Thursday, November 2, 2006

IDEA: Jesus prayed, but not all of His prayers were answered.

Jesus’ disciples were impressed by the way in which Jesus prayed. In Luke 11, they came to Jesus and said, “Teach us to pray.” They didn’t ask Him to teach them to preach or to do miracles. They did ask, “Teach us to pray.”

I. What do you think impressed the disciples about Jesus’ praying?

They must have been impressed many different times when He left them and spent a night in prayer.

They may have been impressed with the way He prayed.

II. Do you think that Jesus spent a night in prayer in order to get His prayers answered?

Are all-night prayer meetings the secret for us if we expect God to answer our prayers?

Are there other reasons why Christians might gather to have long seasons of prayer?

III. Were all of Jesus’ prayers answered?

He prayed in the selection of His disciples, one of whom was Judas.

He prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail, but it did.

He prayed in John 17 for unity of His followers, but today we have thousands of separate groups of Christians. Even worse, many fight with one another.

He prayed in Gethsemane, Let this cup pass from Me, but it did not.

CONCLUSION: Why do you think the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Teach us to pray”?