Learning How to Pray (Luke 11:1-4)

“It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. ‘Give us each day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” (Luke 11:1-4 NASB)

In Luke 11:1-4, Jesus teaches the disciple how to pray. This does not mean they were to memorize and repeat the prayer in verses 2-4; rather, it means they were to learn from it and allow it to instruct them in how to pray. The Bible is filled with many prayers (some from Jesus) that follow different patterns and use different words. This proves that Jesus’ goal here is to teach the disciples some praying fundamentals.

“Father, hallowed be Your name” (Luke 11:2). We must come to God as our Heavenly Father with hearts that desire Him to be glorified. We must approach God according to who He is. He is a loving Father who is full of grace and compassion. We must approach Him according to His revelation of Himself in the Bible. We must not come with selfish desires that seek our own glory. Our sole purpose must be the glory of God. With this purpose guiding our prayer, we are to come to God. This is what Matthew 6:33 NASB means when it says “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.”

“your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2). We must look forward to the coming of God’s kingdom. God’s Kingdom will ultimately come upon the return of Christ. Even now, however, it has come through the revelation of Christ, the gathering of the saints, and the building of the church.” It continues to come each time a person comes to faith in Christ, each time a sinner repents whole-heartedly, and every time believers continue to live lives of faith. Our hearts must not be set on this world. As 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NASB says, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (cf. Psalm 141:8; Heb 12:2).

“Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). Many times when people pray they want to have worldly comfort and security. We are told here to simply ask for daily bread (our immediate needs). We should not be looking for things that provide a false and worldly sense of security such as a certain job, money, etc. A prayer for only our daily bread is the ultimate selfless prayer; therefore, we must come to God in a selfless manner. We should consider our motives for praying. Take a look at Philippians 2:3-8.

“Forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). When we pray, we must remember our fallenness and our constant need for grace given that we are prone to sin (Rom 7:7-25).  Matthew 3:8 NASB says, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (cf. Luke 3:8). We must always maintain repentant hearts.

“For we also forgive everyone who sins against us” (Luke 11:4). When we go to God in faith asking and expecting forgiveness, we must not fail to forgive others (Matt 6:14). Forgiveness of others should be a consistent priority for us. We should commit ourselves to a life of forgiveness.

“And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:4). We must remember our potential to fall into sin. We must ask God to vigilantly lead us away from the things of the world that are bad for us. We must always seek his deliverance from the things that would lead us in the wrong direction.