Pathway to Victory

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Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress.

And right now, your generous gift will have twice the impact, thanks to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, active now through July 6th. To give a special matching challenge gift, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

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Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm.

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Glad to study God's Word with every.

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Day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

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The fact is, even though praying in faith means boldly asking for what we want and quietly surrendering to what God wants, this passage is not so much about quietly surrendering.

It's about boldly asking. We ought to boldly, shamelessly approach God with what we want.

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Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. When you bow your head to pray, are you confident that God even hears you? Or do you feel like your words are falling on deaf ears? Well, God is listening.

And today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress draws practical application for your prayer life from the most familiar prayer in all of scripture.

Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message: Dr. Jeffress.

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Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Have you ever noticed that whenever a personal crisis occurs, we tend to spend more time alerting all our friends and family than we do in talking with God about it? Oh, telling our family is a natural reaction. I get that. But sometimes our initial response to send a text or call a friend actually does little or nothing to solve our problem. Today's message will help you understand the wisdom of calling on God as your first natural response.

Before we get started, I'm pleased to report that we're making progress on the Salt and Light Matching Challenge in the amount of $1 million. In case you haven't heard, during the month of June, every dollar you give to the ministry of Pathway to Victory will be automatically matched and therefore doubled until we reach the goal. You heard me right. Whatever God prompts you to give will be multiplied by two this month. And your generous gift today will make all the difference as together we push back the forces of evil in our country and world.

Even though we've made progress toward the goal, a significant gap remains. So please be ready to write down our contact information so that you can leverage your gift for this worthy purpose. By giving to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, it will keep you and your family firmly rooted in your faith. And plus, it will introduce those who are lost in darkness to the light of God's word.

Now let's open our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke. It's here that we find the most familiar prayers in the Scriptures. Even so, today we'll draw some practical application that you've probably never considered. I've titled today's message Prayer 101.

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In his book *Overcoming Overload*, Steve Farrar says he wishes he had a nickel for every time one of his children asked him for something. He often responded with "not now," "maybe when you're older," or "I don't think this would be good for you." However, the fact that he occasionally, even often, said no to his children's requests didn't stop them from continuing to ask. They believed that their father loved them and was capable of providing for them, which is why they kept on asking. Jesus teaches us a similar truth in the passage we're going to look at today. Even though we have a heavenly Father who often says no to our requests, we should continue to boldly and shamelessly ask Him for what is in our hearts.

If you have your Bibles today, I want you to turn to Luke 11, Luke chapter 11. Today we're going to take a refresher course in the basics of prayer. I'm calling it *Prayer 101*. In the passage today, we're going to discover four invaluable lessons about prayer that Jesus taught his disciples through both His words and His example. The most basic lesson any of us can understand about prayer is that prayer is essential to our spiritual life. Notice in verse one that this story, this incident in the life of Jesus, begins with the disciples making a request of the Lord. It came about that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples."

Did you know that in the Bible there is never any record of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to preach? They never said, "Lord, teach us to preach." Nor did they ever say, "Lord, teach us to heal like you heal," or "Lord, we sure would like to learn to walk on water. That's a great trick. Can you teach us how to do that?" The only thing they ever asked Jesus to teach them was how to pray. Isn't it interesting that this request came after they watched Him pray? They saw the connection. It was prayer that gave Jesus that sense of peace no matter what was going on around Him. It was through prayer that He was able to tap into God's supernatural power to love those who were persecuting Him. It was through prayer that He gained the power to speak with authority to those around Him. They said, "We want some of that. We want to know how to pray. Lord, teach us to pray." And He taught them this through His example.

If you've flown lately, have you noticed how the flight attendants' opening spiel, which they give you while they're taxiing, about the oxygen mask has been replaced now by a video? But the video contains the same information the flight attendants used to give over the PA system. They instruct you on what to do in case of an emergency. If the plane loses its pressurization, a mask will drop down from overhead, and you're to grab the mask, put it on your face, and start breathing. You know, a lot of people treat prayer like that—an oxygen mask. It's there in an emergency if you need it. In case of an emergency, when all else fails, grab your spiritual oxygen mask and begin to pray. But Jesus said, "No, prayer is not like an oxygen mask. It's like oxygen itself. It's something you not only need some of the time or occasionally; you need it all of the time." That's why Jesus said prayer is essential to our spiritual well-being. He taught them that not just by His words, but by His example.

By the way, parents, do you realize that the greatest lesson you can impart to your children and grandchildren is how essential prayer is? The way you teach them that, again, is not through your words; it's through your example as your children and grandchildren watch you. Is prayer more than just a little ritual you go through before the meal? Is it foundational in your life? That's the most basic lesson we can learn: that prayer is essential to our spiritual life.

The second lesson is that we should pray as Christ instructed us to pray. Look at verses two to four. Now remember, the question was, "Lord, teach us to pray." So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation." This is a shortened version; this is Luke's version of what we call the Lord's Prayer. A longer version is in Matthew chapter 6. Perhaps Jesus prayed this several times, or perhaps it is Luke's paraphrase. But these are very familiar words to us.

When Jesus gave these words, He really didn't give them as a mantra to be repeated. Did you know there's no place in the rest of the New Testament where the disciples ever repeated the Lord's Prayer word for word? It really wasn't given as a mantra to be repeated. It's fine to do that, but the Lord was giving a model to follow in our praying. He's saying, "When you pray, here are the important ingredients of your prayer." I want you to notice three facets of our prayer that are based on this model.

First of all, prayer is based on our relationship with God. Prayer is based on the unique, intimate relationship we have with our heavenly Father. Isn't that what Paul said in Galatians 4:6? "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.'" That word "Abba" is more than a singing group; it's Aramaic. It means literally "daddy" or "papa." That's how we can come into God's presence. He is our daddy; He's our papa because of our relationship with Him.

Secondly, Jesus said prayer is conditioned by the will of God. "Thy kingdom come." Matthew adds, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Right now, God's will is being done perfectly in heaven.

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The.

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The angels obey God perfectly. Right now, God's will is not being done on earth, but it will be one day when the king returns, and we are to pray. God, just as your will is being done in heaven, may it be done on earth, and may it be done in my life as well. The hardest part of praying is surrendering our will to God's will. Everything else is a piece of cake when it comes to praying. But the hard work of prayer is saying, "God, this is what I want, but I surrender. I capitulate to whatever you want."

Hear me today. There's no blanket promise in the Bible that says God will answer every request we have. It's those requests that are keeping in his will. When we surrender ourselves to the will of God, we're saying, "God, this is honestly what I want, but I trust you to do what is best." A third portion of our prayer, an important ingredient of prayer, is that prayer includes our requests to God. A lot of people think it's selfish to ask God for any need that you have. You should just pray for God's glory or God's will, but never bother God with your needs.

No, Jesus said we ought to pray for those things that we need. He taught us to do this; he said there are a lot of things we need. Pray for forgiveness: "Forgive us of our debts." Pray for the ability to forgive other people. That's a need we have. Pray that God won't lead us into difficult circumstances in which our faith might falter: "Lead us not into temptation." But at the top of the list, he says, "Pray for your daily bread. Give us this day our daily bread." What is he talking about? He's not saying, "Pray that a giant loaf of Wonder Bread drops from heaven." That's not what he means. The phrase "daily bread" was a term that was used in Jesus' day to refer to all of our material needs: for food, for shelter, for clothing. We need to pray for those material needs. There's nothing wrong in doing that.

Perhaps you think, "Well, that's real quaint, but I don't have to pray for something to eat. I mean, I earn a good living. I've got money in the bank. I don't need to depend upon God for my daily sustenance." You know, the Bible says our ability to even make money, to provide for our needs, ultimately comes from God. Deuteronomy 8:18 states, "But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who is giving you the power to make wealth." We ought to pray as the Lord instructed us to pray.

And that leads to a third lesson. The fact is, even though praying in faith means boldly asking for what we want and quietly surrendering to what God wants, this passage is not so much about quietly surrendering; it's about boldly asking. This is an aspect of prayer that is often missed in most sermons and most teachings. We ought to boldly, shamelessly approach God with what we want. To illustrate that truth—that God rewards boldness in praying—Jesus uses this example. He says, "Suppose one 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 has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.' And from inside he shall answer and say, 'Do not bother me. The door has already been shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you," Jesus said, "even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, the Greek word 'anadeion,' because of his shamelessness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs."

We can't really appreciate this example until we appreciate the Middle Eastern culture in which it's written. In the Middle Eastern culture, one of the greatest virtues of all was hospitality. If somebody came to visit your neighbor, a visitor, he wasn't just a guest of your neighbor; he was considered to be a guest of the entire community. It was your responsibility to show that guest hospitality as well. That's why Jesus said, "Can you imagine going to your neighbor, asking for food for a guest of yours and being turned down? It is unfair, unthinkable." But this man in Jesus' story did the unthinkable. He turned down the request initially. The neighbor kept on knocking, kept on knocking until he wore his neighbor down and got what he needed.

Now, what's the application of this example? Remember, the story is told to illustrate how we should pray. In verse 9, Jesus gives this application about prayer: "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you." Again, in Greek, this is a continuous action. Literally, "I say to you, keep on asking, and it shall be given to you. Keep on seeking, and you shall find. Keep on knocking, and it shall be opened to you." Verse 10: "For everyone who asks, receives, and he who keeps on seeking shall find. To him who keeps on knocking, it shall be opened." This is a story Jesus told to illustrate the importance of persistence—persistence in getting what is in our heart.

Now, don't misinterpret what Jesus is saying. Jesus is not saying prayer is a matter of wearing down a reluctant God to give you something he really doesn't want to give you. That would be a misinterpretation of a parable. This example, and it's really more of an example than a parable, is like the parable told in Luke 18 about the unrighteous judge and the widow who needed relief, and she kept coming to the unrighteous judge. Neither this story nor that story is a story of comparison; it's a story of contrast. In other words, Jesus is saying, "If a neighbor who really doesn't care that much about you or anybody else can be worn down by your persistence to give you something you need, how much more will your loving heavenly Father, who cares about you, reward your persistence in asking him?"

That leads to a fourth truth or lesson about prayer, and that is God's reputation and God's love are his motivation for answering our prayers. The reason we can boldly, literally, shamelessly come before God with what is in our hearts is because of God's reputation and God's love for us. God's reputation—how people perceive God in the world—is determined in large measure by how he treats those who call him Father. One of God's greatest motivations in caring for you is that his reputation is on the line.

Do you remember in the Old Testament, the most holy name for God was the name Yahweh? The Israelites wouldn't even pronounce that name. Yahweh not only described who God was, "I am that I am," but it was also the covenant name for the special relationship God had with the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was God's object lesson to the entire world of his power and his love. That's why God cared for the nation of Israel. If God let His people down, then it would say to the whole world, "God cannot be trusted to keep his promises." It was on the basis of God's reputation that we find some of the greatest prayers in the Old Testament.

Remember, in Exodus 32, God got ticked off with the Israelites because of their disobedience. He said, "I'm going to wipe you all off the face of the earth." In Exodus 32, Moses came to God and said, "God, you can't do that. You have made an unconditional promise with this nation. If you obliterate your own people, your name will be mud among the heathen." And so God relented of his decision. Later, in Psalm 25:11, remember, David pled with God for God's forgiveness. In Psalm 25:11, David said, "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great." God, you have promised to be a God of loving kindness and forgiveness. I plead with you for your reputation's sake. Fulfill that promise to me. Later on, in Ezekiel 36, when the children of Israel were in captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel said, "I will bring you back. I will forgive your sins." God says, "I will restore you to the land for My name's sake."

One reason we can boldly, shamelessly plead for God's provision in our life is that his reputation is at stake. If God doesn't watch over us, if he doesn't provide for our needs, if he doesn't forgive our sins, if he doesn't redeem our bodies when we die, then his name, his reputation, suffers in the universe. God's reputation is one reason we come to him boldly and shamelessly. But there's an even more powerful factor at work, and that is his love for us. His love for us is a great motivation for his answering our prayers.

Look at verses 11 to 13: "For suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he has asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" That doesn't mean God answers every prayer. It doesn't mean he's going to answer our prayer to win the lottery so we can pay off the Visa bill or take a trip. It doesn't mean he's going to allow us to drive a Mercedes. But what it does mean is God is going to give us that which we need, that which is good. And Luke adds to that the Holy Spirit; he's the best gift of all.

This is a prayer, this is a parable about being bold, being shameless. In talking to our Heavenly Father, can you imagine, Jesus said, going to a neighbor in the middle of the night and asking for food and being turned away? It's unimaginable. Can you imagine a child asking his parent for a fish and being given a snake? That's incomprehensible. Can you imagine a Christian going to his Heavenly Father and asking for the Holy Spirit's power to overcome temptation, or his grace to go through a difficult trial, or the ability to love his family members as he should? Can you imagine asking your Heavenly Father for those things and being turned away? It's unthinkable. And that is why we should boldly, shamelessly ask God for what is in our hearts.

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Someone is listening to me at this very moment, and you've been harboring a secret desire. Isn't it time that you told God about it? There's no reason to be bashful when you approach Him with your requests. Your Heavenly Father wants to fulfill your heart's desire and is waiting for you to come to Him.

Well, all this month we're searching God's word for insight on becoming salt and light, just as Jesus taught us to be. Oftentimes, our saltiness or our glow comes in simple expressions of faith—things like kindness, compassion, and courage. I've written a brand new book on this topic. It's called *Shine the Light*, and I'm pleased to send you my book along with my thanks.

When you give a generous gift toward the $1 million Salt and Light Matching Challenge that's active right now, this means that your generous gift of, say, $100 will be doubled to $200. A gift of $500 becomes $1,000. A $5,000 gift would be doubled to become $10,000. Can you imagine the impact of unleashing a combined $2 million in ministry dollars so that more and more Americans can see the bright light of Jesus with me?

I suspect you're feeling a deep burden for the future of our country. Gratefully, it appears that our current administration has given us a reprieve, but the cultural debates continue at full force, and we mustn't allow the enemy to take on more. God has opened a door of opportunity as His ambassadors, and we need to seize the moment.

So let's appeal to His throne for mercy on our country and our world. And let's give generously to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge so that we can shine a bright light of hope into the darkness until Jesus returns.

David, thanks.

Dr. Jeffress.

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Today when you invest in the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new book by Dr. Jeffress called *Shine the Light*. Just call 866-999-2965 or visit our website ptv.org, and when your gift is $100 or more, you'll receive not only the book and DVD but also the complete collection of audio and video discs for the *Shine the Light* teaching series. Remember, because of the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, your gift today will be matched and therefore doubled in impact.

One more time, call 866-999-2965 or find us online at ptv.org. You could write to us if you'd like. Here's that mailing address: PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins inviting you to join us again next time when Dr. Jeffress answers this troubling question: why does God send good people to hell? That's coming up Thursday here on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible.

And right now, your ministry gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on July 6th. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.