The text for this lesson is Luke 11:1–13; John 16:23–33
Key Point
- Our heavenly Father invites us to pray and promises to hear our prayers for the sake of His Son, Jesus.
- Law: I sin by not trusting God and failing to pray to Him for all things.
- Gospel: God promises to hear and answer my prayers because of His Son, Jesus, and to do what is best and good for me.
Discussion Points
- According to Luke 3:21–22, what event resulted in Jesus being identified as the beloved Son of the Father? What gives us the right to pray the Lord’s Prayer? (See Galatians 3:26–27; Romans 8:14–17; and Galatians 4:4–7.)
- In what part of the Divine Service is the Lord’s Prayer prayed? What kind of bread is received by faith and discussed in John 6:33, 35, 51, and 54?
- In Luke 11:11–13, how does Jesus argue from the lesser to the greater? What is so surprising about what Jesus calls the disciples in 11:13? What is a bit surprising about the prayer itself? What does this teach us?
- Read Luke 11:9–10. On face value, what seems to be the immediate result of prayer? Do our own experiences with prayer seem to contradict this? Luke 11:9 could be better translated, “Keep on asking, and it will be given to you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you.” Does this translation make Jesus’ words fit more closely to our actual experiences?
- Where does 2 Corinthians 1:18–22 teach us to look for the final answer to all of our prayers?
- What is the advantage to rote prayers? Which book in the Bible is helpful to study if we desire to learn how to pray more faithfully?
- Paul tells us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18). Yet sometimes our prayers falter. We do not or cannot pray as we should. What wonderful comfort does Romans 8:26–27 give us when we feel that we have failed to pray or do not know how to pray correctly?
