Luke 11:1-4

Introduction

Every believer should schedule an appointed time with God in prayer each day. A believer exercises his priestly function when praying. Our prayers should be intelligent, fervent, and expectant. There are five principles that we must remember concerning our time in prayer:

1. Adoration

2. Petition

3. Confession

4. Intercession

5. Thanksgiving

There is divine intimacy in prayer. Using the phrase Abba-Father can illustrate such a sense of intimacy as it translates, “Daddy.” We become more like our blessed Savior as we spend time in His presence. A life with Christ produces a life like Christ.

Luke 11:1

Introduction

What is prayer? It is the highest activity of which the human spirit is capable. Prayer is communion with God, who is so great, that He fills every corner of the universe. W.M. Gladstone, one time Prime Minister of Great Britain, said that “prayer is the highest exercise of the human intellect.” Burns, the Scottish poet said that “prayer is a correspondence fixed with heaven.” President Eisenhower, addressing a large crowd of college students, ended his 40 minute talk by saying, “Prayer is still the mightiest force in the world and, when used by dedicated men and women, nothing in this world remains impossible.” The Lord Jesus found it so. May we prove it to be so as well.

James Montgomery in his well known hymn said:

“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,

Uttered or unexpressed,

Luke 15:11-24

[Give a short resume of the life of the son.] The father supplied him with everything that he had (see Luke 15:12). Despite his affluence and his wealth, he left the home and his father (see Luke 15:13). There is a philosophy of life, not generally understood, that every faculty and talent that we possess, whether physical, mental or spiritual, we obtain from God. “In him we live and move and have our being”

The son lost everything that he possessed in the far country. He wasted his substance with riotous living (see Luke 15:13-16). The result of this was abject poverty.

Luke 15:17 - He came to himself [explain]

Luke 15:18 - His repentance is depicted here. He says, “I have sinned against heaven and against thee.”

Psalm 51:4 “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.”

References Taken from the Book of Luke

The Prayer of our Risen Lord (Luke 24:50-53)

As Christ left His disciples, He lifted up His hands in priestly fashion and blessed them. He was carried up into heaven with uplifted hands. The Savior’s attitude here reveals His relationship to His people in this age. It is an attitude of the fullness of His grace. The ascended Lord is blessing us, in His church, with all spiritual blessings. 

The Struggle of Moses’ Spiritual Survival - There were occasions when Israel rejected Moses’ counsel, leadership, and authority. Even his own family rebelled against him. Consider the following examples:

Aaron’s weak defection over the golden calf (see Exodus 32).

Miriam and Aaron’s jealousy of his position as God’s leader.

The criticism of his marriage (see Numbers 12).

Under pressure he cracked once (see Numbers 20:10). It is a wonder he did not break more often. What was his secret? He was a man of enduring faith in the invisible God (Heb. 11:27). He communed long and often with God. The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.

Finally, Moses admitted his limitations. “I am not able to bear all this people alone, because the burdens are too heavy for me.” The Lord said: “Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be elders of the people. I will take the Spirit which is upon thee and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee.”