Luke 11:1-4

Sermon Notes

Luke 11:1-4

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Pastor Jim Thomas

“Prayer is the nearest approach to God and the highest enjoyment of Him that we are capable of in this life.”
William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”
Karl Barth

“Prayer is not a way of making use of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should be able to make use of us.” It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest we wait in silence for God’s voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him.”
William Barclay

“We do well not to pray the Lord’s Prayer lightly. It takes guts to pray it at all. To speak those words is to invite the tiger out of the cage, to unleash a power that makes atomic power look like a warm breeze.”
Frederick Buechner

Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.

“What is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.”
J.I. Packer, Knowing God

1. Begin with God

Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.

“Thus, from the Biblical viewpoint, when I pray, God does hear and He can act into the cause and effect universe in answer to my prayer. However, God is not a machine. I must not see Him as a vending machine into which I put a quarter and get out a candy bar in a purely mechanical fashion. He is personal, and thus in answering prayer He operates on the basis of what He knows is the best and wisest answer to that prayer, and not just in a mechanical reflex.”
Francis Schaeffer

Three ways the New Testament speaks of our union with Christ:

1. “In Christ/him“ (90+ times)

• “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
• “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
• “In him we have redemption… In him we have obtained an inheritance…” Ephesians 1:3-14

2. “With Christ” (25+ times)

• “I have been crucified with Christ.” Galatians 2:20
• “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
• “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” Romans 6:8

3. “Through him/Christ” (40+ times)

• “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
• “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

2. Bring your needs to God

Give us each day our daily bread

3. Ask for forgiveness

Confess your sin, Receive God’s forgiveness, Reflect His grace and mercy

“What we call asking God’s forgiveness very often really consists in asking God to accept our excuses…What we have got to take to him is the inexcusable bit, the sin… As regards my own sins it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are not really so good as I think: as regards other men’s sins against me it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are better than I think.”
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

4. Protection

And lead us not into temptation

“Even here, in your repentance, you must not only turn from temptation and sin but also turn to Christ. He is the one who both preserves the tempted and restores the fallen. So wherever you are in respect to temptation and sin, seek Christ.”
Brian G. Hedges, Watchfulness

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”
Corrie ten Boom, Each New Day