Daily Bread Luke 11
Daily Bread Luke 11
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
1One 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."
2He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.' "
5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
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. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him 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? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If 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!"
Observation:
As the disciples observed Jesus praying, they wanted further instruction on how to pray. So Jesus gives them a model for prayer. It is not meant to be exhaustive or restrictive. You will even notice that this version is a little different than the one we say today in church. There were obviously different versions of this prayer floating around in different manuscripts. Importantly though, the prayer sets out with simplicity the basics of prayer.
One is to acknowledge that the one we pray to is our Heavenly Father, but also that God is holy. There is a balance of relationship and the distinction of who God is and who we are.
Next is the basis of anything we ask, “Your kingdom come”. Even before we ask for our daily needs, we first ask for God’s kingdom to come. Other versions add your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is really a paraphrase of Your Kingdom come. God’s kingdom will come, but we pray that it will come on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for God’s rule or reign to become operative here on earth.
Then we ask for our “daily bread”. This is reminiscent of God providing daily bread to the Jews in their 40 years of wilderness wandering. It also teaches us not to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has worries of its own. This motto is also used a lot in 12 step groups like A.A., where adherents say “just for today”.
We ask for forgiveness of our sins, with the condition that we too are willing to forgive those who sin against us. It makes sense, since we are given forgiveness as a free gift that we would in turn forgive others.
Finally, we ask that we would not be lead into temptation. If we live in this earth we will certainly be tempted, but we pray not to be “led into it”. I think these are the deliberate ploys by the evil one to bring us down. If we are trying to live of life of bringing God’s kingdom in, we will certainly be opposed by the evil one, who does not want to see his reign in the world come to and end.
Application:
Although this is a simple prayer you can see it certainly covers a lot. When you think of it, there really isn’t too much it doesn’t cover. The beauty is in its simplicity. Then in the rest of the passage, we are encouraged to be bold in our prayers. The encouragement is to be relentless in our prayers, until they are answered. I think indirectly this means that we won’t always get what we pray for right away.
There are times when we will be praying for something we aren’t supposed to have, or won’t be good for us, or maybe we shouldn’t have it just yet. Just like a parent wouldn’t give their 12 year old a Ferrari, so God realizes some of things we want are not what we need! But the bottom line is God does hear our prayer and with persistence our prayers will pay off if they are God’s will for us.
And as we see in the Lord’s prayer, it helps us to pray for the right things, like things that will bring in God’s kingdom, or things we need for daily sustenance. And characteristic of Luke, he says, “How much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.” Meaning the Holy Spirit is part of our daily bread and we will need the Holy Spirit if we hope to make kingdom kind of impact.
The Holy Spirit also leads us to confess our sins and forgive those who have sinned against us.
Prayer: God we thank you for the gift of prayer. Teach us how to pray. Teach us how to be bold and confident and persist in prayer. Send your Holy Spirit to us so we can make a kingdom impact on our generation. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
1One 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."
2He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.' "
5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
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. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him 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? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If 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!"
Observation:
As the disciples observed Jesus praying, they wanted further instruction on how to pray. So Jesus gives them a model for prayer. It is not meant to be exhaustive or restrictive. You will even notice that this version is a little different than the one we say today in church. There were obviously different versions of this prayer floating around in different manuscripts. Importantly though, the prayer sets out with simplicity the basics of prayer.
One is to acknowledge that the one we pray to is our Heavenly Father, but also that God is holy. There is a balance of relationship and the distinction of who God is and who we are.
Next is the basis of anything we ask, “Your kingdom come”. Even before we ask for our daily needs, we first ask for God’s kingdom to come. Other versions add your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is really a paraphrase of Your Kingdom come. God’s kingdom will come, but we pray that it will come on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for God’s rule or reign to become operative here on earth.
Then we ask for our “daily bread”. This is reminiscent of God providing daily bread to the Jews in their 40 years of wilderness wandering. It also teaches us not to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has worries of its own. This motto is also used a lot in 12 step groups like A.A., where adherents say “just for today”.
We ask for forgiveness of our sins, with the condition that we too are willing to forgive those who sin against us. It makes sense, since we are given forgiveness as a free gift that we would in turn forgive others.
Finally, we ask that we would not be lead into temptation. If we live in this earth we will certainly be tempted, but we pray not to be “led into it”. I think these are the deliberate ploys by the evil one to bring us down. If we are trying to live of life of bringing God’s kingdom in, we will certainly be opposed by the evil one, who does not want to see his reign in the world come to and end.
Application:
Although this is a simple prayer you can see it certainly covers a lot. When you think of it, there really isn’t too much it doesn’t cover. The beauty is in its simplicity. Then in the rest of the passage, we are encouraged to be bold in our prayers. The encouragement is to be relentless in our prayers, until they are answered. I think indirectly this means that we won’t always get what we pray for right away.
There are times when we will be praying for something we aren’t supposed to have, or won’t be good for us, or maybe we shouldn’t have it just yet. Just like a parent wouldn’t give their 12 year old a Ferrari, so God realizes some of things we want are not what we need! But the bottom line is God does hear our prayer and with persistence our prayers will pay off if they are God’s will for us.
And as we see in the Lord’s prayer, it helps us to pray for the right things, like things that will bring in God’s kingdom, or things we need for daily sustenance. And characteristic of Luke, he says, “How much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.” Meaning the Holy Spirit is part of our daily bread and we will need the Holy Spirit if we hope to make kingdom kind of impact.
The Holy Spirit also leads us to confess our sins and forgive those who have sinned against us.
Prayer: God we thank you for the gift of prayer. Teach us how to pray. Teach us how to be bold and confident and persist in prayer. Send your Holy Spirit to us so we can make a kingdom impact on our generation. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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