Today, we are concluding our message series “Praying with Jesus.” In this series, we’ve looked in detail at each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. If you’re putting what you learned into practice, I can assure you that you are praying more powerful and effective prayers.
Today, my message is entitled “Passionate Prayer.” We’re going to be looking at another teaching of Jesus on the Lord’s Prayer found in Luke 11 that gives us further insight into prayer. What is passionate prayer? First, let’s look at what passionate prayer is not. Passionate prayer is not prayer where you can barely keep awake while you’re praying. Passionate prayer is not prayer where you’re thinking about something else while the words of prayer come from your mouth. Passionate prayer is not prayer done because you feel guilty, but you’d rather be doing something else. To see what passionate prayer is, let’s look at …
James 5:16b-17 (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
In this series, we are learning to pray powerful and effective prayers. James uses the prophet Elijah as an example of someone who prayed powerful prayers. In case, someone thinks that God no longer works as He did in the days of the Bible, James says that “Elijah was a man just like us.” He was no different in nature than people today. In other words, you and I can pray just as powerfully as Elijah did. God has not changed in the last 2000 years. Prayer still works. Elijah was a righteous man, righteous, not perfect. He lived according to God’s Word and he believed God. You and I can do the same. What did Elijah do? He prayed earnestly, fervently, passionately and miracles happened. First it didn’t rain and then it did rain. Elijah’s prayer controlled the weather for God’s purposes.
God wants your prayers to be passionate. He wants you to care about what you pray for. He wants you to believe that He is going to answer your prayers. He wants you to get emotionally involved in your prayers. Jesus wants to teach us today about passionate prayer.
Luke 11:1 (NIV) One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
On this occasion, the disciples heard and saw Jesus praying. When He was done, the disciples wanted to pray in the same way. So they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. As Jesus taught them, He is able to teach those who want to learn today. Here, Jesus gave them a slightly shortened version of the Lord’s Prayer which will serve us today as a summary of what we’ve learned in this series.
Luke 11:2-4 (NIV) He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
So let’s review. A good pattern of prayer is to begin with … Worshiping your heavenly Father, seeking to honor His name. Then we pray for the kingdom of God to come in and through our lives. Next we ask God to meet our needs of the day. Importantly, we ask for forgiveness of our sins and forgive others. Finally, we ask for God’s protection from falling into temptation in the future. In Jesus’ teaching in Luke 11, He goes on to expand on how we should pray, what I call passionate prayer.