Luke 11: How (and where) to Pray

We read Luke 11 and sit with Jesus’ model of prayer, his call to persistent faith, and his warning against a spirituality that looks clean on the outside but stays dark within. We also challenge ourselves to choose a “certain place” to meet with God so our private life with him shapes how we show up in the world. 
• Luke’s emphasis on the humanity of Jesus and why that makes him a trustworthy intercessor 
• The Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for daily dependence, forgiveness, and humility 
• Persistence in prayer through the midnight friend story and ask seek knock 
• Jesus’ response to accusations about Beelzebub and what it says about God’s kingdom 
• The sign of Jonah, the danger of sign-chasing, and the call to real obedience 
• The lamp and the eye as a warning about inner darkness and self-deception 
• Woes to Pharisees and experts in the law as a critique of hypocrisy and burdening others 
• The idea of a “certain place” to pray as a practical habit for spiritual formation 

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Transcript

Why Luke Stresses Jesus’ Humanity

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Hey, thanks for joining me on the Out Loud Bible podcast. This is Mike. We've been reading through the book of Luke, taking a chapter or two at a time here, and really leaning into what I believe is Luke's emphasis in writing this gospel account of Jesus. It's this idea of the humanity of Jesus. Not to take anything away from the fact that he is fully God, but Luke is emphasizing Jesus was a man. He was one of us humans. And as such, he felt the highs and the lows of the human experience. That allows him to be what he came to be, a priest, an intercessor, kind of an intermediary between us and God. Really the perfect one because he is both man and God. So we can trust him. We can look at his life as an example of what we can be like, and we can be like him, not perfectly, not fully yet. But in the meantime, we can have this constant example of how to be a human, that is trying to become closer and closer to God. Jesus gives us a way to do that and an example to follow, and that is what this life's about. The people closest to him saw this in Jesus and they wanted to follow his example. Sometimes they ask him straight up, hey, can you give us an example? And today's one of those times here in Luke 11.

The Lord’s Prayer And Daily Trust

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Let's read Luke 11 together here in the New English Translation. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. So he said to them, Well, when you pray, say, Father, may your name be honored. May your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. We also forgive everyone who sins against us. And do not lead us into temptation. Then he said to them, Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine has stopped here while on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. Then he will reply from inside, Don't bother me. The door's already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though the man inside will not get up and give him anything because he's his friend, yet because of the first man's sheer persistence, he will get up and give him whatever he needs. So I tell you, ask, and it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you, if your son asks for a fish, we'll give him a snake instead of a fish. Or if he asks for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion. If you

Persistence In Prayer Ask Seek Knock

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then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Now he was casting out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute began to speak, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, Well, by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons, he cast out demons. Others, to test him, began asking for a sign from heaven. But Jesus, realizing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and a divided household falls. So if Satan, too, is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? I ask you this because you claim that I cast out demons by Beelzebel. Now if I cast out demons by Beelzebel, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and conquers him, he takes away the first man's armor on which the man relied and divides up his plunder. Whoever's not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. So when an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest, but not finding any. And then it says, I'll return to the home I left. When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order, and then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last

Spiritual Conflict And A Divided Kingdom

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state of the person is worse than the first. But he replied, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it. As the crowds were increasing, Jesus began to say, This generation is a wicked generation. It looks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now something greater than Solomon is here. The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them, and now something greater than Jonah is here. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a hidden place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it's diseased, your body's full of darkness. Therefore see to it that the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part in the dark, it'll be as full of light as when the light of a lamp shines on you. And as he spoke, a Pharisee

Signs, Inner Light, And Real Obedience

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invited Jesus to have a meal with him, so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was astonished when he saw that Jesus didn't first wash his hands before the meal, but the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees, clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you're full of greed and wickedness. You fools, didn't the one who made the outside make the inside as well? But give from your heart to those in need, and then everything will be clean for you. But woe to you, Pharisees, you give a tenth of your mint, roux, and every herb, yet you neglect justice and love for God. You should have done these things without neglecting the others. Woe to you, Pharisees, you love the best seats in the synagogues and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it. One of the experts in religious law answered him, Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too. But Jesus replied,

Jesus Confronts Religious Hypocrisy

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Woe to you, experts in religious law as well. You load people down with burdens difficult to bear, and yet you yourselves refuse to touch the burdens with even one of your fingers. Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you testify that you approve of the deeds of your ancestors because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute, so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets and that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. Woe to you, experts in religious law. You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn't go in yourselves, and you hindered those who were going in. When he went out from there, the experts of the law and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, and to ask him hostile questions about many things, plotting against him to catch him in something he might say. Well, there are many things we could reflect on here in this chapter, and I certainly encourage you to go in and read it again and just ask what God would like to have you receive from this and chew on and act on, most importantly, to obey from what he said, because as Jesus said himself, the real blessed

Find Your Certain Place To Pray

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ones are those who hear the word of God and obey it. That was pretty funny how the woman was like, Oh, blessed is your mother. She raised such a nice boy, you're such a nice young man, your mother must be great. I I gotta take parenting lessons from your mother. And Jesus was like, No, no, no, no. The the the person who's truly blessed, more blessed than my mother, more blessed than Mary, the mother of God, is someone who just hears the word of God and obeys it. That's that's all I'm asking for. But I like to go back to uh the very first sentence in this chapter, chapter 11, verse 1, starts like this. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place. Of course, then it goes on to talk about how the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, because the way he prayed must have been like, wow, I've never heard anyone pray like that. Really, what examples did they have? The Pharisees, we've already known what Jesus thinks about the Pharisees' prayers. This was different. How do you how do you pray like that? What should we pray? But did you catch that he was praying in a certain place? I just want to ask, do you have a certain place that you pray? Not that there's anything magic or more holy about a certain place to pray. It doesn't have to do with your geography, it has much more to do with the your spiritual posture and the state of your heart and your your humility. But there's something powerful about a certain place where you go and you dedicate, this is the place where I want to go and talk to God. This is where I go, this is where I can expect to hear from Him, this is where I pour out my thoughts, this is where the floorboards are stained with tears a little bit, because I come here and I just lay it all out. Do you have a certain place? Because I believe when you have a certain place that you go to be with God, to pray, to ask for wisdom, guidance, to repent, you have a certain place where you go and you receive encouragement from God, where you share life with him and build your relationship. When you have a certain place like that, I believe you're going to be ready for the certain place that God will position you to have an impact in the world. Don't show up to a certain place in the world without having first established a certain place where you deal with God, where you talk with him, build that relationship with him. The real heart work is formed in a certain place. What's yours? That's the Thinking Out Loud thought for the day. Thanks for joining me here on the Out Loud Bible Podcast. Next time we're going to take a look at the next chapter, Luke chapter 12. We'll see you then.