Praying the Mission

I. How, What, Why, When, Where—and to Whom—Do You Pray?
Prayer is a fundamental practice in Christian faith (and other faiths).
Prayers express our relationships with God and others.

Jesus' praying expresses his identity in relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
and he invites his people to be adopted into him and his relationships (Isa 56:5, Matt 17:24-27, Gal 4:4-7, Rom 8:14-17).

An axiom in mainstream Christian theology is lex orandi, lex credendi: "the rule of prayer is the rule of belief."

I.e., In relationship we know God, and prayer (etc.) is deep God-relationship—or can be.

**Is your life one of unfulfilled desires and requests (James 4:2-3), or powerful prayers (James 5:13-18)?

II. Prayer in Luke-Acts

**Luke's Gospel highlights prayer at key times, often before breakthroughs. For instance:

John the Baptist's annunciation (1:10).
Jesus' baptism (3:21).
In solitude as his fame grows (5:16).
Before calling the Twelve (6:12).
Before Peter's confession that he is the Messiah (9:18).
At the Transfiguration (9:28-29).
For harvest workers (10:2).
Before his disciples ask him how to pray (11:1ff).
On the night he is betrayed, for his disciples (22:32). (No 'drops of blood' though.)
In Gethsemane as his disciples sleep (22:41).

So also in Acts:

Apostles awaiting God (1:14).
Before replacing Judas Iscariot (1:24).
For boldness, after persecution (4:23-31).
Before appointing 'deacons' (servants) (6:6-7).
Stephen, forgiving (7:60).
For signs and wonders (9:40-42).
In Peter meeting Cornelius (10-11).
For imprisoned Peter (12:12).
With fasting, before commissioning Paul and Barnabas (13:1-3)
In appointing church leaders (14:23).
Imprisoned Paul and Silas, saving their jailer (16:25-34).
Before Paul goes from Ephesus to Jerusalem (20:36-38, 21:5-6).
Paul receiving a word of knowledge at Jerusalem's Temple (22:17-21).
In Malta, healing Publius' father (28:8).

III. Prayer Serves God's Mission

In Luke-Acts (and Paul, and the rest of the NT) all this praying is set within the unfolding mission of God

through Israel, Jesus, and church,
and generally for what God already desires to do! (Why?)

Jesus' deputized disciples are not equipped to participate in that mission:

They fail to understand Jesus at the Transfiguration (9:33),
misunderstand the Kingdom's greatness (9:44-45),
reject the Son of Man's rejection (9:46-48), and
misinterpret that rejection as calling for wrath (9:51-55).

In sum, they are rather "James 4-ish."

Yet in 10:1-2 Jesus still sends them out praying to the Lord of the Harvest,
and he warns of rejection.

They joyfully return in 10:17, and he gently rebukes them in 10:20,
promising two starkly diverging futures in 10:25-37 (lawyer v. Good Samaritan)
and 10:38-42 (Martha v. Mary).

The need to be "James 5ish" sets the stage for asking Jesus how they (not just he) should pray.

IV. Christ Prays his Mission—with Us
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray during the 'travel narrative' to Calvary (18:1-8, 9-18) **facing the trials to come (21:36, 22:40, 22:46).

He answers their request with 'the Lord's Prayer':

an extended Kaddish
centered on his—now our—Father's work,
shifting from a cosmic frame to a community frame,
and (like the sails) from the Father's role to ours.

The Lord's Prayer is a 'rule of prayer' (lex orandi)

**to align our prayers and lives with God's true mission in Christ (thus James 5)
versus some other rival mission (like James 4).
This practical intimacy can ground, shape, and govern our theological imaginations (lex credendi).

V. When and Why Praying Works
Even after Luke 10:17's successes the disciples were slow to grasp God's mission.
The prayer's petitions are God's mission parameters (Matt 6:9-13, cf. Luke 11:2-4):

publicizing the holiness of our Father's name (theology),
announcing his Kingdom's advent (new creation),
realizing his will on earth (pneumatology);
resourcing his people to share his good news (providence),
replenishing our relationships in order to restore people (atonement), and
saving us in his Son through his Spirit (worship).

Aligning with the mission means aligning with the story of Israel and its crucified and risen Messiah, and with our place in it.

This is the heart of theology and the core of essential Christian doctrine.
In living that story, the disciples come to understand God and themselves.

We pray the Son's mission with the Son's persistence (Luke 11:5-10) to receive the Son's Spirit, for others (Luke 11:11-13)

in this and other forms of prayer (psalms, vigils, fasting, tongues, Zúme prayer cycle, 5x5 groups, Life Transformation Groups, etc.)
[Link to prayer page.]

Such persistent praying manifests mysterious divine power in the 'cooperative grace' of fellowship with God.

It bears real fruit (i.e., 'answers'), not just attitudinal change in those who pray.
(So what will you do with what you know, and whom should you bless by sharing it? ...)
Multiplying extraordinary prayer characterizes DMMs:
"Before a disciple-making movement, there is a prayer movement."
This carries decisive lessons for understanding how divine and human agency can, should, and will relate.

The negativity of the rest of Luke 11 announces the consequences of rebelling against Christ's mission;

the transfiguring work of mission-aligned prayer in the Father's heart converts James 4 prayer-life into James 5 prayer-life.
It's ours for the having.