Luke 11:1
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.”
Jesus lived it out before He taught it to others; do we? We see that Christ modeled prayer for His disciples before He taught them how to pray. It’s so important that we model the truth before we try to teach others about it. I must model the love of Christ before I try to explain it to you; it just works better that way. People are more open to receive what you’re saying when your living it out day-to-day.
Imagine a world where we lived out the commands and life of Christ before we tried to tell the world how to do it or how they are doing it wrong. Yes, we must stand firm on the truths of God’s Word, never wavering in them, but we must be living them out as well. Nothing hurts our witness more than to claim Christ and live like the devil.
Each one of us is responsible for how we live our lives and who we claim runs them. As believers, we must be extra careful in this. The world is watching and looking for a crack in our armor, a weakness they can expose. But glory to God, who is both our strength and our shield; He is our Defender and Redeemer!
Christ is both our Living example to follow and our constant Companion to lead us through. If you read the Gospels, you will see Christ living out the things He taught; can the same be said about us? We will all fall short of the standard that has been set, but we can’t just ignore it completely. Each day, we must strive in the Spirit to live a life that glorifies our God; we must shine our light to the Father’s glory! It may not be easy, it may not always be fun, but it will plant seeds in the most unexpected of places and even the hardest heart! What are we sowing today?
1 Peter 2:11,12- Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
God bless! I love you all, but His love set the standard and helps us to walk in it! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
Luke 11:5-8
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; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’”
This is part of the parable Jesus uses to teach about persevering in prayer. But here He isn’t teaching us to persevere in prayer for one’s own desires/needs but for those needs/desires of those around us! He is teaching us about intercessory prayer and persevering in it. We must be taking those around us to the throne room daily, especially those in the Body of Christ.
We know that our enemy stands before God, accusing the brethren day and night, but is there any who takes them to the Lord in prayer? Christ’s heart was to intercede and intervene on our behalf; will we do the same, following in His footsteps and praying for those around us? Jesus prayed for His disciples, He prayed for His enemies, and He prayed for those who hadn’t even been born yet. He is our Living example of what is pleasing to the Lord, and Christ was accustomed to prayer and even to this day is at the right hand of God interceding for us.
The man in this parable did not go seeking something for himself but rather went to the One who had what His friend needed to survive. We, too, must do this for our families, our friends, our coworkers, our communities, and our enemies. If Christ would have refused to pray for His enemies, then He would have been refusing to pray for you and me, for at one point in our lives, we too were enemies of the cross, and only by the grace of God are we not that anymore.
So this week, who is someone you can intentionally intercede for? Christ closes this part of the parable by saying that the man would get all that he needed for his friend, not because the man was good or deserved it but because he didn’t give up. He continued to persevere in prayer, and those around him were blessed. Can we be a people like that?
Luke 5:7,8- “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.’ 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.”
Revelation 12:10- Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”
God bless! I love you all, but His love is victory! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
Luke 11:20
“But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Jesus' words in this verse reminded me this morning of just how BIG our God is! I love the visual He paints, how God’s finger is stronger than the enemies we face! He doesn’t say the hand of God, the arm of God, or the bicep of God but the finger of God, telling us that even the littlest part of God is more than enough to give us the victory in Him.
In our busy lives, it can be easy for us to forget and truly appreciate the magnitude of the God we serve. The God who spoke order into chaos and light into darkness. The One who holds galaxies in one hand and our hearts in the other! The God who opens the eyes of the blind, strengthens the feet of the lame, and cleanses the lepers (both physical and spiritual ones) of their diseases. The One they couldn’t kill unless He let them and the same One who wouldn’t stay in the grave. The One who gives hope to the hopeless and life to the lifeless. Our God who gave His Son to save His enemies from what they deserve!
Whatever you're facing today, bring it to Him. Bring your hurts, bring your pain, bring your fears, worries, and doubts. Our God is huge, and there isn’t anything that will surprise Him, and there isn’t anything He can't handle. He was before us, He is above us, and He will be with us every step of the way! Today, let’s reverently remember and celebrate the only Living God and all that He is!
Deuteronomy 33:26-29- “There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’ So Israel will live in safety, prosperous Jacob in security, in a land of grain and new wine, while the heavens drop down dew. How blessed you are, O Israel! Who else is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your protecting shield and your triumphant sword! Your enemies will cringe before you, and you will stomp on their backs!”
God bless! I love you all, but His love is huge! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
Luke 11:49
“Because of this, God in His wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’”
Sometimes it’s below the surface that we find the hidden gems, and this verse is one of them! The footnote in my study Bible says that this is not a known quote from the Old Testament, nor is it in any known book! This wasn’t a conversation man was privileged to know about until Christ revealed it that day. It was most likely a conversation in Heaven between the Father and the Son!
This speaks of how there are so many things going on around us that we have no idea about but that He does. How to us, it was hidden, but to Him, it is known. How awesome is our God to want to share with us conversations from Heaven? Christ wants us to know that He knows things that we don’t and that we can trust Him and come to Him for the truth.
This verse also speaks of God’s sovereignty and how He speaks; truthfully and purposefully. God’s wisdom is so much greater than ours, and yet He allows us to hear it and gives us the Spirit to help us understand it. He doesn’t want us walking around in the dark but rather wants our lives to be enlightened by His Presence and for His glory! So today, if there is something that you don’t know and you want to know it, ask the God who speaks in Heaven and moves on the earth!
Jeremiah 33:2,3- “This is what the LORD says, He who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is His name: Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Isaiah 48:5,6- Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’ You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? “From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.
God bless! I love you all, but His love will answer you! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
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