(Luke 11:1 NLT) Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As He finished, one of His disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
This morning we continue our new series entitled, “Re-Energizing Your Prayer Life.” Yesterday we learned about Jesus’ experiences as documented in Luke chapter 5. Today we will fast forward to chapter 11. By this time Jesus had done much teaching, casted out countless demons, healed people from of all sorts of diseases, fed a crowd with a little boy’s two-piece fish dinner, and even raised a young man from the dead in the middle of his funeral procession. And you should know by now that He also consistently prayed along the way.
As we open Luke chapter 11 we find Jesus once again praying. He was off by Himself, away from the disciples, alone with the Father, communing with Him and receiving guidance for His life and ministry. When Jesus came back from His time of prayer one of the disciples asked Him an interesting question. Now remember, these guys had been with Jesus for a long time by this point. The disciples had a front row seat for every miracle. They participated in the miracle of the fish and loaves. They were there when Jesus stopped the funeral procession to raise the young man right out of his casket. I don’t know about you, but if it were me, I probably would have asked Him to teach me how to do what He was doing. In my best Brooklyn accent, I would have had to say, “Yo Jesus, hook a brother up! Teach me how to multiply two sardines and five biscuits like that.” Or, after the incident at the funeral procession, I probably would have at least asked, “Man, how did you do that?” But these questions were no doubt floating in the disciples’ minds. The desire to know how Jesus was doing what He did was unquestionably burning in their hearts.
Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples for a minute. You have learned this week a little about Jesus’ prayer life. Imagine yourself there. You are a disciple of Christ and you have watched this man do the impossible day after day, week after week, and it always seemed to come after He had spent time with the Father in prayer. If you were there I believe you may have come to the same conclusion they did and that was that prayer was obviously the secret to Jesus’ success. They had never asked Jesus to teach them how to actually DO anything else. I don’t believe this question came haphazardly. This question was birthed out of careful consideration. Prayer was the one thing they wanted to know how to do, because they believed that is was the key to Jesus’ ministry. Well, guess what? They were right!
So what does this mean to you today? It means that we should learn from the disciples. The people that spent the most time with Jesus during His 3 ½ years of ministry only asked Him to teach them how to do one thing. That one thing was prayer. They believed that if they learned how to pray like Jesus prayed, that they could actually live like He lived and do what He did. They were right and we should learn from their desire to learn how to pray. Great learners know how to ask great questions, in order to get the information they need. The disciples asked the right question. Will you? If you want to grow in your prayer life you can ask just like they did. You have not, because you ask not. Look up to the Father this morning and say, “Lord, teach me to pray.”
Closing Confession: Father, I believe prayer was the key to Jesus’ success. The only thing the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them to do was how to pray. I come to You with the same desire. As I pray and study You lead, guide, and direct me in the area of prayer. Day-by-day I grow in prayer and in communion with You. You teach me to pray. You help me to cultivate my relationship with You. I make time to spend time with You and You ensure it is quality time. I thank You in advance for helping me to perfect my prayer life. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
