Prayer 101 - #24 2 of 2 No Snakes or Scorpions

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11-13

The second lesson in this final teaching passage on prayer is to ask your loving Father for the Holy Spirit.

As one studies prayer in Luke 11, there is a beauty and a flow as Jesus began with a prayer, and followed it with a parable, which was followed by a promise and concluded with a postulate. But there is a twist in the final statement, which leaves the student in the school of prayer pondering. Why end this teaching on prayer with the specific example of receiving the Holy Spirit when you ask? Why not leave a broader ending similar to Matthew 7:11 where it says “...how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”? Here’s several reasons: (1) The promise to give the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer is presented to contrast and illustrate how our heavenly Father’s giving is far better than any earthly father could ever give his child. The passage begins with fish, snakes, eggs and scorpions and ends with the Holy Spirit. (2) The promise to give the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer is presented because the benefits of having the Holy Spirit are profound. We get comfort, help, encouragement, God’s love poured out in our hearts, boldness, joy and power, instruction and guidance concerning the truth, supernatural gifts to heal and prophesy and speak in tongues. We get God himself! We hit the jackpot!!! (3) Finally, the promise to give the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer is presented to remove any doubt regarding a prayer we can pray that our Father will answer.

Prayer 101 ends with God, our Father in heaven, giving the jackpot to his child who asks. He’s not going to give us a demon or something to hurt us and he’s not going to ignore us. With these things in mind…let us pray!!!!

Prayer 101 - #23 1 of 2 No Snakes or Scorpions

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11-13

These are the final 3 verses in this teaching passage (v. 1-13) on prayer. There are 2 prayer lessons here worthy of contemplation. The first is to approach God in prayer as your loving, caring Father; and the second is to ask your loving Father for the Holy Spirit. Let’s focus on the first lesson.

The context for this passage is that Jesus was responding to a disciple’s request to teach them to pray. Jesus asked them how they answer their son when he asks them for bread. Of course, they would always answer by giving their son bread not something that would harm or kill them. If a disciple, who is tainted with evil, can answer their son’s request in a good way, you can bet that your Father in heaven is going to do a far superior job in answering our requests. (As a side note, isn’t it impressive that Jesus taught about prayer with an illustration that is just as relevant and understandable 2,000 years later by anyone in any culture of the world. Try yourself to come up with a better illustration of how our loving Father answers the requests of his children.)

Jesus made it clear in his classroom on prayer that we need to develop the mindset from the outset that we are approaching our Father in heaven. The model prayer (v.2-4) begins with “Father in heaven”. The teaching passage on prayer ends with an illustration showing our Father in heaven’s supremacy over any father on earth when it comes to answering his child’s request. You can approach God as creator with the mindset that nothing is too difficult for him. You can approach him as Lord and King with the mindset that everything in the universe is ultimately subject to his will. But only when you approach him with the mindset of your Father in heaven do you know the tender and passionate love he has for you and his attentiveness to your requests.

Prayer 101 - #21 A.S.K.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10

Now that Jesus has instructed us regarding the elements of prayer and the attitude of prayer, he finishes his instruction with the promise of prayer. The promise of prayer is in the context of praying according to the elements of the Lord’s prayer (Lk 11:2-4; Mt 6:9-13) and praying with shameless audacity (Lk 11:5-8). The promise contains 3 action verbs concerning prayer.

1. Asking - Jesus instructed us to ask God for: his kingdom to come and for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven; our daily bread; forgiveness; to lead us in a way that doesn’t bring us face to face with temptation; deliverance from evil and from the evil one.

2. Seeking - Jesus instructed us whom to seek…our Father in heaven. He taught us what to seek in our asking…the hallowing of God’s name. He taught us when to seek…”give us today our daily bread”. We are to seek God even at unusual hours (“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight…”). He taught us how to seek when he taught us to pray “our Father”, “give us this day our daily bread”, and “lead us not into temptation”. It is a “family” effort. Jesus taught us why to seek when he tells the story of a man seeking bread on behalf of his traveling friend who needs it.

3 Knocking - Jesus instructs us regarding an apparent barrier to prayer…the door. The asker/seeker and the provider are on opposing sides of the door. There may be a perceived resistance on behalf of the provider in opening the door. Keep knocking. Don’t be discouraged. Knock at midnight. Knock with shameless audacity. Jesus stands at the door of the lukewarm church and knocks in Revelation 3 inviting anyone to open it. He keeps knocking. He doesn’t knock the door down, he respects it as a barrier that only the person on the other side can open. This is illustrative of the “knocking” aspect of prayer.

What is the outcome of asking, seeking and knocking? “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”