Have you ever struggled with prayer? Sometimes, we go to pray but don’t know what to say or where to start. We sit in silence and feel silly. We’re like Ben Stiller’s character, Greg, from Meet the Parents, who pretends he can pray to impress his fiance’s parents. It’s forced and unnatural. What should we say? What should we be doing? For those of us who grew up in Sunday school, we learned to fold our hands, bow our heads, and close our eyes. But what then? How do we pray?

For some, prayer is a new concept; we must learn the basics. But for others, we’ve been praying for a long time, and our problem is that our prayer life has grown stale. We go through the motions in prayer to check the box. We would like a better prayer life, but we’re in a prayer rut. How do we get back to a meaningful prayer life?

If these questions resonate with you, then you’re in good company. Many believers throughout history have had questions about prayer and struggled to learn the spiritual discipline. Actually, one of the first disciples did us all a favor, simply asking Jesus for a lesson on prayer. Lord, teach me to pray. Thankfully, Jesus answered that disciple and taught us to pray.

Today, we’re in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, verses 1-13. The main idea of this passage is that we can pray more effectively by following Jesus’ example and encouragement. We will break this message into two parts: Jesus’ example for prayer and Jesus’ encouragement for prayer.

First, let’s look at Jesus’ example of prayer.

He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say, Father, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.”

Luke 11:1-4

Notice that Jesus was praying in a certain place. He made a practice of prayer. He regularly went to a quiet place—a nearby mountain or a garden—to talk with God the Father. If Jesus made prayer a practice, we live like Him when we regularly find a place to pray.

One of his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, so Jesus gave them an example to follow. This is traditionally called “The Lord’s Prayer.” Let’s walk through it piece by piece.

“Father…”

We begin prayer by considering who we’re talking to. Jesus tells us to call God our Father. Some people don’t have great fathers. They were absent, cold, or bothered by us. But God is a perfect and loving Father. He is our Father in the sense of being our Creator, Provider, and Protector. Everything a good father should be–He is.

My friend George recently lost his dad and was sharing memories. George shared how when he was a new dad there was an afternoon when his wife was away and he was in charge of his newborn for a few hours. George’s dad came over for reinforcement. It was about time for George’s son to take his afternoon nap. So George was changing his son’s diaper while his dad watched in the doorway to the nursery. His son had a blowout diaper. While George was cleaning that mess, his baby boy decided to do his best imitation of the fountains of the Bellagio. So, he finally gets his son’s diaper changed, and picks him up to put him down when he spits up all over him. George’s dad is laughing in the doorway. So, George cleans all that up and finally gets his boy to bed.

Afterward, his son was asleep. George and his dad talked quietly, standing in the doorway and looking at the baby sleeping. “Dad, I’m amazed. I couldn’t love my son more. He can’t do anything for me. He actually just did everything to me! But I love him so much. Dad, did you love like that?” With tears in his eyes, George’s dad said, “Son, I still love you that way.”

There is nothing like the great love of a father. Faithful. Strong. Sacrificial. If human fathers, broken and selfish, can love like that, imagine how much more our heavenly Father loves us.

Notice that God isn’t an academic subject in prayer but a person. Tim Keller said, “Prayer turns theology into experience.” When we pray, our faith carries us into God’s presence, and we talk with him. We pray to a living and personal God who hears and responds to us. Pray builds our relationship with God the Father.

When we trust in Jesus, we become children of God and are instructed to begin prayer by acknowledging God as our good and loving Father.

“…your name be honored as holy.”

Our name represents who we are. I’m Gentry Eddings. That name means me. So, if you respect my name, then you respect me. Similarly, when we honor God’s name, we are honoring God.

Honoring his name is showing respect and reverence for God. It’s like minding our manners at a cemetery. We don’t trample on others’ graves or act silly and loud. We have an appropriate reverence for the sacred space. It’s also like how we teach children to respect their parents. If Hadley is talking to the boys, I expect them to give her eye contact and say, “Yes, ma’am.” It’s how they show respect to their mom.

When God gave the Ten Commandments, he commanded the Israelites to not take the Lord’s name in vain. They should respect God’s name as holy.

What does the word holy mean? We are to honor God’s name as holy. Holy means set apart or sacred. It’s like the special items in our homes–memorabilia or fine china that we’ve inherited. We set these items apart on the top shelf to keep them safe. They are important to us. They are holy, set apart.

Have you ever been to a courtroom? A courtroom is a set-apart place where there is order and respect for the governing authorities. We show honor to the judge because they have authority over the courtroom. We don’t talk back to the judge or talk over the Judge. We show honor in courtrooms. Similarly, when we pray, we should think of God’s holiness and show Him the appropriate respect due to His name.

We should show reverence for the Lord in prayer. Prayer helps us reorient our lives towards honor and worship. Do you show respect to the Lord and honor his holy name? Don’t be too casual in prayer that you disrespect the Lord.

“Your kingdom come.”

Praying for God’s kingdom to come has two parts: now and then, today and one day.

First, we pray for God’s kingdom to come now—today. To pray for God’s kingdom to come today is to pray that His rule and reign will be evident in everything. We pray for this to be true in our personal lives, church, and world more broadly. We want to see God’s values, ethics, and designs realized.

This should start at a personal level. Lord, if anything in my life is not submitting to your will, please help me change. If I’m not stewarding my finances, time, or relationships, according to your will, please help me submit those things to you. Praying for His kingdom to come is a personal surrender to His commandments.

But we also pray for His kingdom to come at a community level. We pray for our church, our city, our state, and our nation to operate according to His will. We long to see His ways come to life. We don’t think that all ideas are equal. In a culture that says there is no absolute truth, we pray for the Truth of Jesus Christ to be realized in our community.

At the same time, we recognize and remember that Jesus’ kingdom is best realized through spiritual revival. His kingdom comes when hearts are changed by the Gospel and the Spirit. So, to pray for His kingdom to come is to pray for sinners to come to know Jesus. We pray that God would use us to reach the lost with love and the message of the Gospel. Our mission and vision is to see His kingdom come through Gospel transformation in Indian Land and beyond.

“Sometimes I’m asked to list the most important steps in preparing for an evangelistic mission, and my reply is always the same: prayer . . . prayer . . . prayer.”

Billy Graham

There is also the second part of “Your kingdom come,” which is the future focus, the then, the one-day. When we pray we remember with great hope and anticipation that Jesus is coming again. While we live with suffering and pain, we remember that Jesus will get the final word.

Our prayers will not always be answered with an immediate healing or relief of suffering. Many of us know this hard truth. We’ve prayed for healing and miracles that we haven’t yet seen. Sometimes, we are called to endure suffering and wait for future deliverance.

When we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we look ahead with faith and resolve to the one day to come. We believe and know that one day, all wrongs will be made right, and all evil will be judged. Healing might not come here, but it will come one day. Jesus will return in glory, and His kingdom will prevail in the new heavens and the new earth. So we pray, “Your kingdom come,” with an eager longing and anticipation of the future victory that is promised.

This is the first part of the Lord’s prayer, an example for us. First, we recognize who God is and praise him. Father, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Then, we take time to lift up our needs to the Lord.

“Give us each day our daily bread.”

Here is an encouragement to know He cares for us. We should look to the Lord as our great provider. We discussed this a few weeks ago as we looked at the story of Jesus feeding the many thousands. Jesus is the Lord and is powerful enough to supply our needs.

Notice the word daily. We should live in daily dependence on him and not stress about tomorrow. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus encouraged us, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Daily dependence is about living one day at a time by faith. We don’t get ahead ourselves.

Some of you feel less secure today. Your financial situation or your job situation is more fluid. You are in good company. Christians throughout history have had to learn daily dependence on the Lord. This can actually be a good thing.

Some of you are financially secure and don’t have to think or worry about daily provisions. Don’t grow complacent in your riches! Be grateful and stay generous. Don’t let your riches harden your heart. Still pray this prayer, “Give us each day our daily bread.” When you do, thank God for His provisions and acknowledge your responsibility to steward your abundance generously.

“And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us.”

We come to a saving relationship with God through repentance and confession. When we initially confess our sins and trust in Jesus, we are forgiven once and for all. The blood of Jesus covers our past, present, and future sins. No matter what happens today, all my life is covered by Jesus’ sacrifice. I’m not in danger of losing my salvation because I sin again today. This is the doctrine of justification. Jesus forgives us once and for all–not repeatedly. If you want to study this idea further, look at the book of Hebrews, especially 7:14 and 10:14.

But if we are forgiven once and for all, why does Jesus tell us to pray for forgiveness repeatedly? The answer is not so we can maintain our salvation and be justified again. The answer is this: we confess our sins to become more like Jesus. After being justified, we want to continue on to be sanctified. This is the idea of becoming increasingly more and more holy–not to earn salvation but because we are saved people.

So, when we regularly confess our sins and need forgiveness, we become increasingly like Jesus. We learn to hate our sins and move towards holiness. What sins do you need to confess today to grow in holiness?

But it also means we are giving up our right to judge others. God wants us to be merciful as He is merciful. Who do you need to forgive today, given your need for mercy? Don’t hold grudges because you don’t want God to hold sins over you. Forgive others, as you’ve been forgiven.

“And do not bring us into temptation.”

As children of God, we have three enemies: the flesh, the world, and the devil. These three tempt us away from God’s will. They tempt us with sexual immorality, greed, gossip, drunkenness, pride, and all kinds of sins. So, pray for God’s protection and deliverance from all evil and temptation.

This prayer makes us spiritually alert to the dangers around us. When Jesus was praying in the Garden, he told his disciples to pray. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus said, “Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” When we pray, we become more alert to the spiritual realm that is always around us and more on guard against temptations.

We live on one of the busiest streets in our neighborhood. My sons like to play with the neighbors across the street. So, I constantly remind them to stop and look before crossing the street. There may not be danger now, but you never know when a car is coming. I want them to be alert. Similarly, Jesus teaches us to pray, “And do not bring us into temptation,” so that we will stay alert to the dangers around us and be reliant on God for deliverance from all evil.

Jesus concludes his example prayer be showing us to pray for God to guard us and keep us from all temptation.

This is the Lord’s prayer. It’s an example for us to follow. As we close, I want to give you three ways to apply this to your prayer life this week.

First, pray intentionally. Jesus had structure to his prayer. We sometimes think it’s more spiritual to be unstructured in prayer and spontaneous. But Jesus had a plan and structure for His prayer. We should use the Lord’s prayer to guide our prayers. We don’t have to pray it word for word. But we should use it as a guide and pray through the general themes and ideas. The main thing is to be intentional when you pray. We are intentional with many things in life and prayer should be one of those things.

Second, pray worshipfully. The first part of the Lord’s prayer is all about remembering who God is. We remember that God is our Father. We pause and recognize His goodness. We honor and respect His name as holy. We spend time acknowledging that God is sacred and special. We don’t want to take God casually.

The other night we were coming home from karate when I told my boys to hold on for a moment. I said come here and look at this. I said look up at the stars and the moon. They looked up and immediately they were in awe. The stars and moon were bright against the black sky. I said, “Who made these?” They said, “God.” I said, “Yes! Remember how holy and powerful He is. Don’t forget.” Jesus wants our prayers to always begin by remembering God and worshipping Him. There is no one like Him in glory and power and goodness.

Lastly, pray dependently. The second half of the Lord’s prayer is an invitation to go to God with our needs. Our needs for provisions, forgiveness, and protection. God wants us to depend on Him and ask Him for our needs. He is a good Father who wants to provide. If human fathers can provide good gifts for their children, how much more will our heavenly Father care for our every need?

So, let’s not hesitate to make requests. Jesus is the one who gave us the invitation and encouragement to ask God for our needs. Let’s boldly and confidently ask God to provide all that we need. He welcomes our prayers and will use them for our good and His glory.

Jesus gives us an example to follow in prayer. By following Jesus’ example of prayer, we can pray more confidently and effectively.