Today I felt drawn to SOAP on Jesus teaching his disciples to pray, so here goes!
Scripture:
"Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
~Luke 11:5-10
Observation:
So I know that the above Scripture was more a Scripture passage than a Scripture verse, but it was just so good I couldn't decide which part to highlight! So I threw in the whole thing. Right before our Scripture passage here, Jesus has just instructed his disciples on how to pray--a version of the commonly known "Lord's Prayer". Then Jesus goes on to tell this story, and extract this lesson.
Application:
What do you think Jesus is getting at? When I read this passage over and mull on it for a while, I believe that Jesus is teaching us to be BOLD in our prayers. He's reminding us that he WILL DO GREAT THINGS for us....if only we ask him. Sometimes (myself included!), I don't feel like we pray bold prayers. Usually, it'll go something like this: "Dear Jesus, thank you for this day, thank you for this food, and please help me not to fight with my family today. Amen." Blah, blah, blah! Now I'm not trying to downgrade praying for those things, but sometimes I feel like it's just a ritual we do, just a few "magic words" we say before we eat. Sometimes, I don't think we realize who we're really talking to, and what we're doing!
So in Luke 15, Jesus instructs his disciples on how to pray, and then makes a big point that we need to be BOLD when we pray. Jesus then gives this assurance, found in Luke 11:10:
"For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
In other words, whoever boldly prays to God for something, and really believes that it will happen (and that it's in God's will), will get it! Their prayer will be answered! I know I've personally seen this boldness factor in my own life. Sadly, I feel like I just usually pray "blah" prayers, asking for good things, but feeling like prayer's more of a ritual than what it really is.
I'm constantly looking for "prayer projects" that I can BOLDLY pray for, and that have a semi-short outcome. (For example, the prayer of, "Please help me not fight with my sister" is a perfectly good supplication, but that's an ongoing request...I can't see the answer soon. On the other hand, praying for someone's cancer or really bad sickness to go away may have a shorter outcome.)
A couple months ago, someone alerted me to the story of Luke. He was someone's friend of their brother, blah, blah, blah--I really don't remember how this person knew Luke. But anyway, I do remember that Luke had some cancer, or really, really bad sickness. He wanted to be a missionary, but couldn't with his condition. He wanted to help his wife, his family, but he couldn't. I found out about Luke at our family's twice-monthly family Bible study that we attend, and one of the leaders told the entire group the story. Instead of just praying for "God's will to be done", this leader challenged the group to pray for complete remission.
I took this challenge to heart, and prayed everyday for Luke, not just that "God's will to be done", but for complete remission so Luke could live the God-glorifying life that he wanted to live. A couple months later, our Bible study group was meeting again. The leader who had originally told us about Luke informed us that he was in complete remission.
Wow.
It was AMAZING to see God answer a prayer like that! A BOLD prayer that was right in line with what he wanted to do...of course, God may not answer every prayer like that, but it sure was amazing to see God so obviously answer a prayer. Not just "please help me not to fight with my sister"!
God likes it when we pray BOLD prayers to him, asking for him to do BIG, WONDERFUL things. How about you? Are you still viewing prayer as a ritual, not seeing any answers, not realizing what it is, or are you praying BOLD prayers to the LIVING God of the Universe who answers our prayers in AWESOME ways??
Prayer:
Dear God, I've realized that I need to change my views on prayer. Prayer to you really isn't praying to a brick wall, or just completing a ritual before I eat. Prayer is a way that I can be BOLD and pray to you for BIG things to happen, and know that I'm talking to a LIVING God. Please help me to pray more BOLD prayers that are in accordance to what you would want me to ask for! In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
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