Verse 1 The disciples have witnessed Jesus praying on many occasions (the book of Luke records Jesus praying more than the other three gospels) and now they want to learn how to pray like him. We might pray more if we saw the great advantages we have in coming to God with our requests. Jesus teaches us how to pray through His Word and Spirit. We can pray for Jesus to quicken our hearts to pray or excite our spirits to pray if we are struggling to find the value or need to pray. Always pray for His direction in what to pray. He may bring names and situations to your mind that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. Sometimes in the middle of the day or night, a person’s face comes to my mind out of the blue and I consider it a nudge from the Lord to pray for that person immediately.

Verse 2 Jesus gives them a model for praying. We read about this in Matthew 6:9-13. The model for praying opens up like this: Father, your name is honored and holy. We turn to heaven and acknowledge you are God, Creator of all, my Maker, my Father, and you are set apart and right in all your doing and being. You are holy. Your love is holy. Your justice is holy. Your mercy is holy. Isaiah 6:3 says you are “holy, holy, holy.” We honor your name, your character, your reputation as holy. You are pure in all your motives and doing. You alone are to be worshipped, obeyed, and worthy of all our praise.

We pray that your kingdom would come to earth and have its way, perform your will in our midst. Nothing falls outside of your grasp. You have a hold of if all. Your priorities are our priorities. Help us to walk out your will in our lives and see your kingdom invade earth.

Verse 3 We pray for Your provision, God, as we carry out Your business on earth. Supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19) daily. Hourly. Minute by minute. Cover today with all we need to accomplish Your will today.

Verse 4 By having our sins forgiven, our debt is canceled. We cannot have unity with God, fellowship, or a relationship with Him if we’re not dealing seriously with our sin. As the Holy Spirit reveals sin in our lives, we are to address it, confess it daily. And if we are faithful to admit and confess them, he is faithful and righteous to forgive them and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). And that means we must also forgive all those who have sinned against us. We don’t have to reconcile. This asks though that we must forgive (Ephesians 4:32).

We also pray not to be led into temptation. We pray for God to protect us from any situation that we can’t handle. We need God’s help in all our trials so we will not be tempted to sin. We pray for His strength to keep us safe and far from anything that compromises character. One reason we pray daily is to prepare our hearts for the storms in life ahead so that we can face them with our confidence in Jesus there with us in it. So that we can honor God, grow spiritually, and mature in the Lord.

Verses 5-8 We also read this portion in Matthew 7:7-11. This is encouragement for any of us to keep coming back to God with bold prayers in spite of our situation or circumstances in life. This is a story of two friends (us and God the Father). At midnight the one friend realizes he doesn’t have food for a visitor who had come to stay with him. So he goes to the house of his friend and knocks on the door. And knocks. And knocks. I like how the NLT defines this knocking as “shameless persistence.” And because of this man’s persistence to knock until he received what he needed, the friend finally came to the door, even though it was late and his family was in bed and gave him what he needed. When we have bold persistence with God, He will meet our needs.

Verses 9-13 We should seek God in prayer with this boldness and not sit back to wait for things to just happen. Like the persistent friend, we ask, seek, and knock in prayer so that God will answer us. We cannot twist His arm to work according to our own ideas. He works to perform His will. If we keep coming to God with our requests, He will respond. Much like an earthly father, though he is sinful, still feeds his children. How much more will our perfect, holy, and righteous Heavenly Father give good gifts to his children? One of the greatest gifts He gives us is the Holy Spirit, who delivers God’s will to his children. The Holy Spirit is authorized to operate on God’s behalf through our prayers for our benefit and through us for the benefit of others.

Prayer: Jesus, our Mediator, our Victory, You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your Will, they were created and have their being. (Revelation 4:11) You are so good to us, Jesus. We desire to sit at your feet in prayer. We give ourselves to prayer (Psalm 109:4). Teach us how to pray, direct our thoughts to Your thoughts. Give us the wisdom of Your scriptures to pray and fill our mouths when we open them to pray. Quicken our hearts to get on our knees and come to You, Jesus, often. Fill us with Your spirit and teach us what to say. Help us to come boldly and with confidence to Your throne in prayer, God. Help us be shamelessly persistent in prayer for Your will and our daily needs. Keep us from the devil’s doing in our lives. Help us to intercede for our friends (Job 42:10). Give us the grace to do good, to speak encouragement, and feed those around us with Your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.