telling us; He is greater than any father. His attentiveness, His grace and generosity, is unsurpassing.

I love the promise He finishes off with. He says He will give us the Holy Spirit. God wants to Himself, work in you, empowering you to give you His Holy Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit’s job description, the ultimate gift – to bring about change, to make us stronger!

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Prayer Changes Things”? Do you believe it? I do. But even more importantly, prayer changes me. Prayer changes me! As the Holy Spirit then is operating within me, He changes me making me stronger in love, kindness, joy, boldness, and self-control. Someone once said, “God’s power flows primarily to people who pray.” This is what’s being said here by Jesus.

Case in point. Remember the Pentecost story when the disciples are in the Upper Room and the Holy Spirit came upon them. What were they doing? You’re right – they were praying. However, before the Holy Spirit came upon them, the disciples were afraid. They were chickens! But after the Holy Spirit came upon them, they suddenly became courageous soldiers of the Gospel. Unstoppable!

Not only does God’s power flow primarily to people who pray, but God’s power also flows primarily through people who pray.

Again, a case study. The Pentecost story again. After the Holy Spirit came upon those disciples, they began to share the gospel. Then what happened? They were effective! They were fired up, ignited in the Holy Spirit. Thousands upon thousands came to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. God’s power flows primarily to people who pray, and God’s power flows primarily through people who pray. We become a channel of grace, a conduit for the Holy Spirit’s power to have an impact on the lives of people with whom we come in contact. We become effective! More effective than we could ever dream of becoming! And yet, all too often within the Church of Jesus Christ today, prayer seems to be put on the shelf.

Jim Cymbala, in his book, “Fresh Wind and Fire,” writes, “Does anyone really believe that America today is lacking preachers, books, Bible translations, and neat doctrinal statements? What we lack is the passion to call upon the Lord until he opens the heavens and shows himself powerful.” We need to be plugging into the power connection God has offered us through prayer.

I sometimes wonder where our ministry would be in this country if the people of God grew in the habit of prayer. If we became known as people who turn to Him in prayer that we would be on our knees. Behind every work of God in the past, you are always going to find some kneeling form. Billy Graham was once asked what is the most important thing they do before going to a community to do their crusades. “The secret is pray, pray, pray.”

Could there be revival in America? Heaven knows we need one. If the people of God would begin to really pray. Pray for God to work inside of us, and pray for God to flow through us into the lives of others.

This is my appeal today. If you want to grow stronger on the inside and make a difference on the outside, it’s really very simple. Jesus tells us, pray, pray, and pray.

Amen.