Teach Us To Pray

This morning I felt led to read from Luke 11:2-13 NIV:

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

'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 

[3] Give us each day our daily bread. 

[4] Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. 

And lead us not into temptation. ' ” 

[5] Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; [6] a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.' [7] And suppose the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' [8] I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. 

[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. 

[11] “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? [12] Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

I always found these verses so encouraging.  This morning I have been reflecting on my daily life to see if I am praying as Jesus taught?  I think most days I am honoring of the Lord, praising Him for His blessing in my life, His direction and guidance, which seems to fulfill verse two.  However, I am aware that I am not conscious enough of His Kingdom, as it is something that we must pursue and promote.  Lord, help me to be more Kingdom focused!

As for provision, it always seems a bit self-serving to me to pray for the Lord to release provision into my life, but that is exactly what the Lord encourages.  For me this helps me remember who my provider is!  I am not my provider, my company isn't my provider, the Lord is my provider.  He has faithfully and consistently led me down paths that are better than I would have imagined, and I am grateful.

Forgiveness is one of those words that should be in our daily expressions, and prayers for sure.  I like the fact that Jesus says forgiveness is a sort of two way street.  We must have an awareness of our own sinfulness, and our own offended nature.  We cannot seek forgiveness if we are not willing to forgive.  This is the flip side of taking responsibility for our actions and for our offenses.  We have somehow elevated being offended to a type of right.  Being offended is essentially being unwilling to extend forgiveness... yikes.  In my opinion, this is one of the more important lines in the prayer.

Finally, in this version we are told to pray that we are not led into temptation.  This specific translation version doesn't add "but deliver us from the evil one" at the end of verse 4.  It should be clear that God doesn't lead us into temptation.  The Greek word used here can also be translated as "test" and from Strong's we find the following word helps - "3986 peirasmós (from 3985 /peirázō) – temptation or test – both senses can apply simultaneously (depending on the context). The positive sense ("test") and negative sense ("temptation") are functions of the context (not merely the words themselves).  

Personally I find that the Lord regularly tests me, but it is always with a positive motive.  He is desiring to see if I have understood and applied what He has been teaching me, that I might move on to the next subject.  His motivation is to help me mature and become more like Him, and He knows I am far from like Him, and will require plenty of education, training, tweaking and encouragement.  I don't ever feel like the tests have a punishment component, as He is for me and bringing correction without punishment. 

The evil one, n the other hand is constantly at work in our lives to lead us away from the Lord, away from others, and separated from the Body.  His goal is to get us to focus on ourselves, not the Lord or others.  It is almost impossible to love others when we are only focused on ourselves.  

The rest of the verses, where Jesus encourages us to ask, seek, and knock are wonderful reminders of God's gracious nature.  He delights in releasing blessing into our lives, and is not a frugal giver!

Lord, thank You for reminding me today of Your encouragement to pray, to ask, to seek, to knock, to forgive, and to repent!  

Amen and Amen!