Reel Luke

Jesus Teaches about Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Intro to Reel Luke
Reel Luke Leader's Guide
More Reel Questions

Helpful Stuff to Know

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  • Jesus didn't call his sample prayer “The Lord’s Prayer.” That’s a title people gave it many centuries later. Some people also call it the “Our Father.”
  • The same prayer with slightly different wording is found in Matthew 6:9-13.

Be Sure Not to Miss

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  • Though Jesus’ sample prayer is quite short, he often prayed for a long time (for example in the garden before his crucifixion). There isn’t one right way to pray. But this sample prayer does teach that short, simple, and direct prayers are welcomed by God.
  • The Lord’s Prayer does these things:
  1. honors the Father for who he is
  2. honors the Father’s plans and purposes
  3. asks for basic daily needs
  4. asks for deep spiritual needs
  • After teaching the disciples how to pray, Jesus then told a story about prayer. He taught in two different ways so that everyone would have a chance to understand and learn.
  • Verse 13 explains verse 9. If someone reads verse 9 in isolation, they could get the wrong idea.

Be Careful About

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  • Jesus didn’t say we had to say the exact words he taught (though that’s OK). He said this is how​ we should pray — simple and direct. But sometimes we’re hurting so badly we don’t even know what to say. In those cases, the Spirit prays for us (see Romans 8:26-28).
  • The story Jesus told after his sample prayer doesn’t teach that we’ll get whatever was ask for if we just believe enough. It does teach that the Father will give his Spirit to his children, which is the greatest gift he could give anyone.

1. Read Luke 11:1–13

Here's a few different ways you can read and recap the story with your group.

  • Read it through one time with people just listening to you. Then read it through a second time with people following along in their own Bibles.
  • Ask a few people to act out the story while you read it.
  • Ask one or two people to retell the story after hearing it.
  • Ask two people to retell the story in the first person, as though they were actually there. One person can do the play-by-play (tell the details of what happened), and the other can offer color commentary (add details about how they felt, what surprised them, what confused them, etc.). First-person retelling can make the story feel more real. It's also a blast.

2. Reel Questions (set the scene)

  • Where did this story happen? What do you think it looked like? Smelled like? Sounded like?
  • Make a list of all the people in the story (including "crowd" if there is one), and give a one-word description of each e.g. impatient, desperate, funny, selfish, awkward, etc.
  • List everything that Jesus did and said in the story. What was your favorite scene or statement?

3. Story-Specific Questions

  • Why do you think Jesus’ sample prayer is short and simple instead of long and complicated?
  • What are some ways you can make this sample prayer your own?
  • Jesus said that with his arrival, the Kingdom of God had arrived. He also said in this prayer and other places that the Kingdom was still coming. How can something be “now” and “not yet” at the same time? How do we experience God’s Kingdom now? What are some ways that the Kingdom isn’t totally here yet?
  • What are some ways you can make prayer a more regular part of your life with Jesus?
  • For more, see our lesson on Time in Prayer​ in the Head-Heart-Hands series.

4. Wrap-Up Question

  • Why do you think this story is included in the Bible? What do you think God wants us to learn from it?

5. Pray