Luke 11 - 9.11.25

S – Luke 11:1-4; 9-10

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]’”

9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

O -  In this chapter the Disciples are asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. When we look at the order of Jesus’ prayer, we see that he praises God BEFORE he makes his requests. When we praise God first, it puts us in the right frame of mind to then tell him about our needs. We need to be cognizant not to be hurried in our prayer time and just present a wish list to God. He could check off our entire list in a single moment if He wanted to, but then where would our communication and relationship be? These versus focus on our prayer’s content, persistence, and God’s faithfulness. His goal is that we come to Him EVERYday, with ALL of it…our gratitude, our love for him, our fears, worries, hurts, anxieties, hopes and dreams, and pour it all out…not once, but continuously.

A – I love verse three and the reminder that we MUST turn to God daily!  Give us each day our daily bread. God does not provide for us all at once. Could you even imagine?! I’d like to say I would still go to Him daily to tell Him how much I love and appreciate Him, but honestly I think many of us would get everything desired and not communicate with Him again, or just as an afterthought. We would become very self-satisfied. God created us for relationship WITH Him. He wants our constant communication with Him. It was not designed to be one and done. He gives us continued strength and perseverance when we continue to seek Him as our source for all things. Persistence or boldness in prayer overcomes our insensitivity, not God’s. To practice persistence will transform OUR hearts and minds, and help us understand and express the intensity of our need for Him. Persistence in prayer helps us recognize God at work in our lives. When we have been praying for years for someone to be healed, or to come to Christ and then we see that happen ….suddenly…what a WOW moment! You know then that it could have only been at the hand of God.

Let’s be honest, NO one likes the waiting, but God is not just having us sit idly by twiddling His thumbs and watching us squirm. He is working IN and THROUGH us during that time. He is teaching us, molding us, shaping us, refining us to be more like Him all the time, and all the while He is loving us. As much as we want to give our kids everything under the stars, we know that is not what they need. I think we can all agree that raises entitled adults. Sadly, we see this everywhere. God wants the very BEST for us just like we do for our children. But sometimes He lets us hurt because that is where the growth happens, because that is when we recognize our need for Him and Him alone.

Quick story, just last night Dom asked if he could play his video games for an hour because all his homework was complete as well as his chores. The rule is that he cannot play on school days. Is it because I’m just mean? He may think so. But I know that when he is not allowed to play, he finds other, more physically active or stimulating things to do that help him grow as a young man. Now there may not be much mental growth in this example but that kid went on a mission collecting large rocks for our backyard which is something Rich has been doing on his walks with the dogs. He grabbed his backpack and went back and forth on his new bike about 10 times, filling it up. LOL  Now, if I had just let him play on his games like HE wanted, he would have just wasted an hour and got himself all worked up. Instead, he did something to help his dad out, got some fresh air and exercise, and slept like a baby.

P –  Lord may we not give up on praying for the needs in our lives, and may we also remember that our prayers are not a wish list, but a time to reflect, to give thanks to you for everything you are doing in our lives, even when we cannot see it. Help us in our faith to trust that you are working for our good just as your word says. When we are hurting and weary, may we not just think you are mean and turn from you out of anger or frustration, but instead run into your arms just as a child who has scraped their knee runs crying into the arms of their earthly father. May we know that you always have our best interests in mind when you say no, or don’t give us our way. Let us press in and grow! And thank you that no matter how many times we may mess this up, you don’t give up on US. There is nothing we need to do or perfect to have a relationship with you. JESUS is enough! Amen

- Crystal Flory