Teach Us to Pray
Luke 11:1–4 – Teach Us to Pray
10th Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 2nd, 2026 (am)
Our Vision Statement at GCD is a prayer request: Ask, seek, and knock for God to develop us into a community of worshipers that bears much fruit as we live and proclaim the gospel with authenticity and passion. The fact that it’s a prayer request is intended to underscore the fact that Jesus is the Head of the church. So, we want to go in the direction He is leading, not just seek God to bless the direction we choose to go.
There’s another way we state what we want to see God do among us that’s intended to express the same desire but from a different angle: Seek God to enable us to experience the fullness of all Jesus died for us to experience this side of heaven. Before we move on to the next life, we want to experience the fullness of life that Jesus went to the cross to provide for us here and now.
However we state it, we just want to live in a manner worthy of God as His new covenant community in this place. And, with regard to this present series of messages, we believe this vision calls us to be a praying people, a praying community, a body of believers that understands and practices prayer in the way that Jesus understood and practiced prayer—or at least in the way that Jesus would have us understand and practice prayer.
So, the question must be: Do we understand and practice prayer in the way that Jesus did, or at least in the way that He would have us do? How would you answer that question? Are you satisfied with your prayer life? Do you think Jesus is satisfied with it? Do you believe your prayer life pleases God and embodies all He intends for His children to experience in prayer? These are hard questions, aren’t they. We’re opening up a subject in this series of messages that’s an uncomfortable one for us. It’s very personal, and vulnerable. We’re probing in sensitive areas when we begin talking about prayer. And we can begin to twist and contort ourselves to protect ourselves in the way someone might twist and contort if you were poking them in the area of a sensitive injury or a fresh wound. It’s amazing how quickly someone can move—strike a defensive posture—if they have, say, fractured ribs and they see you approaching quickly to give them a hug.
But that necessarily raises a very important question. Why would we instinctively feel the need to protect our prayer life as though it were a sensitive injury or a fresh wound? I think most of us would agree that we’d like to have a stronger prayer life. So, we really don’t want to spend any time here awakening guilt or inducing shame. Prayer is hard. Everyone who writes on it says so. And they say so with good reason; we see in Scripture the contrast between Jesus’ prayer life and that of His disciples, His closest followers.
The early church prayed with amazing fervor about everything, even late into the night, but that was fresh on the heels of receiving the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost. The church has enjoyed the gift of the Spirit for two millennia now and familiarity can breed contempt. Or it can at least breed division over how best to understand the ministry of the Spirit, how best to live under His influence. And I believe that is no small factor in our struggles with prayer.
The Holy Spirit is a Presence in our life of prayer. He’s our Enabler, our Helper. The Apostle Paul says it straight up: we don’t know what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit helps us in our weakness; the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Rom.8:26). We groan as we await freedom from sin. And as we do, the Spirit groans on our behalf in prayer—filling out our prayers, guiding us in prayer. So, if we’re a bit out of step with the Spirit, not sure how best to engage with Him, we might expect to see that same unsurety reflected in our prayer lives.
So, where do we find help? Hebrews taught us. We look to Jesus! (Heb.12:2) We fix our eyes on [Him] (tniv). And we listen to Him. In this series we want to look to Jesus, and look to God’s Word through Him. We want to build up our prayers lives one step at a time. And I’d suggest there’s no better place to start than where Jesus was asked point blank: Teach us to pray (1). His answer gets us going in the right direction.
Let’s notice five essentials in Jesus’ answer. But even before we get into those, let’s make two introductory observations. First, this question arose because Jesus’ disciples had observed Him in prayer. 1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him…. We don’t know what they saw. But we do know it caught their attention to the point that one of [them] made this request. It’s like he said: Lord, teach us to pray like that! They really wanted to learn how to communicate with God, to commune with Him, the way Jesus was doing.
Second, as many point out, it appears Jesus intends this instruction to be followed in community more than in private—while it can be prayed privately, it is essentially a corporate prayer. All the pronouns are plural (Morris 211). When Jesus set it up elsewhere by telling His disciples: when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret… (Mat.6:6), He wasn’t favoring private prayer over corporate prayer. He was favoring humble prayer over ostentatious prayer—sincere prayer that understands one is speaking to God over boastful, self-exalting, prayer-to-be-heard-by-others. We’ll say more about this as we progress, but corporate prayer is foundational. Just as we worship and fellowship and learn and grow in community, then take that with us into our personal and private walk with the Lord, so we learn to pray in community, then we take that with us into our personal prayer room.
Now to five essentials about prayer that we see in this pattern prayer of Jesus’ answer—the starting point of biblical prayer: remembering Who we’re talking to and that we’re really talking to Him! He’s an actual Person. He listens and responds. We’re in relationship with Him. But it’s a relationship like no other!
We Must Recognize God as Our God
Jesus affirms that God is our Father (2), a warm, intimate, family relationship. And we can address Him as Father. Yet, His name is to be hallowed, and only His. It’s to be reverenced (Morris 212). It’s to be glorified (Stein 325). It’s to be honored above all names in [this] world (Marshall 999). But this isn’t just a reworking of the third commandment (Exo.20:7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain….). It is [an acknowledgement] that ‘God shall be God, that [His creatures] shall not whittle [Him] down to a manageable size and shape’ (Melinsky) (Morris 212). We don’t approach Him without reverence and awe (Heb.12:28). And we need to pause and remember that each and every time we go into prayer.
We Must Recognize God as Our King
He’s in the process of building His kingdom (2) and we are His subjects. He’s our King! Yes, He’s our Father. But He’s also the sovereign, all-seeing, all-knowing Ruler over all creation, old and new. He’s the supreme, all-powerful Monarch in the land of our eternal home in Christ. So, we need to approach Him as our King, as the One to Whom our undivided allegiance is due. He’s favorable toward us. He’s gone to unimaginable lengths to express His care for us. But He’s still our King. And we want nothing less than to see His kingdom spread as far and wide as it can in this world, before it comes fully and finally in the next. How would you approach an earthly king—fallen, finite? How, then, do you suppose we ought to approach this King?
We Must Recognize God as Our Provider
Many have said we’d have a much easier time understanding God as King if we lived under a monarchy here and now. Perhaps. But I think this next one is even harder for us to grasp than the last one. We’re so finely tuned-in to being our own provider—to figuring our budgets, tracking our investments, timing our retirements—that, even though we can give praise and thanks to God for His generosity with us, we can feel like we should turn v.3 into a metaphor. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. We don’t really need to pray this literally—I mean, our refrigerator and cabinets are full! But we do need to remember that God actually is our Provider, and that the presence of all this opulent wealth that surrounds us—everything from the elements of our socio-economic lives to our rich natural resources, parks and forest preserves and the like—these are ultimately manifestations of God’s provision. And that is true.
However, I also believe we need to get back to understanding that it really is a direct manifestation of God provision when we sit down to each and every meal each and every day. When we put on fresh clothing each and every morning, then change into specialized wardrobes for exercise or yard work or an evening event. We need to connect each and every one of these to the direct intervention of God in our day, strange as that might sound to us. All of that could be taken away, quickly. We all experienced Covid. Remember? Some don’t even know what it’s like to have God provide these things. But He’s their God too. So, He doesn’t have to provide such things if He chooses not to, or if it better suits His good purpose to withhold them.
So, I think it’s best to read v.3 here as a specific and literal truth. It might reflect better in our prayer before meals if we were to say something like: Father, we give thanks to You for this food which You have placed before us with Your own hand. And we thank You as well for the additional hands You have used to do so. But however we say it, we do need to enter prayer seeing God as our Provider.
It could have—it will have—a very distancing impact on our sense of intimacy in prayer, our connection with God in prayer, if we lose touch with this point or in any sense diminish the full and detailed reality of the fact that God is our Provider.
We Must Recognize God as Our Savior
Now, to be clear, this statement: 4 … forgive us our sins…, isn’t talking about the moment of our salvation but of the ongoing forgiveness we require to maintain our relationship with God, like we read in 1Jo.1:5-10. But all of this reflects back on God as our Savior, as the One Who saves us from our sins and adopts us into His family, as the One Who cleanses from sin and frees us from its bondage, as the One Who lifts us up to a place where we can forgive the sins of others—their indebtedness to us—and not feel like we’ve been cheated in any way! Our Father so establishes us as His children that we can extend His forgiveness as freely as we receive it, with as much joy and gladness. It’s good to be reminded of this as we enter prayer because it’s hard to maintain this perspective in day-to-day life. Extending forgiveness can begin to feel like it’s costing us in the moment more than Jesus paid for it at the cross. So, we need to remember as we come into prayer that all that cost—all of it—has been paid by Him. And He’s still freely forgiving us. God is our Savior
We Must Recognize God as Our Shepherd
We’re weak. We’re poor and needy. We fear temptation and compromise. And yet, left to ourselves, we steer right toward it. We need to remember that God is our Deliverer from all that. He’s our Shepherd. He leads [us] in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psa.23:3). If our course has not brought us to a place of temptation, then it’s God Who’s to be thanked. And if we’re concerned that our course is heading into temptation, then it’s God to Whom we call out for help. And Jesus tells us how. This prayer is asking: Do not allow us to enter into temptation that could destroy us; or: Keep us from yielding to temptation (Stein 327). As we enter prayer, each and every time we’re moving into dialogue with our greatest Helper, our Protector, the Shepherd of our souls.
Prayer is the safest of all possible places in this universe! That truth needs to work its way so deeply into our hearts and minds that we’re not able to forget it even in the most chaotic of moments. God is our Shepherd. Remember that. Always!
Conclusion
As we seek God to help us to learn how to be a praying community, we should begin by remembering Who we’re talking to and that we really are talking to Him! He’s an actual Person Who listens and responds. We’re in actual relationship with Him. But it’s a relationship like no other. It’s entirely good! He’ll never lead us astray. He’ll never take advantage of us. He’ll never leave us or forsake us at a time of need. He’s unlimited in power and in love toward us, good will. He wants what’s best for us and He’s fully, unswervingly committed to bringing it about. And He wants us to talk with Him, together, as a family. He wants us to enjoy worshiping Him together because there’s nothing else like that in all of human experience. And He wants us to call out to Him in prayer any time we have need because He’s promised to answer! Rom.8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
And the sweetest of His Gifts is the very One Who enables and labors with us in our prayers. We’ll drill into this a bit more next week, but look down at v.13. 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! How can we beat that? How can we top it? And how can we come away from this reminder of where we begin in prayer—just where we begin—and not cry out with this unnamed disciple: Lord, teach us to pray?!
________________
Resources
Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Luke, by David W. Pao & Eckhard J. Schnabel, 251-414. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Calvin, John. 1610. Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, trans. by, William Pringle, 1845. Logos.
Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Hebrews, by I. Howard Marshall, 978-1020. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.
Dockery, David S, ed. 1992. New American Commentary. Vol. 24, Luke, by Robert H. Stein. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.
Hughes, R. Kent. 1998. Preaching the Word. Luke: That You May Know the Truth. Wheaton: Crossway.
Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Revised Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Luke-Acts. Luke, by Walter L. Leifeld & David W. Pao, 19-355. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 1988. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Vol. 13, Luke, by Leon Morris. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.
Muck, Terry, ed. 1996. The NIV Application Commentary. Luke, by Darrell Bock. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
NEXT SUNDAY: Teach Us to Pray, Part 2, Ask, Seek, and Knock, Luke 11:5–13