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Class Jesus on Prayer: Jesus Teaches Us How We Should Pray – Part 2

January 12, 2025

Class Series:

The longer we pray, the more Almighty God by the power of the Spirit, warms our spiritually cold hearts by his divine purposes and his desires become our desires.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Today we will look at various heart demeanors Jesus taught concerning prayer.

The basic concept here is that our heart state is even more important than the words we speak.

Seven key hearts states for prayer:

·      Faith: spiritual perception; truly believing God will give what you ask

·      Boldness: not being ashamed to bring a God-sized request

·      Perseverance: never giving up

·      Humility: recognizing your own smallness and sinfulness

·      Intimacy: drawing close in love to your heavenly Father

·      Fervency: fire and passion

·      Clarity: knowing what you want and speaking it to God

I. The Heart of Prayer

For prayer to be genuine, it must flow from the heart… that is, the core of our being

A. Jesus Highlighted the Heart in Worship

Matthew 15:7-9  You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:  8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'”

B. Jesus’ Teaching Focused on the Heart

1. He pronounces blessedness on certain heart states in people

Matthew 5:3-8  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

a. “poor in spirit” = spirit beggars, those with nothing to offer

b. “mourn” = truly grieved over their sinfulness

c. “meek” = genuinely humble because of their sinfulness

d. “hunger and thirst for righteousness” = righteousness is what they want the most and know they lack

e. “merciful” = seeing the suffering around them and deeply concerned about it; willing to show mercy to people who have sinned against them

f. “pure in heart” = not hypocrites; not ceremonially washing their hands while doing all manner of evil in their minds

2. Sin starts in the heart… so salvation must as well

Matthew 5:21-22  You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.

Matthew 5:27-28  You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’  28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 15:18-20  the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’  19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.'”

3. Genuine prayer is a reflection of the heart

Matthew 12:34-35  out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

C. Key commands connected with prayer

Matthew 22:37-40  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  38 This is the first and greatest commandment.  39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

True prayer is a fulfillment of these two great commandments.

II. Faith

Jesus often highlighted the need for faith in prayer. Faith is the ability to see the infinite power that God possesses, combined with a clear understanding of what God is doing in the world.

A. Clear Statements

Matthew 21:18-22  Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.  19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.  20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.  21 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Mark 11:22-24  “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.  23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Luke 17:5-6   The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”  6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

B. Examples of faith receiving blessing

1. The woman with the bleeding problem

Mark 5:25-34  a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.  26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.  27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”  29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.  30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”  31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?'”  32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

2. The sinful woman

Luke 7:36-50  Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.  37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,  38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is– that she is a sinner.”  40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.  41 “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”  43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.  44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.  46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.  47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven– for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”  48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”  49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”  50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

3. The centurion and the paralyzed servant

Matthew 8:5-13  When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.  6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”  7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”  8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.  9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

4. The four men with their paralyzed friend

Mark 2:3-5  Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.  4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.  5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

5. The Syrophoenician woman and her demon-possessed daughter

Matthew 15:25-28  The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.  26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”  27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

C. Example of faithless prayer

Matthew 17:14-20  When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him.  15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.  16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”  17 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”  18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.  19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”  20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

D. Mountain-moving faith

1. We have seen several examples of overwhelmingly grand statements on the power of faith in prayer

a. A mountain moved… from here to there or thrown into the heart of the sea

b. A mulberry tree uprooted and planted in the sea

2. Why? Because Christ wants us to recognize the limitless power of God and ask accordingly

Isaiah 40:22-31  He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.  23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.  24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.  25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.  26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.  27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”?  28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;  31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

E. Keep in Mind: Faith Includes Seeing What God is Doing and Asking Accordingly

Genuine faith-filled prayer is not giving God a new idea or persuading him to do something he had previously rejected. It is discerning what God has already willed to do but hasn’t done yet.

Strong faith involves applying the knowledge of God’s nature and character to that issue with absolute certainty that God has power to do what he has promised to do.

1 John 5:14-15  This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  15 And if we know that he hears us– whatever we ask– we know that we have what we asked of him.

Jesus spoke of the Father “showing him what he was doing”:

John 5:20-21  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.  21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

F. Total confidence in God

Romans 4:19-21  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead– since he was about a hundred years old– and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,  21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Mark 11:23-24  I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

An aside on mountains moving:

Human beings have developed amazing earth-moving equipment, and have levelled mountaintops over years of projects. The largest earth-moving projects include the Suez Canal (105 million cubic yards), the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (310 million cubic yards… or 100 million dump truck loads), the Panama Canal (300 million cubic yards). The Nicaragua Canal is planned to be by far the largest in history: 5 billion cubic yards removed.

A perfectly conical-shaped mountain 10,000 feet high would be approximately 116 billion cubic yards. That would take a long time for man to move it!

The building of the Kingdom of Christ from 120 believers in Jerusalem to the hundreds of millions worldwide is a greater work.

III. Boldness

A. The Parable

Luke 11:1  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.” …

Luke 11:5-13  Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,  6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’  7 “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’  8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.  9 “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.  10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  13 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!”

B. The “How Much More” Argument

1. Note the “how much more” statement…

2. Like the Parable of the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge

3. God is much more likely to answer your prayers than an earthly (sinful) father and an unjust judge… or a friend a midnight

C. What is the “Boldness” of the Neighbor?

1. The time and circumstances: it is MIDNIGHT… and the friend and his family are all in bed with the door locked

2. Jesus highlights the man’s boldness as the reason why he will give him what he needs

3. In a simple sense, if the man keeps pounding on the door and begging the neighbor, he will get up and give him his request just to get rid of him!!

4. The word “boldness” is striking… it is too tame in the NIV

5. Look at the ESV:

Luke 11:8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

It’s like “How dare you???”

6. The word

Anaideia = “shamelessness”

a sense of shame or honor, modesty, bashfulness, reverence, regard for others, respect

KJV 1 Timothy 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety

A Devotional I Wrote on this Parable:

So let us consider this shocking attribute of powerful prayer: shamelessness. The more I pondered this idea, the richer it became. The clearest example in the Bible of a shameless request granted by the Lord is that made by the thief on the cross. He had no standing, nothing to offer, no good works. He was a convicted criminal who readily acknowledged that he was getting what his deeds deserved by being crucified. But somehow, he had the shamelessness to ask, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come in your kingdom.” This is the essence of being a spiritual beggar as Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (spiritual beggars), for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The thief on the cross asked boldly and was granted infinitely more than he asked or imagined: “Today (and for all eternity) you will be with me in paradise.” Similarly, we see blind Bartimaeus, who cried out loudly, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” When the crowd and those leading the way tried to hush him because he was making a scene, he shouted out even louder, “Lord, have mercy on me!” A clear example of shamelessness, since he was willing to break all decorum to get an audience with Jesus.

So what’s shameless about these requests? It has to do with our actual standing before God. When King Saul was pursuing David, hunting him down to kill him, David called out to Abner, the commander of Saul’s army. Abner asked, “Who are you who calls to the king?” (1 Sam. 26:14) Indeed! Who are we who calls to the King of kings and Lord of lords? Who are we to approach the throne that rules a trillion galaxies? Who are we to call out to the God who dwells in unapproachable light? Even if we had been as morally pure as the angels, we would have no standing. The seraphim cover their faces in his presence. But we, we are not pure. We have rebelled against the very God we are approaching to make this request. We deserve to be consumed by his fiery wrath. Therefore, any angel surrounding heaven’s throne could play Abner’s part and say, “Who are you who calls to the king?” The honest answer would be, “A recently repentant rebel who has never done any pure act of service to God.” That angel could rightly ask, “Have you no shame? On what basis will you make such a request?”

But the answer comes by faith: “Jesus Christ has taken away my shame and given me the standing of an adopted child of God. In and of myself, I would be covered in shame. But in Christ, and in Christ alone, do I make this request. Jesus has commanded me to come boldly, and so I come.” Dear friend, pray shamelessly, boldly, like the friend at midnight. Don’t let anything make you hesitate.

D. “And Can It Be”

No condemnation now I dread
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine
Alive in Him, my living Head
And clothed in righteousness divine
Bold I approach the eternal throne
And claim the crown, through Christ my own

IV. Perseverance

A. The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Luke 18:1-8  Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men.  3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’  4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men,  5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!'”  6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

B. Other Translation of the Introduction

ESV Luke 18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

KJV Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

C. Walking Through the Parable

1. Again, the “how much more” argument… the extremely wicked judge: “Neither feared God nor cared about people”

2. If such a judge gets worn down eventually and gives the widow what he wants, how much more will God give his children what they ask for?

3. What does the widow ask for? Justice against her adversary

4. What does Jesus promise? Justice for the persecuted children of God who cry out to him day and night

5. Jesus ends by appealing to faith… challenging all his disciples to faith

D. Key Questions:

Why does God make us wait for answers he eventually gives?

What causes us to give up in prayer?

What is gained by people who persevere in prayer over years and years and eventually receive what they have asked for? What does that process do to their souls?

E. George Mueller on Waiting on God in Prayer

There remains one thing more–that we continue to wait on God till the answer comes.  Here we frequently break down.  We begin well, but we do not go on.

If month after month, and year after year, we have been praying, and our petitions have not been granted, the thought comes, Will God answer?  Many break down because the petition is not granted so quickly as they expected.  Parents pray for their children.  They begin to do so; but we should never forget that we have to continue, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, until the answer comes.  For God knows the best time for us, and He will in His own time give us our requests.  It may be for the trial of our faith, or of our patience, or to see if we are in earnest, that He waits.  For these and other reasons the petitions may not be answered so quickly as we desire.

Young workers ask God for the conversion of many souls.  They go on praying and preaching, but do not get answers.  It may be that they are not prepared for the blessing.  If their petitions were granted, it might be an injury to their souls.  Therefore He waits till they are prepared to receive the blessing.  So with Sunday School teachers.  They ask God for good things for their children, yet do not receive the answer.  Now let us go on, and patiently, quietly wait on the Lord.  The blessing most assuredly will come.

Now, are we all in the habit of thus going on patiently, perseveringly, month after month, and year after year, waiting on God?  Then let us set out afresh with renewed earnestness and faith.  To all our petitions, if they have been according to the will of God, and in the name of the Lord Jesus, and with faith in the willingness of God to give what we have asked, the answers must come.  I have myself had to wait for a long time to get certain blessings.  In many instances the answer has come instantaneously, or in the same hour, or the same day; yet in other things I have had to wait years—ten years, fifteen years, twenty years, and upwards—yet invariably at the last the answer has come.  And I say it to encourage my brethren and sisters in Christ, Go on waiting, waiting, waiting.  Begin afresh to bring your petitions before God.  He will hear you.  For one thing I have been praying for thirty-nine years and nine months, and the answer has not yet come.  Last evening I prayed for it, and the evening before last I prayed again.  When traveling in India and America, year after year I have been praying and I am sure that in the end the answer will come.  I have received tens of thousands of answers to prayer, but in this particular I have to wait.  For the conversion of the parents of one friend I prayed and the answer came when the father was between eighty and ninety years old.  This very individual had cast off his son entirely; for years he did not allow him to come into his presence.  At last he sent for him, and then would scarcely allow him to go out of his sight; yet for twenty years I had to pray for his conversion.  So with the mother.

Therefore, begin afresh with greater earnestness than ever, and you will receive the answers at last.  The Lord delights to bless His children, to give them everything that is for their blessing and comfort; and especially does He delight to bless parents in praying for their children.

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