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.