Luke 11:1-8 New American Standard Bible 1995
Instruction about Prayer
11 It happened that while [a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘[b]Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 ‘Give us each day our [c]daily bread.
4 ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
5 Then He said to them, “[d]Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children [e]and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his [f]persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘[b]Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 ‘Give us each day our [c]daily bread.
4 ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his [f]persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
Sometimes I wonder that Christians talk and write too much about prayer.
It would be better if, like the disciples, we’d watch and learn as others pray.
Today’s Bible reading shows that Jesus had no problem having his disciples watch him pray. It must have been quite profound and inspirational the way that Jesus prayed that made one disciple urge him to teach them all to pray.
It is the practice of Jewish men to open their days with the Shema prayer from Deuteronomy 6:4 and then pray the same prayer three or more times per day.
The prayer begins and concludes every single worship service in the synagogue.
It begins and concludes every individual and family prayer session in the home.
4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
Is there a new teaching coming from the Master Rabbi?
Is there a radically significant change coming about their routine of Prayer?
Jesus responded by teaching them to pray what is now known as “the Lord’s Prayer.” (See also Matthew 6:9-13.)
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day [a]our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from [b]evil. [c][For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
More likely an enhancement, a deepening of the personal relationship each of them already shares. We can be assured that Jesus’ praying was not limited to the brief petitions here. Prayer is an integral part of our relationship with God. Jesus made that clear by adding the illustration of a dialogue between friends.
In light of this, we should understand that daily praying to our Heavenly Father as boldly as we would approach a friend probably surprised the disciples as well as many other followers-teach others to pray-teach others what they all know?
A friend’s boldness is based on the measure and depth of their friendship, and we can definitely trust our heavenly Father to be so much closer than a friend.
John 15:13-16 New American Standard Bible 1995
13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
So too our heavenly Father will give us what friendship we need—and often, much more that is good for us.
Mainly, though, it’s our needs that God will provide, not our wants—and we can trust that.
So too I pray we may be bold, persistent as we talk with our Father in heaven?
Why Do We Need Jesus Every Hour?
Luke 11:1-4 New American Standard Bible 1995
Instruction about Prayer
11 It happened that while [a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘[b]Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 ‘Give us each day our [c]daily bread.
4 ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
In joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide,
Or life is vain.
There is nothing quite as sweet as getting a worship song stuck in your head and having the lyrics float back into your head throughout the day–often when you need them most.
To me, it feels like an affectionate touch from Jesus, a playful reminder that he is there with me and experiencing my day with me.
Like a lover pulling your face towards them so they can look into your eyes, Jesus uses so many things to bring our attention back to him.
The lyrics that have been floating around my head for the past week have been from the 1873 hymnal “I Need Thee Every Hour:”
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
The funny thing is, I really struggle with believing that I need Jesus every hour.
My pride hates having that kind of desperation; my fear hates having to depend on someone else. But these lyrics remind us that in every instance that we need Jesus is an instance that he shows up for us.
So why do we need Jesus every hour? And why is this a beautiful thing?
1. Provision
“The Spirit of God has made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4
We depend on Jesus for everything–even our very breath!
As much as we trick ourselves into thinking we can do it all on our own, we would be nothing without the provision of Jesus.
Sure, we can handle having a full-time job, raising kids, and working out.
But can we provide ourselves with oxygen?
Can we cause food to grow by our own stubborn will?
Did we even INVENT food, or is that also something that God created to take care of us?
Our sovereign trinity provides every breath for us, every morsel of food, every drop of water, every fiber of shelter, every relationship.
The next time you’re conscious of your breathing, thank Jesus for sustaining your life with his own breath.
2. Existence
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” John 1:3-4
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” Hebrews 1:3a
Everything that we see, have, experience all comes from Jesus.
He created everything in this beautiful world for our benefit.
And in him is life!
Jesus sustains our existence.
Even though it may feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders, the truth is that Jesus upholds everything and everyone by his own power.
We are utterly dependent on him–and he is so happy to be depended on.
3. Grace
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
Jesus’ blood continually cleanses us from sin.
Even when we think we’ve had a “pretty good day” and can’t recall any overt sin that we committed, there’s a 100% chance that each and every single one of us have still “fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
We still secretly harbor jealousy or bitterness towards our coworkers, friends, or family. We still think nasty things about the guy who cut us off in traffic. We will still take the very last piece of pie, cake instead of considering our spouse.
We sin in a million, instantaneous, indiscernible ways every day.
But Jesus’ blood continually cleanses us anyways.
What a gift that we receive again and again and again.
4. Belonging
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–” John 1:12
Belonging to a family is one of the deepest, most inherent, most essential needs that we are born into this world with.
It’s how we get our identity, our sense of safety, our purpose, and our bearing in a scary, complex world. And this is something we’ll never grow out of needing.
Even if our family rejects us, we have a family because of Jesus.
Psalm 27:10 New American Standard Bible 1995
10 [a]For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But the Lord will take me up.
Even if we reject ourselves,
Psalm 22:6 New American Standard Bible 1995
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
Jesus will always still give us a place to belong!
5. Security
“What they trust in is fragile; what they rely on is a spider’s web.” Job 8:14
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” Isaiah 28:16
Speaking of a scary world, it is extremely disorienting when we realize that the things we typically put our trust in–our jobs, our marriage, our money, our status, etc.–are just spiderwebs. They don’t hold us up for even one second.
But Jesus is the cornerstone that can depended on.
He guides the building of the rest of our lives and makes it so we can ultimately know what we’re doing and where we’re going.
As the 1834 hymn “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” puts it:
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.
6. Unconditional Love
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
This is a good thing!
The God of love created us, God himself is love.
Love gives our existence meaning.
Without love, we are alone, purposeless, and darkened.
We especially need this unconditional love when we have messed up (which, as I’ve said, happens innumerable times a day).
Even if you’re a tough guy and think you could make it in life without love, just think about the times from your childhood that you were harmed by others’ not loving you the way you needed. We all need love, and we all need it all the time.
Thankfully, Jesus demonstrated that his love is as unconditional as it gets: dying for us while we were still his enemies.
7. Salvation
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
We don’t know when Jesus is coming back or when the day of judgment will be–Jesus himself doesn’t even know! (Matthew 24:36).
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
And I, for one, don’t wish to be relying on my own righteousness when that day does come.
We rely on Jesus’ salvation every second of every day, because we can do nothing on our own (John 15:5).
5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
It is such a beautiful thing that we have Jesus to rely on.
He gives us our breath; he sustains our very existence; he continually purifies us; he gives us a place at the table; he is our Rock; he loves us no matter what; and he cannot wait to take us home with him as his bride when that day comes. (Psalm 18)
We do need him every hour. Truly, we need him minute, every second, every millisecond, every nanosecond, for eternity!
And thankfully, Jesus himself kindly invites us to depend on him: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’” (Matthew 19:14).
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 42 New American Standard Bible 1995
BOOK 2
Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.
42 As the deer [b]pants for the water brooks,
So my soul [c]pants for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and [d]appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng and [e]lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you [f]in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
[g]Hope in God, for I shall [h]again praise [i]Him
For the [j]help of His presence.
6 O my God, my soul is [k]in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the [l]peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning [m]because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you [n]in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
[o]Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The [p]help of my countenance and my God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 