![]() For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. For I say to you, 'Ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be opened to you. If we use it at the end of our devotions it sums up all we ought to pray for in the presence of God.ĪSK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE ( Luke 11:5-13 )ġ1:5-13 Jesus said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him towards midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves because a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to set before him' and suppose his friend answers from within, 'Don't bother me the door has already been shut and my children are in bed with me I can't get up and supply you'-I tell you, if he will not rise and supply him because he is his friend, he will rise and give him as much as he needs because of his shameless persistence. If we use it at the beginning of our devotions it awakens all kinds of holy desires which lead us on into the right pathways of prayer. Someone has said that the Lord's Prayer has two great uses in our private prayers. We cannot escape it, but we can meet it with God. It includes far more than the mere seduction to sin it covers every situation which is a challenge to and a test of a person's manhood and integrity and fidelity. When we pray we cannot do other than pray for forgiveness, for the best of us is a sinful man coming before the purity of God. The distant scene-one step enough for me." We are not to worry about the unknown future, but to live a day at a time. Only enough for the needs of the day might be gathered. This goes back to the old story of the manna in the wilderness ( Exodus 16:11-21). It tells us to pray for our daily bread but it is bread for the day for which we pray. Only when we give God his place will other things take their proper place. Before anything is asked for ourselves, God and his glory, and the reverence due to him, come first. (iii) We must note particularly the order of the Lord's Prayer. It means that those who know the whole character and mind and heart of God will gladly put their trust in him. Psalms 9:10 says, "Those who know thy name put their trust in thee." That means far more than knowing that God's name is Jehovah. ![]() ![]() The name means the whole character of the person as it is revealed and known to us. (ii) In Hebrew the name means much more than merely the name by which a person is called. The very first word tells us that in prayer we are not coming to someone out of whom gifts have to be unwillingly extracted, but to a Father who delights to supply his children's needs. (compare Galatians 4:6 Romans 8:15 1 Peter 1:17). That was the characteristic Christian address to God. It is shorter than Matthew's, but it will teach us all we need to know about how to pray and what to pray for. This is Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. John had done that for his disciples, and now Jesus' disciples came asking him to do the same for them. It was the regular custom for a Rabbi to teach his disciples a simple prayer which they might habitually use. And forgive us our sins as we too forgive everyone who is in debt to us. Give to us each day our bread for the day. O Father, let your name be held in reverence. 11:1-4 Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say,
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