Luke 11:1-13

     Have you ever found yourself at a loss for words?  Just putting your thoughts together can sometimes be a struggle, especially when you are praying.  Thankfully, The Holy Spirit helps us in such times.  Romans 8:26-27 assures us:

     In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

     Sometimes in the moment we must trust the Holy Spirit to convey the message of our heart to God.  At other times, while we may not have the words, we have the time to find the words to pray.  Often, Scripture itself can express what is on our heart or mind better than we could have said it ourselves.

     When reading the Psalms, we find some very intimate and personal words from David to God.  Sometimes when reading David’s words, I find myself empathizing with him.  I want to say, “Yes, God, what he said!  That’s exactly what I am feeling right now!”  I have found myself reading the psalmist’s words out loud, not simply as a recitation but as a prayer.  Through the scripture, I have found a way to express my thoughts and emotions to God.

     There are other times when praying the Scriptures are beneficial in a different way.  In I John 5:13-15, we read:

     I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.  This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

     The will of God is expressed in the Bible.  It is there we hear the Lord saying such things as this to the prophet Jeremiah: “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled” (Jeremiah 1:12).   In Isaiah 55:10-11, God stated:

     As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

     God is true to His word.  What He promises, He will do.  When we are at a loss for words, we can pray God’s word with confidence, knowing He hears us and that any request we make of Him is according to His will.  So, we can pray with confidence that our prayers are not in vain.  We will not find ourselves babbling nonsense if we are stating God’s own words back to Him. Let me give you an example.  

     “Lord, in John 13:34-35, you said that we must love one another as you have loved us and that by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples.  You even went so far in Matthew 5:44 to tell us to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us.  Lord, I am willing to love like you love.  Please fill me with Your love and give me opportunities to show this love to others.”

     That is a prayer you can be sure God hears and answers.  You may have felt those emotions deep inside but were unable to find the right words to express it.  Yet, by praying Scripture, you found the words to speak and you prayed them with confidence knowing they were in agreement with the will of God.

     At a loss for words?  Do not worry.  Look into the Word to find how to express yourself.  If you are still at a loss, trust the Holy Spirit.  He knows your heart and will convey that to the Father.

Day 30

Luke 11:1-13

     While a child is still very young, their parent may begin to teach them how to pray.  From the mealtime “God is great, God is good, now we thank Him for our food,” to the nighttime “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,” we teach our children simple prayers to remember.  Later, we may teach them the more “mature” Lord’s Prayer to commit to memory. And the reason we teach our children these prayers is so they can learn to communicate with God.

     Written and rote prayers have been used for centuries.  There are many famous, eloquent prayers that have been preserved and shared throughout history, everything from the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace…”) to Reinhold Neibuhr’s prayer that has come to be known as the Serenity Prayer (“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…”).  People identify with these prayers and often can pray the same words from their hearts.  This is the benefit of written prayers.  Sometimes we may not have the words that express what we are feeling, but these wonderful prayers do.

     The disadvantage to written or rote prayers, however, is that they can become stale, repeated words without thought or meaning.  Having grown up in a church that used a written ritual filled with such prayers, I not only observed this but experienced it personally.  Repeating the same words week after week, I found myself going through the motions and speaking the prayers without giving any thought to what I was saying let alone to Whom I was supposedly saying it.  The prayers had no real meaning for me anymore.

     That is not to say that the words were meaningless.  Years after leaving the church where I was raised, I returned for a service.  It had been a very long time since I had been in such a service, and yet as the responsive prayers were said, I found that I remembered the words.  In fact, I was more aware of all the words in the service that were spoken and how meaningful and beautiful they were.  If only I had been more intentional in my worship when I was attending these services on a regular basis, I would not have allowed the prayers I repeated to lose their impact.

     Prayer is meant to connect us with God.  It cannot happen if we do not engage both our hearts and minds.  In the gospel of Luke, the disciples were with Jesus while he prayed.  They had likely been with Him many times and had heard His earnest conversations with the Father.  On this occasion recorded in Luke 11, one of Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1).  The disciple did not ask, “Lord, teach us a prayer.”  The Jews were very familiar with written prayers that were included in their worship.  This is not what the disciple wanted Jesus to teach them.  He wanted to learn how to reach out to God as he had seen Jesus do and as John the Baptist had evidently taught his followers to do. Jesus responded by saying,

     When you pray, say:
     “Our Father in heaven,
     Hallowed be Your name.
     Your kingdom come.
     Your will be done
     On earth as it is in heaven.
     Give us day by day our daily bread.
     And forgive us our sins,
     For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
     And do not lead us into temptation,
     But deliver us from the evil one.”
            [Luke 11:2-4 ~ NKJV]

     We recognize this as “The Lord’s Prayer.”  The words we learned may have been slightly different depending on the translation or possibly the text as the prayer is also recorded in Matthew 6 with different wording.  Nevertheless, as we hear these words, most can probably finish the prayer themselves without much thought.  That is the concern.

     When Jesus answered His disciple’s question, it is not likely that He was teaching them to remember these exact words so they could repeat them later.  Rather, He was modeling the way they could talk with their Heavenly Father.  It was to be a personal conversation, not a corporate request.  This is more apparent when you read what Jesus said after these words.

 
     In verses 5-13, Jesus describes how we might approach a friend or how a child may approach their father with a request.   He indicates that, because of the relationship between friends or between a child and their parent, people will tend to answer one another with care and concern.  He then emphasizes how God, our Father in heaven, cares much more for us than any earthly father or friend.  He wants us to approach Him and even ask of Him.  He doesn’t want us to come fearfully, but willingly because of the relationship we have. In other words, when we pray, come to Him as one of His own children.  Share with Him from your heart.  Don’t be afraid to ask of Him no matter whether the need is basic (our daily bread), about our behavior and relationship with Him (“forgive us our sins”), or, concerning our protection and spiritual well-being (“deliver us from the evil one”).  We can approach God about anything and do so knowing He is a loving Father who wants to be with us.

     Written prayers are good and have their place.  What Jesus modeled, however, is that we are invited to spend time with our Lord and speak to Him from our hearts.  Whatever form that may take, let it be sincere.