Day 11 Luke
chapter 11
“And He said to them, When you pray, say: ‘Father,
hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily
bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is
indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” (vv.2-4 NASB).
Jesus had a habit of praying. He knew that He needed to
commune with Father to strengthen Himself for the work set before Him. How I
would love to lay peacefully nearby to listen to Jesus as He spoke with the
Father. The disciples had this privilege. They hung on every word that flowed
from His mouth. The disciples witnessed His prayer life and how He connected with
Father in a beautiful, intimate relationship; they wanted the same. The
disciples knew Jesus prayed confidently and faithfully, and He nurtured His
prayer life (see Day
5 for earlier writing on the subject). They asked Him to teach them to pray
the same way.
Jesus begins by teaching them that we must approach the
Father with reverence and awe. God is our Father and His Name is to be
hallowed. We are to pray that His kingdom comes to the earth and operate as it
does in heaven and for His will to be done. He also teaches us to ask for daily
provision for our needs; He cares about every need we have and by bringing our
needs to Him, we are demonstrating our trust in Him. Jesus also charges us to
ask for forgiveness for our sins, however, our forgiveness hinges on our ability
to freely forgive others. We are also to ask for God to deliver us out of situations
that would cause us to sin. We will never be exempt from temptations—but we are
strengthened to overcome them with God as our Father, Christ as our intercessor,
and the Holy Spirit as our comforter and guide. We pray to be delivered from
the evil in this world because we are not of this world though we must reside
here.
We are God’s children and we have, through Christ, the right
to ask God for anything—especially when asking for help to live the way He
instructs and to spread the good news of the Gospel. Jesus tells the disciples
and us, that we don’t have these things because we have not asked. He reveals
through a parable (vv. 5-13) that we must be persistent in our prayers. We must
ask, seek, and knock. Jesus promises that the Father is good and will give to
those who ask of Him when we pray in the manner Jesus taught:
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to those who ask Him?” (v. 13).
Reach out to the Father. Come to Him in awe and wonder,
knowing that He cares for you and will take care of you. Cultivate your
relationship with the Father by coming to Him through Jesus Christ. Stand in
awe that the Creator of the universe came to love you and set you free and reconcile
you so that this wonderful, awesome relationship is possible.
~Out of love for humans, God became human.
~The reason for God’s love of man or woman lies not in
man or woman, but only in God Himself. [1]
[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Mystery Of Holy Night (New York: Crossroad
Publishing Company, 1996), 33.
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