Luke 11:5-13: Encouragements to Pray

Jesus as the master-teacher on prayer knows that we have more than one problem with prayer, not knowing what to pray for; but we also have a problem in how we pray, our uncertainty in prayer. We all struggle with a lack of faith and that lack of faith will reflect in our praying. Our faith is small because our knowledge of God is small, we do not view Him as generous and willing. Our faith is small because our view of the gospel is small, therefore our sins loom large and we think God is unwilling to hear us, for we are unworthy. Jesus has taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, this is a masterful summary of what to pray for, but merely having the head knowledge of what to pray for does not make you a prayer warrior, so Jesus does not stop His teaching there. Knowing that we are timid in prayer, knowing that we have false views of God, knowing that we may be overwhelmed with our own unworthiness Christ gives further encouragements to pray in Luke 11:5-13. Jesus who knows the Father, who has His own intimate prayer life with the Father seeks to move us not only to prayer the correct things but with the right attitude, with confidence and boldness.

This section is divided up into three parts, there is the parable of the friend at midnight, v5-8; this leads to the statements about asking, seeking and knocking, v9-10; and this is followed by a contrast between evil fathers and our Heavenly Father, v11-13. These will be our three points, the parable, the statements, and the contrast.