Lord, Teach Us to Pray — Carter Conlon

The Disciples Ask Jesus to Teach Them to Pray

My message this morning is simply, Lord, teach us to pray. Luke chapter 11. Please, if you'll go there, Luke chapter 11. And Father, I thank you, God, with all my heart. I bless you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, you are guiding us somewhere. You're leading us as your people. You're leading many who are part of the body of Christ in this generation to something of you that will give us strength to make a difference in this darkened time we live in.

Help us to hear this. God Almighty, help us to lay hold of this truth. Help us not to push it away and be found powerless in the days in which we live. I pray for an anointing from heaven. Lord, expand the borders of my understanding.

Give me this word in the way that you want it spoken to your people. Deliver me from my own thoughts on this topic and give me, Lord God, what is in your word and from your mind. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, we need you more than we've ever needed you before.

We need your strength, your power, your guidance, your grace, Lord. We need everything that you have for us in this generation. Lord God Almighty, let your church be victorious in this final hour of history.

Raise us up, oh God, and give us the strength that you promised to give us as we turn to you with all of our hearts. Anoint this word, God, anoint the ears to hear it. We ask it in Jesus' name. Luke chapter 11, verse one of Lord teach us to pray says it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place.

When he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Now it's interesting, this question comes as they are most likely within earshot and certainly they can visibly see the type of prayer that he is undertaking at this moment.

And although the disciples would not be strangers to prayer itself, there had to be something that stirred in their hearts that said, prayer is more than we have made it. Prayer is more than we've come to understand that it is.

Now they're not strangers. They've attended the temple. They've gone to prayer meetings as they were prone to do in those times. They're actually walking with Jesus Christ, the son of God. They would have prayed before meals.

They would have had a measure of prayer after meals. They would have prayed along their journey. But as they saw him go into a certain place, a place which they knew they were not part of that place. And I can see the disciples getting together and saying, you ask him, no, you ask him.

What is it? There's something in his prayer. There's something in the words that he's speaking that we don't know anything about. It's deeper than we've understood. And have you ever felt that way in your heart?

I know I have over the years. You get up from your knees even after a season of prayer and there's an inner frustration to say, my prayers are not what they should be. They're not as deep as they ought to be.

What is the element that's missing in me? And so they cry out to him as you and I must because of the hour that we're living in now and say, Lord, teach us to pray. I wanna know how to pray. I wanna know what you want me to pray.

I wanna know how long you want me to pray. I wanna know everything about prayer because there's a prayer that's human in its own effort. Then there's a prayer that's divine. There's a prayer that, there's a type of prayer that lays hold of God.

There's a prayer like John Knox in Scotland who stands up on a mountaintop and says, God, give me Scotland or I die. And suddenly people are coming out of their homes into the streets under the conviction of God.

I don't know about you, but I want that kind of prayer. I want something deeper than a list that I go into God's presence with every day. Bless my home, bless my finances, bless my mother, bless my father, bless my children.

I don't know about you, but I want prayer that can move men to God. I want prayer that can bring the church of Jesus Christ back to life again. I want the kind of prayer that God spoke to Ezekiel when he said, call out to the breath of God and call out to God to breathe upon these bones and raise up that which has died and raise it back to life again.

That's the kind of prayer I want in my heart and in my life. Teach us to pray. And so he goes on and he begins to teach them. He says, when you pray, say our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Understanding the Lord's Prayer and Our Relationship With God

Now I've read the books, I've gone to the seminars. I've even listened to the speakers that claimed they had some kind of a divine key to unlock strength in prayer. Honestly, before you, I have never personally preached or heard a message on these verses of scripture that has ever stirred my heart.

I've been left always with a sense of, it's fine, all of these elements are fine and they're all true and they all came from the mouth of Jesus, but it doesn't seem to answer the question. Lord, teach us to pray.

And when you look at it, here's what Jesus is teaching his disciples. When he says our father, in other words, you have to understand that you are now in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. You have a right, you know that this morning.

You have a right, I have a right to stand before the throne of God and make my petitions known by virtue of the relationship I have with him through Jesus Christ. Which art in heaven. You and I have to understand his ways are higher than our ways.

His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He lives in a place of absolute and total victory. There is no defeat in God. There's no possibility of defeat in God. Hallowed be thy name. In other words, your word can be trusted.

Your thoughts can be understood. Your ways are just and they're right and they're true. And you will never speak something to my heart that is deficient. Your words can be trusted to me. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

It's a type of saying, God, I recognize that the way things are in your heart and in your mind is the way it should be on earth. And so Lord, I have this inner desire to see your kingdom come in glory and in power to see your will done on the earth as it is in heaven.

Then it goes on, give us this day our daily bread. That means that God will give us our provision as we ask him for it, acknowledge basically that he's our provider and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.

And technically that means that you and I are ambassadors of a kingdom of forgiveness. And so it's imperative that we forgive others. Otherwise we cannot adequately represent the forgiveness of God on the earth.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. It's a recognition that we're not smart enough to get through this on our own. If you are, I'd love to talk with you sometime because I'm not, every one of our hearts is capable of leading us astray.

We can go into things that we think are God or godly. We can follow a path that's of our own making. We can even create a voice inside of our mind. This is God speaking to you. I'm telling you to go here to go do that.

It's generally our own voice. We are deceptive to the core of our beings and we can actually create what we think is the leading of God, but it's the leading of our own heart. And there's a recognition in this teaching of Jesus that don't lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge me and I will direct your path. Don't assume that the pathway you're on is right even though it might look right in your sight because the scripture says there's a way that looks right unto man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.

Moving From Self-Focused Prayer to Intercession

And so here we generally end this teaching on prayer. We go to our seminars and we start, we buy the books and we start quoting all of this, but I saw something in this portion, the first three verses of his teaching.

It's largely self-focused. It acknowledges who God is, which is of primary importance when we pray. But if you'll notice, it's all about give us, forgive us, indebted to us, lead us and deliver us. It's technically me, me, me, me, me.

Now it's necessary. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Jesus taught it. When we come to God, we have to know who he is. We have to know that he's a provider for us every day as we need it. We have to know that we are forgiven so that we can become the ambassadors of forgiveness.

We have to know that God is faithful to protect us even from ourselves and from every weapon of evil that is ever formed against us. We have to have that assurance in our hearts. But that's only, I see that as a preliminary thing to what prayer, where the real power of prayer is found.

And you're gonna find it in the next verses from five to 13. And he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him.

And I want you to see the transition here. Once you are completely at rest in who God is and you're completely trusting in his provision, completely trusting that he will keep you and you will not be overwhelmed by evil, then there's a shift that should take place in our prayer.

It's now not about us anymore, it's now about somebody else. It's now prayer that is focused on others. A friend of mine has come to me, it's midnight and I don't have enough to set before him. Now I don't know about you, but that's my prayer now.

I came down 52nd coming to the church this morning and Lady Gaga is singing next door here in the Roseland. And you look at the people, I see they use condoms on the street as we walked to our apartment this morning over here.

And you look at the people that are hanging out in front and you realize it's midnight. This is a dark time in our world. It's a dark time in our society. It's a dark time in America. It's a dark time around the world.

Everything as we know it is moving into this last and final rebellion against all the ways of a holy God. And I know that in myself, I don't have sufficient resources to meet the need that's out there.

I'm not gonna quote some scripture at these young kids out there and it's gonna make all the difference in their life. There's a chance it might work for one, but generally for the populace it won't. And so I don't know about you, but I'm going to the throne of God and I'm gonna knock and I'm gonna say, Lord, it's midnight.

And a friend of mine, these are not my enemies. I don't fight against flesh and blood. If Jesus loves them, then they're my friends. Whether or not they're inside or outside the kingdom of God, they're still my friends until the day Christ comes and makes that separation between the saved and the lost.

And I go to the throne of God and say, it's midnight. And folks, it's midnight, Genesis 12. It was at midnight, the angel of death swept over the nation of Egypt and killed all the firstborn. In other words, took away the strength, took away the future, the hope, the joy of the land was gone.

There's a city in the UK right now where all the young people gravitate there on the weekend just to see who can get drunk first, who can go out in the street and fall in the ditch in their own vomit.

There's hundreds of young people now just laying in the streets. It's a dark time. The strength of the nations are being taken away right before our eyes. Folks, the strength of this nation is dissolving right before our very eyes.

It's midnight. The enemy is sweeping over the land and taking our children and destroying the strength of this and other nations throughout the world. It was at midnight where the shipmen that Paul was traveling with in Acts chapter 27 began to sound for the depths that they were in as they knew they were in a storm that was far beyond their control.

And they knew they were heading for a certain land, but they didn't know what the land was going to look like when they land there. And we are now in that kind of a storm, even as a nation in this country.

We are heading to somewhere, but nobody can say for sure what this nation is going to look like three, four, five years from now. If we continue on the same trajectory, we know that things are beginning to fall apart.

It's midnight right now. It's a difficult time. It's at midnight that Jesus said in Matthew chapter 25 that there's going to be a cry coming to people's hearts. Behold, the bridegroom comes, God to meet him.

And I don't know about you, but that cry is coming into my heart now. I sense the nearness of Jesus. God is at work now in the world. The world is moving into rebellion, a rebellion unprecedented perhaps in the history of the world, but God's at work.

And I sense the nearness of the coming of Christ. Oh God, my heart is alive with this call inside. And I'm aware that the window of opportunity to win people to him is short. It was at midnight that Paul and Silas in the book of Acts were in an inner prison in Acts chapter 16.

And in that inner prison, they began to pray. And when they began to pray, they started to worship. And when they started to worship, there was a great earthquake and the prison foundations were shaken and the doors of all the prisons opened and everyone's bands were loosed.

I happen to believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you and I can learn how to pray like that, you can be sure that they were praying for more than just forgive us our sins and give us our daily bread and lead us not into temptation.

Although that could have been an introductory part of their prayer, I happen to believe that Paul and Silas, when they prayed, they said it's midnight because it was midnight. And there's a need here that's much greater than us.

Friends have been set before us and these friends are in prison. These friends are shackled. These friends are hopeless. And God has entrusted us with the inner prison. And they began to pray. And I know exactly what they were praying.

You've got to give us the strength now to make a difference. You've got to put something within us that is going to cause heaven to begin to move and hell to begin to shake. And God responds by putting a song inside of them.

And when they began to worship God for hearing them and for answering their cry of their hearts and the privilege they had for being thrust into that place of despair, along with those that had no helper, then everything began to shake and miracles started to happen.

And even that dirty old Philippian jailer came to the Lord Jesus Christ, he and his whole house. Oh, thank God, thank God, thank God for prayer. Lord, teach us to pray. God, teach us to pray. He says at midnight, he goes to his friend's door and says, friend, lend me three loaves.

Compassion, Courage, and the Holy Spirit as the Three Loaves

Now, Jesus never just throws out a random number. There's a purpose to this. I don't know anybody who can eat three loaves of bread in one sitting. According to this, he has a friend that's coming. He's asking for three loaves of bread.

So what really is he talking about here? Now, I can only give you what I think it's speaking to my heart. You may see this in a different way, but I see the compassion of God the Father in this because the scripture says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I see the compassion of the father. I see the courage of the son. When Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane and said, if it'd be possible, my father, take this cup from me, nevertheless, not what I will, but what you want from my life.

We need the compassion of God. It's the compassion of God that will bring us out of living for ourselves. It's the compassion of God that will cause us to move away from saying, give us bread, give us deliverance, give us forgiveness, give us all of these things and keep us from evil.

No, we'll pray that, but we'll move beyond that because of the compassion of God. And when we move beyond the compassion of God, we move into the courage of the son. You and I need courage now to face this generation.

We're not gonna be able to face it in natural strength. We need supernatural strength to do the will of God and to go out in the marketplace in the season in which we live and to speak words to a hostile generation that are hell bent on resisting their own salvation.

You and I are going to need courage to stand up for Jesus Christ. We're going to need courage to stand up against this tsunami of evil that's coming against our society today. Thank God, but there's a third loaf and that's the power of God's Holy Spirit that he promises to give to those who belong to Christ and are willing to engage in the work of God on the earth.

I am willing to engage in that work. I'm not going into the prayer closet anymore just concerned with my own needs. No, I'm concerned about the needs of this generation. I'm concerned about the church in this hour in which we're living and I'm concerned.

And I say, God, give me compassion, give me courage and give me the power of the Holy Spirit. That is what the early church prayed for. What do you think they were praying for when they went into the upper room?

The Upper Room and Empowerment for Witness

Christ is dead. Physically speaking, he's dead according to the society around them. The disciples know he's been raised from the dead but the whole society thinks they're finally rid of Christ. People are not in a good mood.

They're not in the mood for hearing about Judeo-Christian truth. They're just simply not in the mood for it. As a matter of fact, they're getting very hostile towards it. And these 120 people went in the upper room and I know exactly what they prayed.

This is a midnight hour for the nation of Israel. We've been overpowered by a foreign entity. Our culture, our value system has been destroyed. They think they have triumphed over Christ. But oh God, you've called us to make a difference.

So now I ask you, Father, in Jesus' name, I ask you for the compassion of God to come into my heart. I ask you, Lord, that I don't see men and women as trees walking any longer, but I see them as that which is created in your image, eternal and loved by you, passionately loved by you to the point where you would go to a cross to bring every man, woman, and child home again to you.

I need courage, oh God, for left to myself, I would find a safe haven. I'd stay there until you come, until all this passes over. But oh God, I need courage to leave the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus did and to go into the marketplace.

God, give us courage. God, give us courage. We can't be quiet anymore. We can't be silent any longer. We have to speak. We know the truth. We don't have just an opinion about eternal life. We have the truth about eternal life.

There is no other way. There is no other word. There is no other name. There is no other redemption. There is no other heaven, but the one that God has provided through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

And God, give us power. God, take our lives and make a difference through us. Oh Jesus, Son of God, give us the power of the Holy Spirit. Baptize us, oh God. You told us that if we would tarry, that if we would pray, you would fill us with your Holy Spirit and we would become witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and throughout the uttermost parts of the world.

As the pastor of Times Square Church, I now begin to pray. God, you've given us a worldwide prayer meeting. People are coming in live from over a hundred nations. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Oh God, give us your power.

Give us your power. Move us, Lord, away from ourselves. Move us, Lord, from our own concerns. Move us away from worrying about who's gonna pay the rent. Move us, move us, move us, God. Move us into that which is concerned about what you are concerned about.

We are saved, they are not. Oh God, move us. And when they prayed, as always happened, the place where they were gathered was shaken. The Holy Spirit came as a rushing mighty wind. They were filled with the Spirit of God.

And every man was now given the power to communicate the mysteries of God to people of every culture, every country, every language, every nation. And with the compassion of God, knowing that they would go to a cross, many of them, most of them died for what they believed, but knowing it was gonna cost their lives, they came out of that upper room and went into the marketplace.

Glory to the name of Jesus. With the courage of Christ, they were yielded to the purpose of God. Every man, every woman prophesying what God was about to do through their lives and what he was going to accomplish in the earth.

Glory to the name of Jesus. Glory to the name of God. And their lives became a visible demonstration of the power of God. They were speaking to people in other cultures. They were given the ability to cross these cultural lines and cross these skin barriers and cross all the economic and social resistance that the devil has built into this world.

As the Tower of Babel caused division, the Holy Spirit brought it all back together again. And 120 people changed the whole known world of their day, even affecting the Roman Empire. Yes, some died in the arena and many were imprisoned and others were mocked and had trials, cruel trials, but they handed to us a litany and history of what God can do.

Expecting End-Time Victory Rather Than Merely Holding the Fort

And now we find ourselves at the end of history. This was the beginning and now we find ourselves at the end. But I don't know about you, but I happen to believe with all my heart that the best wine is saved for the end of the feast.

I believe that. I believe that the glory of the latter temple is greater than the former. I believe that the church of Jesus Christ is not called of God to hang, hold the fort and go out with a whimper.

I believe we're a victorious church. I believe we should be salt and light in our society. I believe that everywhere we go, people should be forced to deal with the Holy God because the presence of Christ is within us.

The compassion of God is in our hearts. The willingness to be laid down for something which is eternal is found inside of us. The glory of Christ is our portion and is our life. I believe that with all my heart.

Persistent Asking, Seeking, and Knocking for Others

Now he goes on and I'll finish with these few verses of scripture. And he said, and he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not, the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed and I cannot rise and give thee.

And this is the argument that we will always have to fight against. Oh, that was for them. They needed that, but we don't today. Now who in the world is ever gonna believe that? They had 120 people that changed the whole known world.

We can have 120 churches in every small town in America. We can't even change our communities. We need everything they had. And I say to you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as much as he needs.

In other words, I'll give you all that you need. And it's importunity means he simply won't go away. I know this generation needs bread. I don't have a sufficient supply. My knowledge is not good enough.

My strength will fail me. My compassion is too meager. My courage is conditional. I don't have the measure of the Holy Ghost I need for this generation. And so I know you have it and I'm not leaving until I get it.

That's what he's saying. That's the kind of prayer he's looking for. That's the other side. That's why every time I heard a seminar on the Lord's prayer it left me so dry because that's just part A of what Jesus was teaching.

We move into part B where I'm standing at the door saying, I have my supply. I have my protection. I am forgiven. I am an ambassador of forgiveness. I believe that you'll keep me. But oh God, this generation, I don't have enough of what I need to make a difference in this generation.

But I know that you do. And I'm not going away until I get it. And then he says, and I say to you, this is the teaching now. This is the culmination of everything he's been saying. And I say to you, ask, but it's in the context of standing at the door and knocking and saying, I know you have it.

I know it's mine. And I need it for a stranger. I'm not asking for myself. I'm asking for somebody else. You died for these people. I know you walk in victory. I know you triumphed over the grave. I know you send the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

And so I'm not going away until you give me what I need for them. I'm not leaving. I'm gonna get a hold of it. I'm gonna walk in it. My God, if the world needs another evangelist, I'm gonna be the next evangelist.

Oh God, you're gonna make a difference through my life. I say to you, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be open to you. But it's in the context of refusing to be denied.

It's in the context of saying, I'm not going away. I'm not going, I'm not coming tonight to pray for myself. I'm coming to pray for somebody else. And I need what you've got for me so that I can make a difference in that person's life.

For everyone, everyone, everyone that asks receives. How many? Everyone, everyone. Not just a few superstars, not just the occasional Elijah or Elijah. Everyone, that means you. Everyone who asks receives.

God says, I will not withhold from you. And he that seeks finds. And to him that knocks, it shall be opened. Everyone receives. He who seeks finds. And to him that knocks, it shall be open. If a son asks bread of any of you that is a father, will you give him a stone?

If he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will you offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, that's in reference to God, in comparison to God, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

But it's not a, you wanna notice here, it's not a casual asking. When they went in the upper room, they were not casually asking God for his Holy Spirit because they knew to step out of that door could mean their deaths.

They were moving into a hostile marketplace. They were overwhelmed. The odds were against them. But the odds are never against God. When they knew there was a promise, they would be witnesses. They could have no way of knowing that what they were about to do was going to affect the whole known world.

Have you ever thought that God maybe, just maybe, is willing to do that again? How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? I need everything now that God has for me.

I need everything. And I'm unashamed to ask for it. I have a compassion, but not as deep as I need. I have courage in measure, but it's small compared to what I'm going to need for the days ahead. And I need the Holy Spirit more than I've ever needed him in my lifetime because it's midnight and a friend of mine has come in his need.

And I don't have what I need yet to set before him. But by God's grace, I will. I will, because I'm not going away. I'm not going to settle down somewhere. I'm going to stay at the door of God until it opens.

Thank God. Lord told me this morning to put away my notes and preach from his heart. And I have, I have this morning. This is a lot different than what my notes were, but it's God speaking now. And I want everything that Jesus has for me.

Praying for Boldness and the Miraculous in Acts

Church as usual will not affect this generation. We need the miraculous again in our midst. We need to pray as they did in Acts chapter four. Jesus, you see the threatenings, stretch out your hand and heal and fill us with your spirit that we may have boldness to speak your word.

The scripture says the place where they were was shaken. The Holy Spirit came and they spoke the word of God with boldness and a compassion just exploded in all of their hearts. That's the measure. That's the work of the spirit of God.

Altar Call for Compassion, Courage, and Spiritual Power

I want to give an altar call this morning and we're going to spend some time in worship this morning while we respond. But it's for everyone that's heard this word today and in your heart, you can just agree with the scriptural text and say, I need these three loaves.

I need the compassion of God because I don't really care the way I should. I don't really see people the way I should see them. I need the courage of Christ because it's going to take courage to stand for Christ in this generation.

I need the courage to stop living for myself and start living for the benefit of others. I need courage to do that because that's really where this prayer leads to. The beginning of the teaching on prayer is about ourselves and then it shifts to living for the benefit of others.

And I need the power of the Holy Spirit. I've been actually crying out for that for quite a while now and I believe that God's going to answer the cry of my heart. Now, Father, I thank you for, I know that this has been a living word.

Jesus, help us to hear it, to respond to it. Don't let us draw back in timidity. Give us the courage to go forward and to believe you, Lord Jesus, for these things. Don't let this generation die. Don't let us get to the point of thinking it's too far gone.

Don't let us lay down in defeat and just try to hold the fort until you come home. Oh God Almighty, God Almighty, you've called us to be a victorious church. Give us the courage we need, Father. In Jesus' name.

And if that's your heart today, here in the main sanctuary in the annex in North Jersey and those that are at home watching online, I'm gonna ask you to just get out of your seat and come to the front of this sanctuary, please let's stand together and pray with me for these things to be birthed in your heart.

You can step between the screens in the annex, if you will, in North Jersey. And at home, just maybe just stand up or go to your knees and we'll pray together in just a moment. Bless the Lord. Would you lead us in prayer, please?

Lead us in prayer as a people for the things that God's put on your heart, for us. And everyone here, lift your voice as well and believe God for what you need now, for what I need, for what you need.

Lift your hands, lift your hearts to the Lord.

Congregational Prayer for Compassion and Submission

Dear Lord, God, we're so barren, God. We really have nothing, Lord, that this world needs, God. We come to you, Lord, because you told us, God, to be bold, Lord, to ask you to keep asking, Lord. And you said that you will give, Lord, God, that if we seek, Lord, we will find, Lord, that if we knock, Lord, the door will be open, Lord.

God, we don't have the compassion, Lord, for people that we need, God. We don't even really love people apart from you, God. And we ask you, Lord, to do this, Lord. Help us to look at people and not see just what we see on the outside.

People who are angry and bitter, Lord, God, help us to see what you see. Help us to see what you saw in us, Lord, God, when you decide that you are gonna save us. When we were dead, Lord, God, and we couldn't do anything to help us, God, you saw us, Lord.

God, we love you. Lord, your ways are higher than our ways, Lord, and we submit to you, God. We just want you to allow you, Lord, to do what you want, God. Help us to stop fighting you, Lord. Help us to stop fighting you and submit.