Mentoring Men for the Master

FIVE POWERFUL PILLARS ON PREVAILING PRAYER

An old adage goes, “If you want to know the “Low Downs” (correct answer) on any subject, go to the Horse’s Mouth or the authority on the subject.  Thus if you want to know about Salt, you go to Mr. Morton; about Ford autos, you go to Henry Ford; political corruption, consult Bill Clinton.  And if you want the “Low Down” on effective praying, you go to the greatest prayer warrior of all times – Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  His disciples having heard Him pray many times and seeing its power in His life, they went to Him with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray, as Jesus taught His disciples to pray.” (Luke 11:1).  Jesus was pleased to answer, so he set forth 5 great pillars of prevailing power in our text today, Luke 11: 1-13.  Please observe with me each one:

  1. The Priority of Prayer – verse 1. We think of John the Baptist as the great prophet in the Bible (Matthew 27:8), a miracle child, having been filled with the Holy Spirit before birth, yet the disciples saw John primarily as the man of prayer, knowing it was the priority in his life.  Also they had no doubt that the fist priority in Jesus life was prayer, and they asked Him to teach them how to pray.

The fact that prayer was the priority in the life of John and Jesus shows us that prayer should be the priority in our lives, for if the mighty John the Baptist  and perfect Savior made prayer a priority, so should we.

Moreover, if prayer is not a priority and is left to our convenience and feelings, we will fail to have an effective prayer life.  So before you eat, read the newspaper, turn on TV or anything else, make prayer the first thing on your agenda.  For you can do more than pray after you pray but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.  Don’t dare to say, “I’m too busy to pray,” rather say “I am too busy not to pray.”  If real busy and fail to pray, you will find yourselves overwhelmed with work.  But pray first and God Himself will work a miracle in your time management.

  1. The Pattern of Prayer. Jesus did not just command the disciples to pray generally but He gave them what we call the “Lord’s Prayer,” which isn’t a prayer He prayed, but it’s call the Lord’s Prayer because Jesus taught us this pattern – not something to recite, but the principles we should incorporate  in our prayers.  Let us note how:
    1. “Our Father – our personal relationship to our heavenly Father, who is my Father and yet God. Just think of the highest privilege on this earth – talking to your father, since you are His son, and He is God.
    2. “Who art in heaven” – His providential rule and care – IN our hearts, but Lord over the universe, in charge of everything – no recession.  Nothing too hard – Jer. 32:17; Isaiah 40:22.
    3. “Hallowed would be thy Name” – the praise of prayer, praising His name, for His name describes who He is (His character) and what He does. David cries out in Psalm 10:3; 1:2.  If you haven’t memorized the reference of the great names, write them out and look at them as you pray and praise the Lord.  I love Genesis 16:31, the first comp. name, Genesis 22:14; Exod. 15:26; Jer. 23:6; Psalm 23:1; Exek. 48:35.
    4. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” The purpose of prayer is not to get what we want done in heaven but to get what God wants to do on earth through us.  What is the kingdom of heaven?  Doing His will.  His will revealed in His Word.  Illus:  Man who said to me, “I’m leaving my wife, marrying my secretary, I talked to Lord and He says it is okay.”  I laid him low with the truth.  Note 2 Kingdoms:
      • Kingdom come: Present – in our hearts – described in Romans 14:7.
      • Kingdom comes: when Christ and saints shall rule the world  – Rev. 11:15.
    5. “Give us this day our daily bread” – Provision of Prayer.  Having submitted to Him, you are now ready to petition for what  you need, not your greed; and not for the future, but like the manna in the wilderness, just what you need today.  And you should be content with only 2 things – 1 Tim. 6:7-8.  Pray for body, soul, spirit, for children, grandchildren, wife, business, the lost, the uppity outs as well as the down and outs, and many other needs.
    6. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others their trespasses.” You must confess your sins and forgive others if you expect to be forgiven.  Many have to stop at this point.  Read matthew 6:13-14; Psalm 66:19.
    7. “Lead us not into temptation (trails) but deliver us from evil.” Protection of prayer . God does not tempt us to sin, but He puts us or permits us to go through hard, hard places, so we ought to pray the first of each day for Him to protect us through the day.  Don’t wait until the devil had “devoured,” for “he walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) and only Jesus can defeat him (1 John 4:4b).
    8. Finally, ended you began The Praise of Prayer – For the kingdom, the power, and the glory belong to You.
  2. The Persistence of Prayer – vs. 5-8 – The man who knocked, knocked, knocked and neighbor opened the door because of his persistence. Then Jesus gives us this command in verse 9:
  • Keep on asking – Humble your heart and state your need. Absolutely necessary.  Everybody swamped with needs, but won’t state them to the Lord.  Why?    Results:  James 4:2-3.
  • Asking is not enough, so keep on seeking.  What is Seeking?  It’s action to accomplish what we’ve brought to the Lord. Illus:  Many say, “Oh, I wish I had deep Bible knowledge, like you.”  Most of these will not internalize the Word.  Ex:  Slogan in Texas:  “Pray and GRAB a hoe.”  Ex:  Pray for Tom, Dick and Harry to be saved but never speak to them.  Ex:  Went to the manager of Carrabas after I had asked him.  Knocking is also necessary.  So keep on asking, keep on acting, keep on asking, seeking and keep on persevering.  How long?  Until God answers or tells us to cease asking.  Ex:  I prayed 33 years before my father-in-law was saved.    I prayed 10 years before Ms. “E”, the center piece of our ministry, joined our staff.  I had never met her; she called me and asked if I needed a secretary.
  1. The Promise of Prayer– Luke 11:11-13 – “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, 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!” Jesus  is  arguing from lessor to greater.  If a mere sinful, selfish, father would give what you ask, the perfect heavenly father will give so much more.  More verses promise great things:  33:3; Ephes. 3:20.  Illus:  My son David’s appeals to me.
  2. The Pinnacle of Prayer – also in verse 13. Matthew 7:11 says God will give “good things” to those who keep on asking; here Luke says “the Holy Spirit.”  Not a contradiction, for God’s greatest gift to the believer is the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  You already have the Holy Spirit on inside if saved, so do not call that He come and enter, but Surrender to Him so He can teach you, empower you, free you from your flesh, impart joy, power, etc.  “Be filled with the Spirit” and “let the indwelling Word” dwell, that is, be at home, live in you and dominate you – These two are the same thing, for the results are the same – read Ephes.  5:19 and 3:16.  thus the infilling is not some ecstatic, emotional experience, but it is obedience to the Word of God and the total honoring of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Illus:  People were accused of being drunk.  Peter did not deny they were drunk, but he said, “They are not drunk as you suppose, that is, on alcohol, but drunk on the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:15.

I preached once using Ephesians 5:18, as my text, on the subject, “The Right Way to Get Drunk.”  You are drunk, either on the spirit of selfishness and rebellion against God or the spirit of surrender and obedience under the Lordship of Christ.

To make it simple, if you would be filled do three things:

  1. Internalize the Word
  2. Have a Meaningful time in prayer daily with your Father.
  3. Keep up the process.

Conclusion:  Two categories of students here: not the intelligent and simple, but the willing and unwilling.  Those who are willing are filled and living victorious lives; those who are not willing, still wallow in defeat, indecision, etc.  Would you today be willing to make prayer:

  1. Your priority
  2. Follow the model prayer in principles
  3. Keep on keeping on till Jesus comes or God calls you to heaven.