LUKE 11: Light and Darkness: The "Our Father" Prayer

Although the eleventh chapter of Luke begins with Jesus’ disciples asking Him how to pray, this chapter is not limited to prayer. This lengthy chapter shows us how to identify if we are walking into darkness or the Light. The key to discovering whether your heart is being filled with light or darkness is in this verse:

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9 ESV)

We will begin today with a question, like we do at our weekly meeting held on Saturday mornings. Unlike Saturdays, there is no right or wrong answer. I am only looking for information.

Have you ever been told that if you desire something of God, you need to be persistent in prayer and continue asking Him for what you want until you get it?

Often, these instructions are based on the quoted verse from Luke or another gospel. Perhaps they even add in the verse from Ephesians 6 about praying on all occasions in the Spirit? (What percent had been told this?)

Misunderstanding this verse may be the greatest detriment to the Body of Christ. It is imperative to understand the point the Holy Spirit is making in this passage of Luke, or we could be bringing darkness into our hearts instead of the Light of the Lord. To understand what is being said in Luke Chapter 11:9, we need to look at how Jesus instructed His disciples to pray and what was said afterwards.

After Jesus gives His disciples a very simple example of the right way to pray, what we call the “Our Father” prayer, as it opens with those words, Luke records some additional instructions in the form of a parable and an allegory that surround one of the most misunderstood verses. I will break it down into a plain English summary.

Parable: You go to a friend in the middle of the night seeking provision for a guest, because it is your duty to provide for them as their host. It is the middle of the night, and your friend and his family are asleep; however, because you persist in asking him for help, he eventually gets up and helps you.

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9 ESV)

Allegory: When a son asks a father for a fish, and he will not receive a snake that looks like a fish, or if he asks for an egg, his father will not give him a scorpion that looks like an egg.

Both of these examples are about receiving provisions, simple things that everyone may need: food. This has led many people to misunderstand what the Lord is saying about prayer because they don’t keep reading. The very next verse after the allegory is the key to understanding this chapter and verse nine:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

Jesus wasn’t telling them to ask for what they need or want and to keep asking God for material things until they get them. Jesus was telling His disciples to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit until they receive more of Him! Not convinced? Perhaps you are going over the prayer in your head and see no connection to receiving the Holy Spirit. I didn’t see a connection until the Holy Spirit revealed the theme of Luke 11! Let’s look very carefully at the Our Father prayer to confirm that this is the focus Jesus expects us to have when we pray.

And He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father Who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your name…” (Luke 11:2 NKJV)

Jesus tells us to begin by acknowledging that God is our Father and where is He? In Heaven! The word hallowed means to revere, honor, keep holy or set it apart. Nothing here about the Holy Spirit, but let’s keep reading:

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. (Luke 11:2 NKJV)

When you ask for God’s kingdom to come, you are asking for His will to be done, here on Earth as it is in Heaven, as translated in the New King James Version of the Bible. When I say this prayer, I often add, “I submit my will to Yours. Let me hear clearly what to do, so that I can do Your will.” Do you see the Holy Spirit in this? For years, I thought it was only about submitting my will to God’s will… then I saw what the Holy Spirit was saying in Luke 11. Let’s look at the life of Jesus to see how this relates to the Holy Spirit:

For I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 6:38 ESV)

Jesus is our example. He came and did God’s will, not His own. This was the basis of my addition to the Our Father prayer: I wanted to know the Father’s will so I could do it and not my own. How did Jesus know what the Father’s will was?

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19 ESV)

Jesus saw what the Father was doing; that’s how He knew what God’s will was. How did He see it? Did Jesus have special eyes that could see into Heaven? No! The Holy Spirit revealed to Jesus what was going on in Heaven: what His Father was doing.

When we pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven,” we should be submitting our will to God’s, but in order to do that, we must know what God’s will is. How do we know what God’s will is? Perhaps you are thinking it is through the Word of God? Well, how do we understand the Word of God?

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:13-14 ESV)

Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand the Word of God, for it is the Holy Spirit who inspired it. Also, consider that we must know which part of the Word of God to apply to any situation.

Some people take a scripture and say, “This is in the Bible, so I should be able to get it, do it, etc.” The disciples wanted to call down fire on a town that rejected them because Elijah called down fire on people, but Jesus rebuked them for wanting to do this.

But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you. (John 14:26 AMPC)

The Holy Spirit is our Teacher, our Counselor, and Helper. He is the one who reveals all things to us! If God wants you to pray for a blind person to see, should you spit on your hands and rub their eyes, or mix mud with your spit and apply it to their eyes? Jesus did both of these things when He healed a blind man. Perhaps God will heal someone in a different way, but how do you know what it is unless the Holy Spirit tells you?

Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, and when we know what we are saying, that type of prayer will bring more of God’s power into our lives. We must be willing to submit our will to God’s; that is a given. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals God’s will to us. When we ask to do God’s will, we are asking to hear from the Holy Spirit. We cannot stop here. We must look at just a little bit more of that prayer:

Give us each day our daily bread… (Luke 11:3 ESV)

After we honor God and His name, then submit to His will, we are truly His servants. God provides for those who serve Him. The next verse in the prayer reminds God that we are depending on Him for our provision. Notice, there are no specifics. Jesus didn’t say to ask God for a new car, a better house, or to win the lottery. Why is this “ask” so general?

Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33 ESV)

If you have been told to pray for what you want and keep praying for it until you get it, then you have been misguided. Jesus specifically instructed us not to seek after material things like food and clothing. Trust that God knows what you need and He will give it to you WHEN you seek the Kingdom of Heaven: what God’s will must be done, first!

The Our Father prayer is one of the most powerful types of prayer, if we keep on praying, seeking the Father’s will, and asking to hear from the Holy Spirit. I would suggest adding a few words or phrases to fully explain what you now know about the Our Father’s prayer until that knowledge gets down into your heart.

So what does this prayer have to do with light and darkness? A bit further down in the chapter, Jesus says this:

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore, be careful lest the light in you be darkness. (Luke 11:34-35 ESV)

Our eyes look at objects, and we use them to focus on one item or many items at a time. The Greek word skopeō (ska-peh'-o) is translated “be careful,” but more fully means to direct one’s attention to, with implied scrutiny. We must scrutinize what we are looking at lest what we receive is darkness instead of light.

Applying this to what we have already learned, many will tell you that you should seek after material needs in prayer, that if you keep asking and keep seeking, eventually God will give it to you. This is darkness, not light. We are focused on our needs, instead of the fact that God knows what we need and trusts Him to supply it.

Let’s keep looking at Luke 11. After Jesus shows the disciples the right focus for their prayer life, He heals a man who is mute. How do the people react?

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test Him, kept seeking from Him a sign from Heaven. (Luke 11:15-16 ESV)

Healing someone who is mute is one of the miracles that only the Messiah could do, and the crowd marvels at the miracle. But, instead of hailing Jesus as the Messiah, some people demand another sign to confirm the miracle. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth! Jesus doesn’t comply with their request, and while chastising them for this line of thinking, He says a couple of really important things…well, everything He says is important, but I want to point out these two, which summarize His other statements:

But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you... Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. (Luke 11:20 & 23 ESV)

When we do God’s will, His kingdom has come. How is God’s will done? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. And if we are not working with God, then we are working against Him, and our efforts will come to naught or be scattered. I love that Luke includes in the middle of this flow of events two seemingly random declarations:

1. Jesus declares that spirits who are cast out will return and look to see if their place is clean but empty of the Holy Spirit. If it is empty, they will bring seven worse demons with them, making the person worse off than before.

   1. This shows the importance of seeking the Holy Spirit once we are free.

2. A woman declares that the mother who nursed Jesus is blessed.

   1. Jesus corrects her. We shouldn’t focus on blessing Mary, but on being blessed by learning God’s ways and doing His will.

When viewed in this light, both of these random-seeming remarks are deeply linked to the Our Father prayer: Doing God’s will through the Holy Spirit, whom we should seek and ask for. Following these examples, Jesus declares that the generation in Israel is evil because it is seeking a sign instead of accepting Jesus because of the works He is doing. A Pharisee still invites Him to dinner despite Jesus declaring a curse on this generation. The host is astonished that the Lord doesn’t wash His hands in the customary ritualistic way that has become a tradition.

But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside you yourselves are full of greed and robbery and extortion and malice and wickedness. You senseless (foolish, stupid) ones [acting without reflection or intelligence]! Did not He Who made the outside make the inside also? But [dedicate your inner self and] give as donations to the poor of those things which are within [of inward righteousness] and behold, everything is purified and clean for you.” (Luke 11:39-41 AMPC)

When Jesus speaks of cleansing the outside of the dishes, He is referring to their outward presentation, their robes, the Temple, and teachings, how they are well-kept and orderly. Yet, the wisdom brought forth is motivated toward gaining wealth and wickedness. Jesus tells us that God’s true way is to freely give the wisdom God has brought us to those who are poor in spirit, who need to learn. This is what brings purification or righteousness.

How many of today’s spiritual leaders need to hear and live by this? Do they freely give the wisdom God has brought to those who are poor in spirit? Or are they charging for wisdom and even worship songs for greed, robbery, and extortion? The next verses show us that this is the right application of these scriptures.

But woe to you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every [little] herb, but disregard and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. (Luke 11:42 AMPC)

The Pharisees were focused on money, even tithing the increase in herbs. But they were neglecting justice and the love of God. The Greek word translated as justice is krisis (kree'-sis), which means not only justice but injustice, right or wrong. The love of God wants every person to escape Hell. It freely gives wisdom that leads others to God. It doesn’t focus on what compensation we should receive for this knowledge. Giving wisdom freely doesn’t mean we stop tithing; we have to do both. The Lord continues to reveal the pitfall of leadership:

Woe to you, Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and [you love] to be greeted and bowed down to in the [public] marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like graves which are not marked or seen, and men walk over them without being aware of it [and are ceremonially defiled]. (Luke 11:43-44 AMPC)

As spiritual leaders, the Pharisees wanted to receive honor from others. This is a wrong focus. Both of these behaviors mentioned by the Lord lead to darkness. Those who receive from leaders like this are “walking over unmarked graves.” This metaphor means it is bringing darkness or a distance between God and man to those following them.

One of the Lawyers, an expert on the Mosaic law, accused Jesus of insulting them with the rebuke of the Pharisees… When you were a kid, did you ever try to correct an adult when they were disciplining a sibling? Jesus’ response is much like that. He begins by rebuking or addressing the faults of that particular group. I will leave out the scriptures directed at the actions of this generation and include only that which he applies to all generations:

But He said, Woe to you, the lawyers, also! For you load men with oppressive burdens hard to bear, and you do not personally [even [gently] touch the burdens with one of your fingers. (Luke 11:46 AMPC)

Woe to you, lawyers (experts in the Mosaic Law)! For you have taken away the key to knowledge; you did not go in yourselves, and you hindered and prevented those who were entering. (Luke 11:52 AMPC)

The sin the “experts” in the Law were guilty of was placing “burdens” on the people they were teaching in the name of the Law. This is a religious spirit that causes us to set high requirements and judge others harshly. We actually lose the key to the understanding of “going in” when we listen to people who have strict rules for us to follow. Where should we be going into?

Judas said to him, not Iscariot, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”Jesus answered and said to him, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our stay with him. He that loves Me not keeps not My sayings: and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me. (John 14:22-24 AKJV)

If we love Jesus, we will do as He tells us to do. This is not obeying the 600+ traditions of Israel’s Talmud, but learning about what Jesus expects of us and doing it. When we listen to our Lord, both He and God will come and “stay” with us. This is going into a relationship with God. It is why Jesus came.

What steps would you take if there was an opportunity to visit and become friends with the leader of your country? What would you do to obtain that privilege? Our Lord expects us to learn His ways and try to do them. As we do this, our Father and Jesus come more into our lives.

Christians must scrutinize who they are listening to and where the majority of their focus is. Are you listening to spiritual leaders who are in hidden graves? Are they freely giving the wisdom they have received or are they greedy and focused on making sure they are compensated by charging for their work? Christian teachings or worship can be nicely packaged in pretty books, just as the Pharisees loved to look good. These good-looking teachings or even worship are charged for through a copyright, connecting them to greed and the spirit of mammon, so that the spiritual leaders make sure they are compensated for their investment and effort.

Others need to examine whether their focus is on following a set of predetermined patterns, rules, and prayers that could make one feel condemned or superior to others. Some of the teachings in that church may be leading you into darkness rather than light if you have been taught to pray and keep asking for what you want or need because you are focusing on the world and your desires rather than God’s ability to provide all things.

These are some hidden avenues of “darkness,” when we think we are receiving the Light of Jesus. We should be praying as Jesus taught us to pray: asking to know God’s will so that we can do it, empowered by the Holy Spirit, knowing that God is our provider and He knows what we need.

Jesus is God’s greatest gift to mankind, and through that gift, we receive something that only prophets in the times of old had: the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God. Will you knock on God’s door, seeking and asking for more of the Holy Spirit each day? His love never fails. If your desire is truly to do His will, He will send the Holy Spirit so that you can accomplish it! If you are His willing servant, He will provide for your needs.