Luke 11:1-13 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.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
The disciples wanted to know how Jesus got results when He prayed. When we pray, we should see things with our eyes, the results of our prayers. If there are no results, you aren’t making the connection. You have to rid yourself of thinking it may not be the Fathers will. Put that completely out of your mind and life. The Fathers will is His word. The Fathers will is every sick person be healed. Every person who is bound in any fashion, be set completely free. Because He sent Jesus to the cross, and Jesus bore those things. The word salvation is total deliverance. Spirit, soul, and body. “If it be thy will” is false! It will hinder your prayer life. The enemy will minister to you and your mind and tell you it is not His will. That is a lie! The disciples were saying, “teach us to talk to God like you do!” That’s what prayer is! It is talking to God! Your success in life will be determined by your prayer life! God can’t do anything in your life until you pray! He followed you around since the day you were born waiting for you to pray and ask Him to come into your life! And when you prayed, it gave Him entrance!
Will you choose to live your life selfishly? That’s human nature. You have to make a conscious decision that you are not going to live selfishly. God can and will help you change in that area! Then you can truly live. Jesus was an example of this. He lived the most selfless life that has ever been lived. Nothing that Jesus did while He was on earth was for Himself. What compelled Jesus to do everything He did was the love of The Father! It was His Fathers will to do those things, and out of His love for His Father, He did them. He knew what it would do to the heart of the Father. That’s the ultimate goal.
Notice in verse 2, Jesus says, “when you pray, say….” Unspoken prayer requests do not work! You can’t pray if you don’t say! You won’t get results without using your tongue!
“Our Father” He is not just your Father; He is Father to all of us! He is the source of all living! Your breathing right now, because of the heart of the Father! He wanted a family.
We have to have the Holy Ghost to help us understand all that Jesus was saying in this passage.
In verse 2 Jesus says, “hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. “He was saying, who You are and what You want is far more important, than who I am and anything I could ever want. Because God is holy! You keep Him in His proper place! He is our Father and what He wants is better for you than ANYTHING you can come up with on your own. If you know this, it is easy to pray the prayer. If you know that, it’s easy to give up your will. We don’t know it because we don’t want to give up our own will. If we knew Him, we would know better.
The small example from verses 5-8 is a picture of a dear friend giving you what you need because you put them on the spot. How much more would a Father want to do for their child? His very nature is to give!
Prayer was God’s idea; His design. He designed it so that when you pray you get an answer. Not hit or miss prayers. We are to see results, every time! His word says that EVERYONE who asks, receives. You have to settle this is your life! God does not answer prayers because of who you are, He answers because of who He is. Any father will do anything in the world for their children.
To get the results that Jesus got, you have to get to know the Father better than you do now! There are people out there who don’t know how to get to God. They have need. Why do you think He used the example of 3 loaves of bread? Because if they’ve got a need, spirit, soul, or body, God wants to meet all the need. If they need physical healing, God wants to deliver that bread. If they need emotional healing, God want that to be healed. Whatever you need, spirit, soul, or body, God has the bread for it.
Too often we are standing outside the house (like in verses 5-8) asking God for bread. We know He’s got it, but question whether He will give it or not? See you are standing outside, when you should be inside! You should be in there with the rest of His children. You are one of His kids! When you were born again, it was planned. You were conceived in love. God already had every second of your life planned out. That’s the kind of God he is. We have to see Him as He is! He is not like your natural father. Many times, our natural father fails to show us the true love of a father. It makes it hard for us to trust our true Father. God loves you! He would stop the whole world, FOR YOU! God put His nature and life inside of you. You have the capacity to love and know Him! Know this, if you ask, He will do it. If you seek, you’ll find. If you knock, it’ll be opened. It’s not hit or miss, it is guaranteed! Read it in YOUR Bible! Stop standing on the outside asking God to send it your way! Go in to the Father and get it! Whatever you need! He yearns to do it! How are you going to get to know Him, if you aren’t interested in getting intimate with Him? Not in a sensual way, but in a vulnerable way. God’s love can change anything about you. You can please God, and you can displease God. His acceptance is not His approval. He accepts you because you’re His, that don’t mean He approves of your behavior. But, when your behavior is wrong, He don’t love you any less. His love was maxed out at the cross! He cannot love you any more, or any less, than He does right now. We have to get to know Him as He is! If you’ll approach Him with whatever problem you have, He wants to meet with you and help you! He will do whatever He has to do to rescue you! You can go right in to His presence, any time you want to, for any reason. You can seek Him whenever you want! Because He is your Father! You know you are growing when you go in to His presence and its not something for you, You are asking for bread for someone else.
“Give us day by day our daily bread.” Have you gone in to get your bread today? If you haven’t, you don’t have any for you, and you sure don’t have any for others! Go in the house where He is at and get what you need. He will give you anything you need, and enough for anyone that comes around you! Anything, spirit, soul, or body. You’ve got the bread, because you went in and got it! You can do nothing without Him. You won’t get the bread just because you are born again, you get it because you go into the house with the Father, DAILY, and you get it. All the trouble in your life is self-caused. You need God! We all do!
“I prepared a table for you in the presence of your enemies.” He knows what the devil has planned for you, days and months ahead of time. And He has prepared everything you need for that time in your life when you get there. If you’ll learn to come in and eat every day, when you leave the house, whatever the devil comes at you with, you have what you need to deal with it. He has already prepared the table. He will not take it out to you and stick it down your neck. You must meet Him at the table and eat. If you don’t eat, it is because of you, not anyone else. God wants a relationship with you! He wants you to know Him, and how He really is. He wants you to know how much He loves you and how much He wants to stop any pain or suffering. This is the God we serve. He knows everything, sees everything and can do anything.
When you get consistent about going to get your daily bread, you will start to feel invincible. You will feel free. He doesn’t bring this feeling to you just for you, but so that you can help other people too. We have friends that need bread. We have family that need bread. When you get on the inside, face to face, you will find what you ask, seek, and knock for. You’ll walk out with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the bread! When you walk out, the bread you’re carrying is the Holy Ghost! He takes the authority of your spirit and anoints it with His dominion. Then, you speak, and He does it. But He can’t do it if you don’t speak. God yearns to end all suffering and undo the works of Satan. He wants to restore better than it ever was before. He has the ability to do it! You want the results that Jesus got, you have to fix your perspective of the Father.