Praying the Mission

I. How, What, Why, When, Where—and to Whom—Do You Pray?
Reflect: Is your life one of unfulfilled desires (James 4:2-3), or powerful prayers (James 5:13-18)?

II. Prayer in Luke

Luke is punctuated by prayer at significant times, 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).
Before his disciples ask him how to pray (11:1ff).
On the night he is betrayed, for his disciples (22:32).
In Gethsemane as his disciples sleep (22:41).

And 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's forgiveness (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 the 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.

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 Jesus still sends them out in 10:1-2 and 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 an extended Kaddish:

centered on his—now our—Father's work,
shifting from cosmic frame to community frame,
and from the Father's role to ours.

The Lord's Prayer is a 'rule of prayer' (lex orandi) to see whether our prayers serve God's true mission (thus James 5)

or some other rival mission (thus James 4).
This practical intimacy will shape and govern our theological imaginations (lex credendi).

V. Mission Parameters
The disciples were slow to know God's mission through Israel, Jesus, and the Church.
The prayer's petitions are God's mission parameters (Luke 11:2-4):

achieving 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 to restore people (atonement), and
saving us in his Son through his Spirit (worship).

Learning the mission means learning the story of Jesus, Christ crucified and risen, and our place in it.
The disciples come to understand because they live that story.
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, Zúme prayer cycle, tongues, vigils, fasting, etc.)

The unremitting 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.