Questions We Ask Jesus
22nd June 2008
Let’s Pray:
May You be seen – may Your Spirit work in our hearts – we need You to touch our hearts – we rely and lean on You. Hear our prayer.
We’ll jump right into this:
Right after the Transfiguration – they come down from the mountain – and there – and there is an issue – the disciples are having problems…Jesus comes down – and it is like when you leave the kids – like a Cat in the Hat type of deal – you can’t leave them alone for a minute…
In Mark 9:
There is a demon possessed boy and the disciples couldn’t cast it out…
28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 29 He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer.
They had the authority – but were unable to do it. We have been looking at The Questions We Ask Jesus. Not, Why are we unable to cast out demons? - but Jesus directs them to prayer. People ask – Does God answer prayer? For many of us, it seems that many prayers go unanswered. For all of us, we could probably find – in our own lives – there is some prayer that has gone unanswered. It is probably one that is really important and is touching you deeply inside and has you concerned. You may have been praying for this for a long time – and yet it seems unanswered. That is the question we want to deal with.
That is the question the disciples are dealing with – what has gone wrong? There are simple answers to this – and you have probably heard them from me –
God answers all prayer – sometimes the answer is NO
Sometimes the answer is WAIT.
Sometimes God says YES – it happens – those are the ones we like – we think, yeah, I was really doing it right then!
No, Slow, Go – that is fine – that is helpful to remember.
But to step away from that – not to look at your specific prayer – “why has this or that not happened?” – but a second question that they asked Jesus – that may be more relevant to each of us… but to give a better understanding of what prayer is and how God wants us to view prayer.
Luke 11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
How do we pray? Jesus had this habit of praying. Jesus’ prayer life was very different from what they were used to.
In the Bible, the 3rd, the 6th, the 9th hours – those were the hours of prayer. They had very specific prayers for those times – and they would pray at sun-up and sundown. Most prayers focused on God’s glory and honor. Jesus pushed it beyond this standard – He was always praying.
Luke 5: 16 But He Himself would [often] slip away to the wilderness and pray.
This was a habit in His life. He was not going out and saying the same prayer over and over again.
Luke 6: 12 And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God
They come to Him after one of these sessions of prayer – and they ask Him to teach them to pray. There was a movement away from these specific prayer times. Jesus’ answer was very interesting – we know it as The Lord’s Prayer. It is a simple answer, and yet it is very complex. There is a lot of theological meaning in this prayer. We aren’t going to expound on this section – but the one after it where Jesus explains it. As I did some study and research, this surprised me – because we are so familiar with it.
Luke 11: " 2 And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. 3 'Give us each day our daily bread. 4 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.' "
Luke 11 and Matthew 6 are slightly different – but when they say, teach us to pray, He gave them a prayer that they would be familiar with – it was similar to the prayers at 9/Noon/3 – Hallowed by Thy name – may Your name be magnified. He is giving them a prayer to repeat – he says, SAY – he wanted them to pray this daily – that can offend our evangelical constitution!
There is one word that makes this stand out from the prayers of the day: FATHER. Abba. Daddy – affectionate, yet respectful term that a child would use for his father. The Jews had a reverence and awe of God – but God was not very approachable. When Moses went up on the mountain, they put up a border – if they crossed it, they’d be killed. Father – a term of a love relationship that God wants to have with us. Part of prayer is to ask God for things – Part is to honor God – but primarily, it is about developing a relationship with God. God is approachable.
Hebrews – we can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.
Remember Uzzah?
When Annette buys something for a picnic, if we don’t mark it, inevitably the kids will try to eat the food before the picnic, so I put a sign on it: remember Uzzah – and list the verse. Uzzah reached out to steady the ark and was struck dead.
Many don’t see their father as someone to have an intimate relationship with. Father – reverence with intimacy. They could not touch the ark, but we can draw near to God – and to touch Him – to touch His heart. The purpose is for us to develop this relationship with Him.
There are petitions here – give us this day our daily bread. We don’t understand this, because we have our freezers full. They were dependent on God daily – a regular, consistent need. We have moved away, in our petitions – from relying on God daily. I need you now. I need your provision now. Without Him, there was hunger. In the same way, we need Him daily – we might not be hungry physically – but spiritually. Without Him, we fall apart.
Forgive us this day – this is about relationship. If you don’t forgive, there is no relationship. The minute you don’t forgive is the minute a relationship ends.
I am going to read this section and then have a small video…
He gives them the prayer – and an illustration.
Luke 11: 5 And He said to them, "Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 7 and from inside he shall answer and say, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you [anything.]' 8 "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him [anything] because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 9 "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. 10 "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
Prayer is about this intimate relationship with God – God wants us to depend on Him daily. Then he tells this story about a neighbor and hospitality. They went to bed at sundown, because there was no cable – only the three basic channels…
And at midnight, they get a knock at the door from the in-laws – or the alien or the stranger. There is a lot about how you treat the alien and stranger – because we are aliens and strangers. They had no convenience stores. It was like a massive apartment complex – and he goes to his friend’s house – “Go away, the kids are sleeping…” – but he gets up, because of their culture and hospitality, and gives him bread for his company. You know how you always apologize for a messy house? We should all make a pact to not apologize for messy houses – we should all just understand. Jesus is teaching – Look, even if a friend, a person in your community would relent and do what is right and act in accordance with his true character – HOW MUCH MORE – will God, who always acts within His character – in a way that is concerned about us – how much more will He do for you. This relationship with God is much much greater than a relationship with a friend or neighbor. This was more than a neighbor, but a friend, (they went on vacations together!)
11 "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 "Or [if] he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
He is playing on the natural role of a parent – most parents will care for the needs of their kids. If your child comes up and asks for bread, you don’t give him a rock! It is ridiculous, silly! Understand your own compassion – your concern, your love for your kids – how much MORE is God’s love and concern.
To make prayer effective in your life, it is not a vending machine, but a relationship that God is continually trying to develop. You need to understand your deep need for God. Each situation reveals how desperately… The person who had the visitor – it was impossible unless someone provided it. A child has no way to provide for himself – unless the parent provides for them. Prayer is about understanding our needs. Be desperate for Him. He goes on - how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
Where is that coming from? What does the Holy Spirit have to do with this? What is the first word of the prayer – Father – a focus on the relationship. He has given us a way to enjoy the relationship fully. The way to that – He has given you the Holy Spirit when you come to Him in faith. There is no other barrier. You have God living in you. In Romans – sometimes we don’t know how to pray – we don’t understand what He wants – He says the Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. We have the supernatural ability to have this intimate relationship with God. We have needs and prayers seem to go unanswered, God’s interest is to continually bring us back to Him. Our tendency in prayer is to focus on what we want; God’s focus is on what we need. And He knows what we need most is relationship with Him. If God were to just give you everything you ask for, you would lose your need for God – your desire for the relationship. He ties prayer with this desperate need for relationship with Him. There is one other thing that happens in prayer – I’ll close in a second – “No, slow, Go” – There is another one – “Change your mind” - There have been things that I have prayed for for years – and God is saying – I want something different for you – it is not a need in your life – there is something bigger.
A small example – people praying to have children – and unable to – and eventually, they give up and adopt – and that is God’s calling for them. Or people praying to get married – and realizing that God does not have that for them – and that is found only in relationship with God. The lack of what we are asking for is doing something bigger.
. 9 "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. 10 "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
In light of all this – the practical application is this:
ASK. – and it means – ask, and keep asking. Don’t stop seeking, don’t stop knocking.
But then in 10 – for everyone who asks…
The focus is no longer on the asking, but on the word EVERYONE. It is not based on your status or the words you say – for everyone who asks receives. We need to take that approach into prayer. When you have prayed for many years – that is when you really need to take this approach – everyone who asks, receives. Just because you haven’t received it yet, He is still the father, the friend. It is not saying that God gets sick of us so He gives it to us – it is that His love is so deep that he wants to give to us in ways we can’t imagine.
After the years, if it doesn’t come, our tendency is to stop.
Let’s pray.