Power-Packed Prayer Намуна

Passion-filled prayer 

In Luke 11:5-13, Jesus directs His followers from what to pray to how to pray – the attitude of your prayers. Our hearts need to be ablaze with a passion for prayer. Rote, empty prayers have no power. They are meaningless and vain.

Jesus shares a story to show us the need for deep emotion when we pray. These emotions help ignite your prayers. They are the match that sets your 3-word prayers ablaze in God’s power. 

Without passion, few accomplish anything of significance. Whether it is business, sports, entertainment, or academia, passion is essential for success. 

When obstacles arise, it is passion that motivates you to press on. Passion proves the strength of your desire to have that which you’re working for. The same is true with prayer. 

God despises lifeless prayers from empty hearts. There is no power in the hearts of people who honor God with their lips and mouths while their hearts are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). 

Jesus echoed this same thought from Isaiah in Matthew 15:8. He challenged the babbling of pagans in prayer (Matthew 6:7) and the meaningless repetition of the Pharisees’ prayers. For prayers to have power, they need to have passion. Three-word prayers must have passionate emotion fueling them as well. They cannot become meaningless babble and vain repetition. They must flow fervently from your heart to God’s. 

Now, passion does not mean you’ve got it all figured out and everything is fine. Passion can erupt from a place of brokenness, fatigue, and even doubt. Passionate prayer simply means you’re laying it all at the feet of your Father in heaven. And he loves prayers that erupt enthusiastically from a heart that yearns for an answer. He is the Father. He is your Father. He is a good Father. If you ask Him for anything, He will hear your request. 

Jesus asked His followers a poignant question: If a father’s children ask for a fish, will he give them a serpent? Of if they ask for an egg, will he give them a scorpion? The answer is rhetorical: Of course not! Earthly fathers, who are filled with selfishness themselves, desire to give only good gifts to their kids. Even the worst mafia boss showers good gifts on his kids.

Jesus then argued from the lesser to the greater. If sinful, selfish earthly fathers yearn to give good gifts to their kids, how much more does the good, loving, and kind heavenly Father desire to give good gifts to His children? 

Your Father longs to bless you to the deepest parts of your soul. That’s who He is. And knowing who He is fuels how you pray. So pray with passion, crying out to Him persistently, expectantly, and gratefully. 

• How would you describe the friend’s knocking in the story in Luke 11? Do those same words describe how you approach prayer?
• How do you feel about words like passion, fervor, and intensity? What keeps you from praying that way?
• Why do you think God wants us to pray this way?
• God is more gracious than any friend you might have or even the best of earthly fathers. He is more loving than anyone. Write five 3-word prayers that reflect His character and pray them passionately.