TOPIC:‌"The Greatest Prayer Ever Given"

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌St. Luke 11:1-4

 

‌‌"Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1)

 

‌We happen to be living at a time when prayer is looked upon by many people as something unnecessary for life in the 21st century. Modern man has become so independent and self-sufficient that he believes he can live without God and prayer. That's exactly what has happened in our country! We have taken God out of our textbooks and prayer out of our classrooms.

 

‌And look where it has gotten us! We are a nation adrift without a moral compass by which to guide us. I say to you, that no nation can make moral progress without asking for God's help and guidance. And what is true of us as a nation is also true of us as individuals. We cannot live without prayer. For prayer is as vital to our spiritual lives as breathing is to our physical lives. The moment we cease to breathe we cease to live, and the moment we stop praying, which is spiritual breathing, we stop growing spiritually. Why? Because the Christian life is supported and sustained by prayer.

 

‌Let us now look at the greatest prayer ever given by Christ. It has come to be known as the Kingdom Prayer, the Family Prayer, the Model Prayer, and most of all, as the Lord's Prayer. But in reality it should be called, "The Disciples Prayer," since Jesus Himself being sinless never had to ask for forgiveness so He never had to pray this prayer. It seems this matchless prayer was intended to be a guide, a model, a formula to the way that Christians should pray.

 

I.

 

‌To begin with, think of the REQUEST made by the disciples.  Give attention to the words in verse 1: "And it came to pass that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.'" There's something very interesting in that request that some of you might have missed. Whether these disciples heard Jesus pray we do not know. But what we do know is they saw Him praying.

 

‌Here the disciples were interested both in the longing to and the learning to pray. They wanted the passion to pray as well as the pattern of prayer. Let me show you what I mean. For sometime now the disciples had been watching Jesus and they were impressed by His prayer habits. Prayer was not a part of His life, it was His life. And these disciples wanted that same spirit that characterized the prayer life of Jesus to characterize their lives.

 

‌As we study the life of Jesus from the four Gospels we discover that He prayed . . .