In "Luke" there is much reference to the prayer-life of our Lord Jesus, but only a few passages of direct teaching concerning prayer. But the teachings on this theme in Luke's gospel are of very special and peculiar weight and meaning. The first of these is found in Luke 11:1-13. It grew out of a request by His disciples. He was praying at a certain place (Comp. Mark 1:35-37). The disciples stood reverently by till He had finished His prayer; then asked Him to teach them to pray, "even as John also taught his disciples." We must not infer that they never prayed. The devout Jew of that day made much of prayer. Moreover, these disciples had themselves originally been disciples of John, and by that great and good man had been taught to pray--even as they said. But when they witnessed Christ's praying they felt that after all they knew little or nothing as yet about real, true praying. Hence their request: "Lord, teach us to pray." It was a good petition, for them and for us, and the Lord would not turn it down. It implied the honest confession that, for whatever fault or reason, they knew not how to pray, and needed Christ's teaching. None could pray like Him; none could teach like Him. When we come to Him with pretense of any sort He cannot help us; but when we come empty-handed and make our appeal on the ground of our simple need, He gives liberally and upbraideth not.

      In answer to their request, the Lord gave them three lessons on prayer. First of all, again, the "Lord's Prayer"; but (as the R. V. shows) here in an abbreviated form:

      "When ye pray, say, Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation."

      Here after the recognition of God--His Name, His Kingdom--the rest of the prayer concerns ourselves: the daily bread, forgiveness, protection from temptation. This was lesson number one.

      Now comes lesson two: prayer for others. The first prayer is based on our filial relationship to God--a child of God speaking to his Father. The second lesson takes us up a step higher: here it is friend communing with friend. But how could this be said to be prayer on a higher plane? The relationship of child to the Father is, of course, fundamental. But children and parents are not always and necessarily friends. To be sure they should be. But friendship means fellowship, mutual understanding, co-operation. Friends work together for one aim, with one soul, hand in hand. Now even the children of God, even when they have fellowship with Him in the light, [36] may yet need to learn the full lesson of fellowship. "Ye are my friends," said the Lord Jesus, "if ye do whatsoever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant knoweth not what his lord doeth"--does not enter into his lord's plan, nor does his master take him into his confidence and tell him all his business--"but I have called you friends; for all things I have heard from my Father I have made known unto you" (John 15:14, 15).

      Now this second lesson is based upon friendship. In the parable which conveys this, three friends appear. There is first the middle friend--that is the disciple. He has a poor friend out in the world; and on the other side he has a rich Friend, who, in the parable, represents God. Now to this middle friend comes a late and unexpected visitor, a friend of his, at midnight, from a journey, tired, footsore, and hungry. I must feed him. But, alas, I have nothing to set before him. What shall I do? Ah, I have a friend who has everything. To his house he goes to rouse him up at the midnight hour (a thing one would not dare to do, unless it be indeed a friend) to beg the loan of three loaves. The wealthy friend seems disinclined at first, and does not want to be bothered. But the friend who has come to his rich friend for help is not to be put off; he keeps on knocking and asking, at the risk of straining that friendship--until at last he gets up and gives him the bread he wants. The rest--how he joyfully returns to his home, where his hungry friend is waiting, and sets the food before him--we can supply for ourselves.

      What does it mean? Well--this is nothing else than a picture of our cooperation with God in the great work of saving and blessing men. The weary hungry friend who comes to me for help--he is my unsaved brother, my unsaved neighbor. He may not come to me with a request for help--few will do that; but there is the mute appeal of his lost condition. What can I do for him? How often have we felt empty and perplexed in the face of this need! But wait--I have one recourse--and really, in spite of all appearance of unwillingness, I know quite well that I am working in line with His interests when I come to Him for help. His reluctance in the parable only illustrates the fact that I may not always get all I want at the first simple asking. But I will. Only let me persist--He must, He will, rise up and give me all I need. Even a human friend--even if he did not do it for friendship's sake, will, if I keep on, grant me my request, if only to get rid of me. How much more shall the Father in heaven who desires my sinner-friend's help far more than I do rise up to grant my request?

      Now my wayfaring friend could not himself have gone to my rich friend's house with such a request. He is a stranger to him, and has no access to him at all. But I can go to Him, because He is my great rich Friend, and I am His friend. Thus in my near and dear relationship to my Father in heaven, I have become the living link between [37] Him and the souls He longs to save and bless. The second lesson therefore deals with "intercessory prayer."

      For the third lesson the Lord falls back on the filial relationship. He repeats again words He had spoken on a former occasion, but with a notable variation.

      "I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:9-13.)

      In the light of what went before, this must mean "Ask--and keep on asking till you receive"; "Seek, and keep on seeking till you find"; and "Knock and continue knocking till the door is opened." It means not only prayer, but persevering prayer. The answer is sure. You are not running uncertainly, nor fighting as one that beateth the air. Your Father knows what you want and need, and His answer will be a good answer. In my blindness I might even ask for a stone, thinking it a loaf; or for a serpent, mistaking it for a fish; or a scorpion, which when curled up resembles an egg; but if even an earthly father knows how to give the right gifts to his children, shall not your Father in heaven know how to answer your heart's real desire with "good things"?

      No, not merely "good things." Our Lord now goes beyond the promise which He gave in Matt. 7:11. Here He says, "How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"--as if all other "good things" were summed up in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

      This has provoked some controversy. Many think that such a prayer would be out of place now. The Holy Spirit, they say, came once for all on Pentecost. All who believe in Christ, all who obey the gospel (Eph. 1:13; Acts 2:38, 5:32) receive the Spirit. If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. The matter seems conclusive: we need no longer ask for the Holy Spirit now. He is here. He abideth in you. Is it not enough? That may seem conclusive, but there is something more to be said. The fact that the Christian has the Spirit (else he would not be a Christian) does not preclude a further reception of the Spirit. Those who were "filled" on the day of Pentecost, were filled again when a new crisis arose (Acts 4:31). Also the fact that some brethren were specially designated as being men "full of the Holy Spirit" [38] (Acts 6:3, 5; 11:24) implies that not all Christians could be so spoken of. Hence also the exhortation in Eph. 5:18--"Be not drunken with wine . . . but be ye filled with the Spirit." "Christ in you" is the common possession of all Christians who are "in the faith," and not "reprobate" (2 Cor. 13:5); yet Paul prays for the Ephesian brethren that "Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" (Eph. 3:17). The gift of the Spirit is once and for all; it is also a continuous gift (1 Thess. 4:8). The sacrifice of Christ also was once for all, never to be repeated; for "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14). But we go back to that cross again and again for cleansing and forgiveness.

      In view of this, and with this fundamental understanding, there is no reason why a child of God may not pray for the Holy Spirit today.

      And when we are filled with the Spirit--if the Holy Spirit has His place and power in our hearts, we shall have something to set before our poor friend who comes to us in his dark midnight hour. For "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control."

      In Luke 18, He has more teachings for His disciples. There may come times (He implied) when prayer seems vain--when day after day, or even year after year, our requests are presented before God, and no answer comes. At such a time, if there should be such a time, the important thing is to continue undaunted in prayer and not to give up.

      "And he spake a parable unto them to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint." (Luke 18:1.)

      The parable is of a judge "who feared not God, and regarded not man." To him a poor, helpless widow, who was wronged by some adversary comes day after day seeking judgment against her oppressor. For a while the judge is utterly indifferent and unwilling. Time after time he sends her away, no doubt swearing and declaring that he will have nothing to do with her case. But every time she comes back to him again with her plea. This finally gets on his nerves; and though he fears not God nor regards man, he says within himself, "because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out by her continual coming."

      And what is the application? That God is like this judge, caring nothing for us and our troubles, and before He will do anything will have to be worn down by the persistence of our petitions? Far from it! The illustration is by contrast. "Hear what the unrighteous judge saith. And shall not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night, and yet he is longsuffering over them?" If a callous, hard-hearted judge will finally yield to the unremitting petition of a [39] widow that is nothing to him--how much more will the loving Father in heaven answer the prayer of His own people who cry to Him day and night? No, their prayers were not unheard. They avail much in their working, though for the time their effect be not seen. At the right time "He will avenge them speedily."

      This lesson on prayer is really a part of the Lord's prophetic teaching in Luke 17:20-37. The Pharisees had asked Him "when the kingdom of God cometh." After answering them in short fashion, the Lord addressed His disciples. He told them of troublous days to come when they would desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and should look in vain. He foretold the conditions that would prevail in the world prior to His appearing--that it would be as it was in the days of Noah, and in the days of Lot, and warned His disciples unto instant readiness when that day should come. Then, without a break, He gives them this parable, "to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint." Here is a clear intimation to them that the coming of the Lord may be much later than they might expect. How much later He did not say, and His hearers would hardly think beyond their own lifetime. But, as always, the Lord left the time indefinite, so that His own might always be looking for Him, expecting Him; and praying, like John in Patmos (Rev. 22:20), "Even so, come Lord Jesus!"

      In the meanwhile, His people, like the poor widow, hard beset by the evil adversary, look for Him, and cry to Him for help. In long, anxious nights of persecution, in wars and famines and pestilence, in the troubles and trials, physical and spiritual, with which Satan afflicted them--how did they long for Him and His return! "O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence . . . to make thy name known to thy adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!" (Isa. 64:1, 2.) And would their prayers hasten that day? God works all things through the prayers of His people. For many centuries have His saints, times innumerable, sent up their petition, as the Lord had taught them to pray: "Thy kingdom come." Is not the kingdom come? Oh yes--His redeemed ones are in His kingdom now (Col. 1:13). But their citizenship is in heaven; while on the earth Satan is still the prince of the world and its god, and he deceives the nations, and holds sway over the mass of mankind. And so will it be till after the seventh trumpet is sounded and the great announcement is heard, "The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." (Rev. 11:15.)

      Will the prayers of God's people count unto that end? Surely they will. When in the great drama of the end the seventh seal is opened, the prayers of the saints, long held in reserve, come in for remembrance (Rev. 8:1-4).

      So let the poor widow unweariedly make her plea; her God has heard her. When the answer comes--we know not how soon it may be--it will come speedily.

      "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, will he find faith on the earth?" Will there still be those, who hoping and trusting, continue stedfastly in prayer? Yes, there will be such; not many perhaps, but some. "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive, who are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:16, 17.) Until then, He exhorts us, let us continue in prayer and not faint.

      It must not be forgotten that the lesson of persevering prayer applies to all prayer. It is not always, nor often, that answer is so long delayed; often the answer comes with surprising swiftness, but if it tarry long, let us continue to pray and not faint. If it is right to want a thing, it must be right to ask for it; and so long as it is right to pray for a thing, it is right to continue asking until the answer comes.

      Immediately after the parable of the Unjust Judge by which He taught the value of persistence in prayer, the Lord added yet another lesson. This was spoken to those "who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought"--the sort of religionists of which the Pharisees were outstanding examples in Christ's time, but which are not altogether rare in our days. Pride of any sort bars our access to God. There are three chief sorts of pride: social pride, intellectual pride, spiritual pride; and the ugliest of these is the spiritual. The Lord had never any need to resort to fiction for His parables; and in this case also He simply portrayed what happened, was happening, or might happen, any day. "Two men [41] went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican." The Pharisee "stood" and "prayed thus with himself" (as though his prayer had stopped there). And here is what he said:

      "God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get."

      Now, indeed, it is something to be thankful to God for, if we have been kept from gross transgressions, and if we have not fallen into depths of sin and wickedness. To whatever circumstances this be due--whether to early training, godly parents, favorable environment, faithful, loving friends, or good teaching--it was of God's mercy. For all of us have the seeds of crime in our fleshly nature which, under certain circumstances, would break forth in deeds of wickedness. Like the psalmist, we have, every one, cause to thank God that He has "delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." (Ps. 116:8.) But it was not in such a humble spirit of thankfulness that the Pharisee prayed--nay, he was praising himself and commending himself, and setting himself up as some superior specimen of humanity, as one who was well worthy of God's notice and favor. Such is the "old Adam" when he becomes "good." A little boy coming in from school said, "Just think, mother, I am the best boy in school." "Well, good," said mother--"did the teacher tell you that?" "No," answered sonny, "I noticed it myself."

      But the worst of it was the Pharisee's contempt for the publican. It is ever the mark of the proud self-righteous that they compare themselves favorably with others, and look with disdain upon those who do not come up to their standards of excellence. And in that Pharisee's heart there was no concern, no pity, no compassion, no regard for such people as "this publican." Plainly the Pharisee did not know himself nor did he know God. Is it possible that there may be some modern "church-people" who are like that in their attitude toward the sinful and erring?

      Not like the Pharisee who stationed himself boldly at the front--the publican in deep sense of unworthiness, stood afar off, and would not lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast, saying, "God, be thou merciful to me a sinner." He had nothing to say for himself, no plea to make, except this plea for God's mercy. Someone has said that there are just two kinds of folk who approach God: there are those who say, "Something in my hand"; and those who say, "Nothing in my hand I bring." The publican came near by the lower road.

      And what was the Lord's comment on the matter? It was brief and simple: "I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth, himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." [42]

      Once more in the gospel of Luke does the Lord Jesus have a word on prayer. It is at the close of His prophetic sermon (Luke 21:5-36). He had foretold and forewarned His disciples of the terrors that should befall the world introductory to His coming in glory--yet making a distinction between His own, and those who are of the world. For, as Paul told Christians in 1 Thess. 5--"God appointed us not unto wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him" (1 Thess. 5:9, 10)--so here: when these terrible things of His prediction shall begin to come to pass (He tells His disciples) "look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28.) But with this reassurance he adds a warning:

      "But take heed to yourselves, let haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly, as a snare: for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of man." (Verses 34-36.)

      It is here that prayer counts--"supplication," that is earnest, fervent prayer--and this will avail to their escape out of the calamities and distresses which will come upon the world. The words our Lord used here are very strong and emphatic; literally rendered the concluding words would read thus: "(that ye may) be stationed in front of the Son of man." We could hardly fail to connect that with the precious promise of 1 Thess. 4:16,17, and the warning, yet encouraging, words that follow after it, in 1 Thess. 5:1-10. These who are "caught up" do indeed "escape all these things that shall come to pass," and they "shall stand before the Son of man," to behold His face, and to be with Him for ever. And to this end we must watch and pray. [43]

[CTOP 36-43]