The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 11:1-12 comments: a model prayer to go by

Luke 11:1 ¶  And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3  Give us day by day our daily bread. 4  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. 5  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6  For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7  And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

In a great passage on prayer one of Jesus’ disciples asks a logical question about how His followers should pray. Jesus replies with a model that starts with identifying to whom you are praying, God the Father in Heaven. He then praises the Father and prays that the name of God be hallowed, holy, set apart. Of course, in our world His name is all too often used as a curse word with no reverence or respect with even Christians using substitutes for God and Jesus Christ like gosh, golly, and gee whiz. I heard a child once say that when you love someone their name is safe in your mouth. Using God’s name flippantly as a curse word or exclamation does not show love at all, of course.

Jesus then tells the disciple to pray for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven, to arrive on earth, to be fulfilled, and that God’s will, clearly His perfect, directive will rather than just permission, be done on earth as it is in Heaven. He then brings the prayer down to asking for God to supply daily needs. In history, for the common man at least, hunger and starvation were constant threats, as well as the disease that consumed a body weakened by day-in and day-out hunger. When Jesus was giving the great sermon popularly called ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ He noted;

Matthew 6:25 ¶  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

After asking for what was needed in that day Jesus told the disciple to pray for their sins against God to be forgiven in the same manner that they forgave sins committed against them. This rather radical statement says that we are not worthy to have our sins forgiven if we are not willing to forgive others. Peter questioned such a command.

Matthew 18:21 ¶  Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22  Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Certainly, the nature of our forgiveness is a little different than God’s due to our finite and weak position. When God forgives He restores fellowship with Him. We dare not always do that. The shop-owner who forgives the cashier who stole money from them would be an idiot to put that person back on the cash register if the person was even kept in the employment at all. They might forgive the person and wish them no harm but dismiss them from their job for prudence sake.

In the same respect if a person in a position of trust and authority harms a child sexually or physically in some other manner it is possible to forgive them but it is never acceptable to ever let them be in a position of trust and authority again where they can hurt children. And, if the offender were a Christian they would never want to be put in that position again or ask to be.

So, our forgiveness does not always involve restoration although it could. A spouse may forgive an adultery and restore their cheating spouse to the marriage or they may forgive and simply acknowledge the irreconcilable breach caused by the adulterer and move on.

But, regardless of the ability or willingness to restore or not, it is essential that we forgive those who sin against us, even the most egregious sins against our person or soul. One of the greatest causes of mental illness is the unwillingness to forgive or to be forgiven. It will eat you alive and ruin your life even more than the actions of the perpetrator. By not forgiving them you give them power to hurt you again and again and again.

Christ calls us to forgive trespasses against us. It is not only a command but it is a healthy thing to do lest bitterness consume us. This statement of Christ underscores that we are in a time before the Resurrection and this is still a very Jewish prayer that suggests you will not be forgiven if you do not forgive. Jewish and Gentile Christians are not saved or lost based on their willingness to forgive but on their faith in Christ and in His righteousness, the fact that He forgave them, to get to Heaven. Be careful how you apply this verse and this prayer although it is a great prayer for us all to remind us of our need to forgive and how much Christ has forgiven us.

Then, we come to a very confusing statement for those people who do not read and cross-reference their Bible. What is a temptation? Biblically defined a temptation is a test, a trial, a proving of your faith and trust in God. The Devil tempts us in the hopes that we will fall away from Christ and reject Him, while God tempts and tries us to reveal our faith.

James 1:13 ¶  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

So, a temptation can be sin itself as it leads you away from God. Many people, especially young people, have abandoned their faith when the lusts of youth demanded their attention. A noted evolutionary biologist, Edward O. Wilson, wrote a book entitled Consilience in which he writes in chapter one about the joy he felt when he found and believed in the theory of evolution and the unity of all sciences with that atheistic determinism as their foundation, well unquestionable fact more than theory to him with the following as part of his journey to atheism;

On a far more modest scale, I found it a wonderful feeling not just to taste the unification metaphysics but also to be released from the confinement of fundamentalist religion. I had been raised a Southern Baptist, laid backward under the water on the sturdy arm of a pastor, been born again. I knew the healing power of redemption. Faith, hope, and charity were in my bones, and with millions of others I knew that my savior Jesus Christ would grant me eternal life. More pious than the average teenager, I read the Bible cover to cover, twice. But now at college, steroid-driven into moods of adolescent rebellion, I chose to doubt.

It can also be suffering that puts pressure on your faith and, if you are not grounded in God’s word, can lead you away from Him in your pain and anguish.

Galatians 4:14  And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

And it can be persecution that forces you, in order to be accepted by people or to keep from losing life, liberty, family, employment, or property, to consider turning your back on God. Essentially, though, a temptation is a test, a time of trial, and it can be caused by many different circumstances. It is rarely a pleasant experience and if our faith is weak and not grounded it can lead to disaster.

Evil, synonymous with a temptation here, can be in context simply trouble, the calamity that comes to our lives from giving into temptations or the trouble that comes to us naturally living in fallen bodies in a fallen world. It can also be judgment’s consequences.

Matthew 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Genesis 47:9  And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

In this prayer that which challenges our faith is a malicious event that can bring us down. The person praying was pleading to be delivered from all such harms, griefs, disappointments, and discouragements that challenge faith.

Then, Jesus gives a short parable on being persistent in prayer, promising that God will provide your needs. As Jesus said in regard to our basic needs in Luke, chapter 12, and in Matthew, chapter 6, quoted above.

Of course, your cellphone service payment and the mortgage on the house at the beach don’t count as needs. We’re talking about what is needed to get by from day to day. God uses other people sometimes to provide our needs and needs are met most assuredly while we are doing our part. I have always been amazed at Christians who are struggling and yet refuse employment, refuse to improve their work skills, or insist that not only do they need someone to give them something but want to have the right to demand exactly in what form it is given.

With regard to temptation Paul offered this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

1Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

In the context of verse 13 evil is that capacity to be malicious and hard-hearted, capable and willing of doing harm.

Genesis 37:33  And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

Genesis 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

We know this is an accurate description of even the best of people at their core from our own experience if we are honest and from the Bible.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The point here is that God will answer this prayer if made sincerely, persistently, and within the confines of what we know to be His will. This is a promise we are challenged to press for the fulfillment of, being constant in prayer. We ought to pray it every day.