Luk 11:1-13 | KingComments | STEP | After getting to know the place at the Lord’s feet ( ), the desire to learn to pray also arises. The disciples ask the question after the Lord Himself has been in prayer. They have seen Him pray again and realize that He draws the power for His service from this. It says so beautifully, “after He had finished”. The Lord says “I am prayer“ ( ), that is, His life was prayer, it consisted of prayer, He lived in constant dependence on His Father. Yet He also had times of prayer. He also had spent a night in prayer ( ). Then He was all alone. When His disciples are with Him, His seclusion in prayer is of limited duration. They ask Him to teach them to pray, as John taught his disciples. It makes clear that John was not only a man of the Word, but also a man of prayer and that he pointed its importance to his disciples. Now that the disciples see the Lord praying, they remember it and now they want to receive teaching about this topic from Him, their Lord and Master. The prayer that the Lord teaches His disciples is the expression of a heart that lives in fellowship with God. He teaches His disciples to put the Father’s interests first. Then He tells them that they will entrust the needs of the body to the care of the Father. Then He knows how much they need forgiveness of sins from the Father. He also knows how weak their flesh is. Therefore He tells them to ask that they will not come into circumstances where the flesh will reveal itself, that they will be saved from the power of the enemy. Then He speaks in a parable about perseverance, that the prayers may not come from a heart that is indifferent to the outcome. He assures the disciples that their prayers will not remain without consequences. In this Gospel we see the disciples more in connection with heaven, as it were at the level of heaven. Therefore only “Father” is written here, and not “Our Father who is in heaven” as in Matthew 6 ( ), where the disciples are more connected to the earth and from the earth they turn to the Father in heaven. In the Gospel according to Matthew there is more distance, in the Gospel according to Luke there is more nearness. The Lord puts the Name of the Father first. By this He teaches the disciple that his desire must first and foremost be that the Name of the Father will be hallowed on earth. That Name is done so much dishonor. Then the desire for the coming of the kingdom of the Father is expressed. That is related to the sanctification of His Name. If His kingdom is established in public glory on earth, the Name of the Father will be hallowed on all earth by everyone. His Name shall be seen in all its glory, love and holiness. For sons, that kingdom is already present in their hearts. Here every son of the kingdom is given the indication that in his prayer life he must also put the honor of the Father first. The Lord tells us that we will begin our prayer by thanksgiving to the Father and asking Him to be glorified in our life and that we will not begin with our needs. A next aspect is that they are in circumstances where they depend entirely on His care for their daily needs. Although most of us don’t know it that way, it is important to live constantly in this awareness that we depend entirely on our Father for every bite of bread we need. To an even greater extent, this applies to the food for our heart. We cannot afford to miss that. That is why the Lord teaches us to ask the Father to give us every day the portion of manna He has measured out for us. We depend on our Father not only for our physical needs, but also for our spiritual needs. Then there are two other spiritual needs. The one is that of forgiveness. We all often stumble ( ) and then miss the fellowship with the Father. Our heart yearns for that fellowship, cannot get on without it. If we have sinned, it is important to confess that sin. Then we may know that the Father forgives ( ). This prayer is based on the trust in the Father that it is His pleasure to forgive the sins of His children. The reason for this trust in forgiveness is that the disciple himself also has the willingness to forgive others. If a disciple is willing to do so, he can count on the Father having that willingness for sure. The last prayer the Lord teaches His disciples is not to be led into temptation. That is a prayer in view of one’s own weakness. The prayer is that it will not be necessary for the Father to let us discover ourselves, as was necessary with Peter. This is not yet the end of the teaching about prayer.

‏ Luke 11:1-13

Lesson in Prayer

After getting to know the place at the Lord’s feet (Lk 10:38-42), the desire to learn to pray also arises. The disciples ask the question after the Lord Himself has been in prayer. They have seen Him pray again and realize that He draws the power for His service from this. It says so beautifully, “after He had finished”. The Lord says “I am prayer“ (Psa 109:4b), that is, His life was prayer, it consisted of prayer, He lived in constant dependence on His Father. Yet He also had times of prayer. He also had spent a night in prayer (Lk 6:12). Then He was all alone. When His disciples are with Him, His seclusion in prayer is of limited duration.

They ask Him to teach them to pray, as John taught his disciples. It makes clear that John was not only a man of the Word, but also a man of prayer and that he pointed its importance to his disciples. Now that the disciples see the Lord praying, they remember it and now they want to receive teaching about this topic from Him, their Lord and Master.

The prayer that the Lord teaches His disciples is the expression of a heart that lives in fellowship with God. He teaches His disciples to put the Father’s interests first. Then He tells them that they will entrust the needs of the body to the care of the Father. Then He knows how much they need forgiveness of sins from the Father. He also knows how weak their flesh is. Therefore He tells them to ask that they will not come into circumstances where the flesh will reveal itself, that they will be saved from the power of the enemy. Then He speaks in a parable about perseverance, that the prayers may not come from a heart that is indifferent to the outcome. He assures the disciples that their prayers will not remain without consequences.

In this Gospel we see the disciples more in connection with heaven, as it were at the level of heaven. Therefore only “Father” is written here, and not “Our Father who is in heaven” as in Matthew 6 (Mt 6:9), where the disciples are more connected to the earth and from the earth they turn to the Father in heaven. In the Gospel according to Matthew there is more distance, in the Gospel according to Luke there is more nearness. The Lord puts the Name of the Father first. By this He teaches the disciple that his desire must first and foremost be that the Name of the Father will be hallowed on earth. That Name is done so much dishonor.

Then the desire for the coming of the kingdom of the Father is expressed. That is related to the sanctification of His Name. If His kingdom is established in public glory on earth, the Name of the Father will be hallowed on all earth by everyone. His Name shall be seen in all its glory, love and holiness.

For sons, that kingdom is already present in their hearts. Here every son of the kingdom is given the indication that in his prayer life he must also put the honor of the Father first. The Lord tells us that we will begin our prayer by thanksgiving to the Father and asking Him to be glorified in our life and that we will not begin with our needs.

A next aspect is that they are in circumstances where they depend entirely on His care for their daily needs. Although most of us don’t know it that way, it is important to live constantly in this awareness that we depend entirely on our Father for every bite of bread we need. To an even greater extent, this applies to the food for our heart. We cannot afford to miss that. That is why the Lord teaches us to ask the Father to give us every day the portion of manna He has measured out for us. We depend on our Father not only for our physical needs, but also for our spiritual needs.

Then there are two other spiritual needs. The one is that of forgiveness. We all often stumble (Jam 3:2) and then miss the fellowship with the Father. Our heart yearns for that fellowship, cannot get on without it. If we have sinned, it is important to confess that sin. Then we may know that the Father forgives (1Jn 1:9). This prayer is based on the trust in the Father that it is His pleasure to forgive the sins of His children.

The reason for this trust in forgiveness is that the disciple himself also has the willingness to forgive others. If a disciple is willing to do so, he can count on the Father having that willingness for sure.

The last prayer the Lord teaches His disciples is not to be led into temptation. That is a prayer in view of one’s own weakness. The prayer is that it will not be necessary for the Father to let us discover ourselves, as was necessary with Peter. This is not yet the end of the teaching about prayer.

A Parable About Prayer

The Lord adds a parable to underline the importance of ongoing, trusting prayer. There are three friends. Someone has a friend who comes to him at a most inappropriate time because he needs three loaves. The reason for the friend’s request is that he has a friend who unexpectedly came to him to spend the night with him. Because he did not count on that, he has nothing in his house to give his friend, who is tired of the journey.

Fortunately, he has another friend who will certainly lend him some bread. Confident in their friendship, he goes there and asks for those loaves, even though it is midnight. A real friend will not respond with all kinds of excuses not to help his friend. He will not regard his friend as troublesome and will not point to the fact that he has already closed all doors, or to his sleeping children who might well wake up.

The Lord gives two reasons why that friend should get up. In the first place he would get up because he who comes to him is his friend. And if that isn’t reason enough, there would be another reason that would make him get up. That reason is his friend’s unashamed request. The fact that his friend is so bold that, without any shame, he is asking him for help at this time should make him give his friend everything he needs. It’s about the trust that the friend asking for help shows in the friend to whom he asks for help.

Ask, Seek, Knock, the Holy Spirit

Following on from this example, the Lord Jesus says that His disciples – and this also applies to us – can count on being given when they pray. When we ask in complete confidence, shamelessly, we will receive what we ask for.

The Lord does not say that we always get what we ask for directly. Sometimes we have to seek for the will of the Father, we have to get to know that will, that what we ask is in accordance with His will. There may be unknown reasons for the delay of the answer, but our prayer is heard from the first time we say a certain prayer. We see that with Daniel. He prays for three weeks, but receives no answer (Dan 10:2-3). When he then receives an answer after three weeks, he hears the reason of the delay, but also that his prayer from the beginning had come before God (Dan 10:12-14).

If we seek God’s will, we will find it. That is why it is important to keep knocking on the door, to continue to seek Him. We must not let ourselves be discouraged in case of a delay, for it will be opened to us.

After the encouragement to pray, seek and knock, the Lord gives the unequivocal promise that whoever asks, receives; and who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Praying is trusting in the goodness of the Father. How does that work with earthly fathers? If a son asks for a fish, his father does not give him something as dangerous as a snake, does he? Or if he asks for an egg, his father will not give him something as deadly as a scorpion, will he?

If earthly fathers act like this with their children by not giving them anything that is dangerous or deadly, will the heavenly Father act differently? No, He will certainly not be inferior to this, but will only give good gifts to His children.

The Lord Jesus gives them another prayer to pray. They may ask for the Holy Spirit. It shall be given to them by the heavenly Father. It is not about the place where the Father is, but about the characteristic of that place. The Father is in the sphere of heaven and from that sphere He gives the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will come from heaven to form a heavenly people on earth. This prayer is answered on Pentecost. Believers should not pray whether the Holy Spirit will come to them. As soon as someone believes the gospel of his salvation (1Cor 15:1-4), he receives the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13). The believer may ask the Father whether his life may really be led and filled by the Holy Spirit. Note that it does not say that the Holy Spirit is being prayed to. That is nowhere mentioned in God’s Word.