Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, (Luke 11:1, NKJV)
I know Jesus is alive - I talked with Him this morning! The reality of our relationship with Christ is not in repeating prayers and phrases, it’s in knowing Him. I talk to Him, He talks to me!
In Luke 11, when Jesus had finished praying, one of His disciples came to Him, “Lord, teach us how to pray!” All my life I’ve been seeking to understand the power of prayer, prayer that gets an answer. Anyone can pray. In a crisis even unbelievers will cry out and pray. But we need more than just prayer, we need a relationship with Jesus, where He talks with us and we with Him.
When the disciples asked, “Lord, teach us how to pray!”, in answer Jesus replied, “When you pray say, Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” For many years, after my school days, I could not say these words, because to the boys at school it was just meaningless repetition. But there came a time in my life when I understood what it meant. In 1972, I was arrested for taking Bibles behind the Iron Curtain and put in a communist prison: the sentence for bringing Bibles was five years, and because I was preaching the Gospel in the prison, that was another five years. I could have been there ten years! I did not want to spend ten years of my life in prison, in a foreign country! I desperately wanted to learn how to pray, because I wanted to see a miracle happen: I did not want to stay in the prison; I wanted to be free, to do the work of God.
You know the rest of the story: God sent the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson to release me on my birthday, just as He had promised! We can all have this relationship with God. If you are sick, or crippled, in despair, alone, whoever you are - God will hear you, and answer your prayer like He did mine. That miracle was so big, because of the media publicity, it changed my life. I was asked to travel all over the world, people wanted to know my story because I have a God who answers prayer - I know how to worship Him, how to praise Him. I have never been the same because of that experience. It’s not about religion; it’s not about ceremony - in that prison I found a new reality, a new relationship with Him. I know my God is alive every day, every morning I get out of bed, Jesus is alive, Good Morning Jesus!
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened… 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!” (Luke 11:9-13, NKJV)
So many people know the Lord’s Prayer without knowing the reality. I want you to read Luke 11, because Jesus did not end with the ‘Amen’ of the prayer, but actually continued, “Which of you has a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine has come and I have no food in my house to give him.’” Jesus is still talking about prayer! Jesus says, you have no food, you go to your neighbour, you bang on the door - the neighbour says go away, it’s late, the children are asleep, go away, you’ll wake the baby. But you keep on banging, and the more you knock, the more your neighbour says, go away! Then, Jesus says, eventually, because you keep on knocking, your neighbour will get out of bed and give you what you want, not because you are a friend, but because you make so much noise in asking, because he cannot keep you quiet. Jesus said, “I say to you, ask, and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened.” I want to show you the greatest lesson in prayer: don’t take no for an answer, keep on calling to God, keep asking - He will answer you! Our God is a prayer-answering God. Don’t take no for an answer, keep on asking, God will give you what you need. This applies to sickness, to every problem in your life.