CHAPTER 5

KEEP PUSHING

Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life. We must learn to pray. We have to. . . . There is nothing more important, or harder, or richer, or more life-altering. . . . To fail to pray, then, is not to merely break some religious rule —it is a failure to treat God as God. It is a sin against his glory. . . . Prayer is simply a recognition of the greatness of God.

TIM KELLER

Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of his highest willingness.

RICHARD TRENCH

RAY STEDMAN, WHO FOR MANY YEARS served as pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, tells a story he heard from a retired mariner who navigated his ship through surging, stormy seas over a career of many years. This captain recounted weathering one especially wild storm where survival was by no means assured.

The old mariner said, “The Lord heard the voices of many strangers that night.”[61]

I believe the same is true today. Perhaps in the midst of the peril and perplexity in today’s world, you’re turning to the Lord more often than ever before. In these times I think we all sense a need to take a knee in prayer like never before. As we navigate these last days, few things are more important than our prayer lives. As S. D. Gordon once said, “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed. But you can not do more than pray until you have prayed.”[62]

Jesus told his followers that their prayer lives must intensify as the days get darker. At the end of his great sermon about the end of days, Jesus said, “Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36, emphasis added).

Right after his extensive instruction about the days before his coming in Luke 17, we read in Luke 18:1, “Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” Jesus’ follow-up to his teaching about the final days was a story about a desperate widow that highlights the need for persistent prayer. Jesus knew the challenges and cares of the end times must be met with persevering prayer.

Jesus’ message is clear: just as the popular slogan said some time ago, we have to PUSH —Pray Until Something Happens.

We all sense a need to pray, and to keep praying, but if you’re like me, you often feel woefully inadequate. Prayer is essential, but prayer is not easy. The great Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte once said, “If you want to humble a man, ask him about his prayer life.”[63] That’s true, isn’t it? If we’re honest, prayer is something we all struggle with, even (and perhaps especially) when times are uncertain. We know we need to pray, but sometimes we may secretly wonder if it really works.

Jesus’ disciples experienced the same struggle with prayer in their day. The disciples never asked Jesus how to walk on water, how to still a storm, or how to do other miracles, but they did ask Jesus to teach them to pray (see Luke 11:1). We need the same help.

Other than regularly reading and meditating on the Bible, nothing is more essential to your spiritual life —and spiritual survival —than prayer. It’s that simple. We need to learn to pray, and there’s no better place to look than Luke 11:1-13. These verses provide answers from Jesus to three key questions about prayer:

Our focus will be on the last two questions, but let’s begin briefly with the most basic question —what should we pray to the Lord about?

WHAT TO PRAY

In response to the disciples’ question, Jesus tells them what kinds of things to pray for. The prayer Jesus gives, commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer, is shorter in Luke 11 than the version recorded in Matthew 6. They aren’t exact, word-for-word copies, which means you don’t have to pray these exact words. If the Lord wanted us to pray this prayer verbatim, the version in Luke 11 would be the same as the one in Matthew 6. However, while Jesus didn’t give us this prayer to repeat over and over again, there’s nothing wrong with using this prayer as long as it’s not routine or mechanical. We should memorize it and cite it as we do other parts of Scripture.

Since the form of the model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 is longer and more familiar than the one in Luke 11, let’s look at that text in its traditional form as our guide.

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Before we get into the specifics, let’s make a few general observations about this prayer.

It’s a model prayer. It’s a pattern, road map, or skeleton to guide our own praying. It’s a sample of the main areas we’re to cover in our daily prayers. As I’ve already stated, it’s not a prayer for us to pray in some rote fashion, but a pattern or outline to follow.

It’s not the “Lord’s” prayer. While it’s not wrong to call this the Lord’s Prayer, it’s more accurate and descriptive to call it the “Disciple’s Prayer.” The reason is that this was not a prayer prayed by Jesus but a prayer he gave his disciples to guide their own praying. The “Lord’s prayer” is in John 17, where Jesus pours out his heart to his Father.

It’s a family prayer. We see this in two ways. First, God is called our Father. This prayer is for those born into God’s family by faith in Jesus. Second, all the pronouns are plural (“our”). This reminds us that we belong to a great family of faith. We don’t pray just for ourselves; we pray for the family. Martin Luther is reported to have said, “Religion is a matter of personal pronouns.”[64] That’s certainly true in this model prayer. The plural, family nature of this prayer is well-expressed in this poem:

You cannot say the Lord’s prayer,

And even once say “I.”

You cannot pray the Lord’s prayer,

and even once say “my.”

Nor can you pray the Lord’s prayer

and not pray for another.

For when you ask for daily bread,

you must include your brother!

For others are included in each and every plea.

From the beginning to the end of it,

It never once says “me.”

It’s a short, simple prayer. The words in the prayer are simple and unadorned. In the original Greek (without the disputed ending in Matthew 6:13), the entire prayer is only fifty-seven words. While there are occasions to pray for lengthy periods of time, and examples of this in the Bible, the model Jesus gave his disciples is strikingly brief.

It’s a petitionary prayer. Over the years, I’ve heard all kinds of definitions and descriptions of prayer. People say prayer is “talking with God,” “conversing with God,” or “opening our heart to Jesus.” The simplest definition of prayer is “asking God for something.” All of the Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated “prayer,” “petition,” “request,” or “supplication” have a common basic meaning —to ask for something. Prayer is asking God for something. It’s human asking and divine answering. We see this in Matthew 6. The model prayer contains a string of six requests:

The model prayer is a petitionary prayer.

It’s a balanced prayer. While the model prayer contains six requests, there are two main divisions:

The prayer moves from God’s glory to our good. Notice the change in pronouns from “thy” (“your”) to “our” and “us.” Our focus and first priority in prayer is on God’s glory. Then the model prayer brings us back to earth to pray for our own needs.

God has all the power, the majesty, and the glory; we have all the needs, wants, and poverty. He’s got everything; we have nothing. Prayer is the ultimate act of dependence. As E. M. Bounds writes, “Prayer honors God; it dishonors self. It is man’s plea of weakness, ignorance, want.”[65]

With this overview, let’s briefly look at the two divisions of this prayer and the six things we’re to pray about.

Pray to the Father about the Father

The three requests in this first half of the prayer cover three areas:

“OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN”

The prayer begins with the one we seek in prayer —“Our Father.” The word “Father” indicates to whom we pray, and the word “our” refers to with whom we pray. God is referred to as Father fourteen times in the Old Testament, yet always in reference to the nation of Israel, not individuals. Jesus calls God his Father more than sixty times in the Gospels. We have a new relationship with God. He is our Father through faith in Jesus.

When I think about God being my Father, my mind goes to my own dad. He’s great at fixing things and working with his hands. He doesn’t like talking on the phone, so when I call and my mom answers and I ask for him, my dad knows that I must need something. When he takes the phone, his first words are usually, “What do you need?” I like to think of my heavenly Father in the same way. When I come to him with my troubles and concerns as his child, his response is, “What do you need?”

The phrase “who art in heaven” references whom we’re seeking. He resides in the heavens. He’s seated on the throne. He is almighty, eternal, and infinite. God is near us —he’s intimate. But he’s also far beyond us —he’s transcendent. First things first: before anything else, remember who it is you’re praying to. Stop and think about the Father in the heavens before you go any further.

THE FATHER’S PERSON

The first request is that God’s name be honored, revered, and set apart (that’s what “hallowed” means). In ancient times, someone’s name represented their person or nature —who they are. So this is a request that God be revered, set apart from everything else, and treated as holy. The Puritan Thomas Watson noted that this is the one petition in this prayer that we will make for all eternity:

When some of the other petitions shall be useless and out of date, as we shall not need to pray in heaven, “Give us our daily bread,” because there shall be no hunger; nor, “Forgive us our trespasses,” because there shall be no sin; nor, “Lead us not into temptation,” because the old serpent is not there to tempt: yet the hallowing of God’s name will be of great use and request in heaven; we shall be ever singing hallelujahs, which is nothing else but the hallowing of God’s name.[66]

This request is what the angels around the throne in heaven never cease to proclaim in Revelation 4:8 —“Holy, holy, holy.”

If we pray for God to make his name set apart, then it follows that we must pray and seek that we will be holy in our lives. The revering of God’s name must begin in my life if I sincerely want to see it hallowed everywhere else. We should honestly ask ourselves, Is God treated as holy in my life? My marriage? My family?

THE FATHER’S PROGRAM

Next is “thy kingdom come.” This is a longing for God’s program to be fulfilled —for the weary, war-torn world we live in to be made right. When you think about it, all prayer is ultimately a cry for the Kingdom to come. When we pray about our fears and uncertainty, the nation and our leaders, temptation, family issues, financial concerns, or health problems, the final answer to every one of these issues of life is the arrival of Christ’s Kingdom. The Kingdom is God’s answer to all our cries, sighs, and whys. And when we ask for the Kingdom to come, for God’s Kingdom to rule on earth, we implicitly pray that our lives will also be subject to him.

Haddon Robinson says, “We must be willing for all of the little kingdoms that matter so much to us now to be pulled down. If we want God’s rule over all men and women at some future time, it follows that we will want His control in our lives today. Unless we are sufficiently concerned about making our lives His throne and bringing others into glad submission to Him, we cannot pray with integrity for His kingdom to come.”[67]

It’s been well said that when we pray “your kingdom come,” we must pray “my kingdom go.”

THE FATHER’S PRIORITIES

The final request in this first section of the prayer concerns God’s will or priorities —“thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” How is God’s will done in heaven? Completely. Joyfully. Unceasingly. Perfectly. Immediately. This is an appeal for God’s sovereignty to be manifested on earth.

Again, what we want for this world must first be true in our lives. We must abandon our will for his will and yield ourselves totally to him. The ultimate issue in our lives is lordship —who’s in charge?

Pray to the Father about the Family

After we pray to the Father about the Father and his glory, we move to praying to the Father about the family and our good. Again, remember that all the pronouns here are plural. We pray for ourselves and others. It’s difficult sometimes to avoid self-centered praying. We get so absorbed in our own needs, like the young woman who said, “Lord, I’m not going to pray for myself today; I’m going to pray for others,” and after praying for some time, she added, “And give my mother a handsome son-in-law.” Our prayers have a tendency to circle back to ourselves.

In the model prayer, Jesus focuses on three requests that we pray for ourselves and other believers.

OUR PROVISION

The first petition is “give us this day our daily bread.” This is a humble request for provision. We ask God for what is needed for the day —daily bread. Each day brings its share of burdens and needs but also its joys and blessings.

Daily bread includes food but is not limited to that. Everything necessary for our body and our existence is captured in this request. Martin Luther helps us understand the full meaning of “daily bread”:

What does “Daily Bread” mean? Everything that nourishes our body and meets its needs, such as: Food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, yard, fields, cattle, money, possessions, a devout spouse, devout children, devout employees, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors and other things like these.[68]

God is our Father. We can trust him to meet our daily needs. As Hudson Taylor reminds us,

It is not difficult for me to remember that the little ones need breakfast in the morning, dinner at midday, and something before they go to bed at night. Indeed, I could not forget it. And I find it impossible to suppose that our Heavenly Father is less tender or mindful than I. . . . I do not believe that our Heavenly Father will ever forget his children. I am a very poor father, but it is not my habit to forget my children. God is a very, very good Father. It is not his habit to forget his children.[69]

OUR PARDON

The second family request is for pardon from our sins. The model prayer Jesus gives us moves from “give” to “forgive”; from food to forgiveness.

The whole notion of forgiveness raises an important, practical question —if our debt is erased by God when we trust in Jesus and receive his forgiveness, why do we still need to ask for God’s forgiveness? If all our debts have been paid and we have asked Jesus to forgive our sin once for all, why do we still need to be pardoned? (See Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:14.) It’s easy to see why we need to ask God to forgive us once. Until we accept Christ’s payment for our sins, we’re not saved. I have to trust and believe that Jesus died on the cross to cancel my debt. Yet the prayer Jesus taught us in Matthew 6 makes asking for forgiveness part of our daily prayers. We ask for daily pardon as well as daily provision. But why do we need to keep asking for God’s forgiveness? The answer is very simple —because we keep on sinning.

At this point, distinguishing two aspects of God’s forgiveness is helpful.

  1. Final forgiveness (relationship): This facet of our forgiveness brings us into an eternal relationship with our Father. Our sins are forever forgiven, blotted out, and removed far away (see Psalm 103:12; Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:19; Ephesians 1:7).
  2. Family forgiveness (fellowship): Our daily sin interferes with our intimacy with our Father. It fractures our fellowship. As believers, we don’t lose our relationship when we sin, but we do interrupt our fellowship with the Father. So we have to come daily for a fresh application of his forgiveness to maintain our fellowship with our Father. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

There’s an old Dennis the Menace cartoon that pictures Dennis kneeling beside his bed at night, with hands clasped, eyes looking heavenward, saying, “Lord, I’m here to turn myself in.” We have to come to God daily to turn ourselves in.

Jesus adds an interesting condition to our forgiveness: “As we forgive those who trespass against us.” This is the only petition in this model prayer with a condition attached to it. The reason is because we sin and we are sinned against. We aren’t the only ones in debt. We have debtors of our own: those who owe us something for what they’ve done to us. Our call when we are sinned against is to let it go. That’s what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is a release, a letting go of destructive feelings like anger, bitterness, and revenge —attitudes that poison our lives. Forgiveness is not tolerating sin, excusing it, forgetting it, or covering it up. Forgiveness is letting it go. It’s releasing the other person and also releasing ourselves from the burden of bitterness. Phil Ryken says,

If we must forgive, then how shall we do it? What does it mean to forgive our debtors?

It means to forgive everyone for everything. Forgive the neighbor who backed over your begonias. Forgive the sibling who colored in your books and the parent who never showed you very much affection. Forgive the spouse who doesn’t meet your needs and the child who ran away from home. Forgive the coworker who stabbed you in the back and the boss who denied your promotion. Forgive the church member who betrayed a confidence or the pastor who gave you poor spiritual care. Forgive people for whatever they have done to you.

If you are a Christian, you do not have the right to withhold forgiveness from anyone for anything.[70]

Jesus knew this would be the most difficult issue for his disciples and us to understand and apply, so he adds a postscript or appendix in Matthew 6:14-15: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

This is not saying that our forgiveness merits God’s forgiveness. It is saying that a mark of being forgiven is forgiving other people. Our forgiveness of others is evidence of our own forgiving spirit, and God only forgives the truly penitent. Refusing to forgive others is evidence that I myself am unforgiven.

The English poet George Herbert says, “He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for every one has need to be forgiven.”[71] This doesn’t mean that Christians never wrestle with forgiveness. But the struggle itself is evidence of God’s grace in our hearts. And we may have to forgive over and over again. It can be a process, especially when the wounds are deep. At times, we may have to forgive all over again and continue to forgive as often as necessary. Like the rest of this prayer, forgiveness is part of everyday life for believers.

OUR PROTECTION

The final request in the model prayer (“lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”) has probably caused more head-scratching than any other. The first thing to recognize is that this is not two separate requests but one petition in two parallel parts. “Lead us not into temptation” and “deliver us from evil” are two sides of the same request.

The main question in this request is why would we ask God not to lead us into temptation? Does God lead us into temptation? According to James 1:13, the answer is no. “When you are being tempted, do not say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.”

So, what does Jesus mean in Matthew 6:13? The best explanation is that this is a figure of speech to express something positive by stating the opposite. “This is no small matter” means “This is a big matter.” When we pray “lead us not into temptation,” we’re really praying “keep us away from temptation.” “Don’t let Satan ambush us.” “Build a hedge around us.” We need to ask the Lord, “If the opportunity to sin presents itself, please remove our desire. If the desire springs up within us, please don’t allow us to have the opportunity.”

HOW DO WE PRAY?

After telling us what to pray, Jesus tells a parable in Luke 11:5-10 that focuses on how we pray. His instruction is pointed: we’re to pray persistently; we’re not to give up. In our prayer life we must PUSH:

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this —though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.”

LUKE 11:5-8

Jesus begins this story by drawing in the listener: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight.” The listener or reader is the person in need —that’s us. We find ourselves in the story.

The parable revolves around a situation that could have arisen in ancient Near Eastern culture. An unexpected visitor arrives at midnight. This was quite common because people often traveled at night when it was cooler. The culture of the day demanded hospitality. It was a social duty and requirement. But the host has a problem: he has visitors and no food.

The cupboards are bare, and there are no 7-Eleven stores or twenty-four-hour Walmarts to shop at. The man is in a real bind. His only choice is to go next door to his neighbor in the dead of night.

To visualize this scene, we have to remember that families in that day lived in one-room houses. The entire family slept on one large mat on the floor. The animals were put to bed in another part of the room at night. The door to the house had a wooden or iron bar through rings in the door panels. Getting up and removing it would be noisy, and lighting a candle to find bread and rummaging through the kitchen would wake up the entire household. The situation presents a massive inconvenience, so the man responds, “Don’t bother me. . . . I can’t help you” (verse 7). Request denied!

The desperate neighbor does the only thing he can do: he knocks again and must have said something like, “Come on, man, you know I need some bread. I can’t leave my visitors unfed. You have to help me!” You get the point: this man is not going away.

Jesus says, “If you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence” (verse 8). The word translated “shameless persistence” can also mean “gall,” “nerve,” or “bold perseverance.”

We must be careful to note that God is not being compared to this tired, reluctant neighbor. Rather, he is being contrasted with him. What we have here is a “how much more” argument. Jesus is saying, “If even this unwilling neighbor will respond to persistence, how much more will our Father answer the persistent prayers of his people?” Our prayers are to be punctuated by commas, not periods.

Persistence in prayer is reinforced by Jesus’ call in verses 9-10 to keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. There’s increasing intensity and a stacking of the words.

God is ready to give, so ask, seek, and knock. PUSH —Pray Until Something Happens. As the Scottish theologian P. T. Forsyth writes, “Prayer is never rejected so long as we do not cease to pray. The chief failure of prayer is its cessation.”[72]

This raises some important questions: Why does God want us to persist in prayer? Why does he sometimes delay his answers for so long? Why does God so often put us on hold? Why does he leave us waiting on the other end of the phone? What’s the point? Do you ever feel like that? If God knows what we ask before we ask, if God hears us immediately, and if God is willing to answer us, why do we need to persist and persevere in prayer? Although much more could be said here about the mystery of prayer, here are five practical benefits of persistent prayer:

  1. Our faith is strengthened. Our faith grows as we persist in seeking the Lord.
  2. We draw closer to the Lord. Ben Patterson, in his book Deepening Your Conversation with God, says, “Perhaps one reason God delays his answers to our prayers is because he knows we need to be with him far more than we need the things we ask of him.”[73] Haddon Robinson says, “Those who are satisfied with the trinkets in the Father’s hand miss the best reward of prayer —the reward of communicating and communing with the God of the universe.”[74]
  3. Our patience is stretched. We learn to wait on the Lord.
  4. Our gratitude grows. That which is easily gained is often lightly appreciated. When we pray and seek the Lord for something over a period of time and the Lord answers our petition, we’re filled with joy and thanksgiving.
  5. God may want to do something bigger. God may delay his answer because he has something bigger in mind. I once heard someone, in reference to the story of the raising of Lazarus, say, “If Jesus had arrived on time he would have healed a sick man, but he waited a few days so He could raise a dead man.” We have to persist in prayer and trust the Lord’s timing, looking for the benefits his delays bring.

In these last days, as we face greater trials and opposition, we must not give up in our praying. No matter what —keep praying. Keep PUSHing.

WHY DO WE PRAY?

The final facet of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Luke 11 answers the “why” question. Why pray? The answer is simple: because of the nature of God. He is our Father. Our persistent prayer is rooted in the character of God as our Father.

You fathers —if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

LUKE 11:11-13

In verse 11, Jesus again draws in the listener —“You fathers —if your children ask for a fish . . .” Jesus is telling us we pray because God is our Father and is predisposed to give us good things, just as a father wants to bless his children. Jesus’ teaching on prayer ends where it began, with the “Father” (Luke 11:2, 13). The word “Father” brackets the entire passage.

This gives us confidence and motivation to pray and to persist in prayer. The realization that our Father loves us and is willing to give us what is good should motivate us to persist in prayer. I love these words of Warren Wiersbe: “Prayer isn’t bothering God, bargaining with God, borrowing from God, or burdening God. True prayer is blessing the Father because we love Him, trust Him, and know that He will meet our needs, so we come and ask.”[75]

Our prayers get sifted through the goodness and wisdom of our Father. He will always and only give us what is good for us. Pray persistently, knowing that God is your loving Father who will only give you good gifts. If what you request is not best for you, God will not give it.

Dr. Howard Hendricks, a beloved professor for so many years at Dallas Theological Seminary, told of a time when he was a young man, before he was married. A certain mother in the church he attended came up to him one Sunday and said to him, “Howard, I just want you to know that I’m praying that you’ll be my son-in-law.” Dr. Hendricks, when telling this story, stopped at that point and said, very solemnly, “Have you ever thanked God for unanswered prayer?” I know I have.

We trust our Father to give us good gifts. But we don’t receive just gifts; we receive the Giver. God gives us the Holy Spirit (see Luke 11:13). That’s the greatest gift of all. He can’t give more than himself.

As the world around us grows more chaotic and confusing, turn your panic into prayers. Don’t be a stranger to God. Let him hear your voice often. Pray regularly. Pray repeatedly.

No matter what happens, keep PUSHing!