In the LORD’s Prayer JESUS gives us the core and essence of what
a child of GOD ought to pray on every occasion –for the coming of GOD’s
kingdom, our daily needs, and GOD’s provision for sin.
In addition to the prayer model, JESUS tells His disciples and us about the two key motivations for prayer using a
two-part parable:
Persistence pays off
Then, teaching them
more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s
house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A
friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to
eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t
bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in
bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for
friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give
you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you
will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on
knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks,
receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will
be opened. (Luke 11: 5-10)
If a friend who’s been greatly inconvenienced would relent and
give us what we want, our practice of consistent, persistent, daily prayers
ought to be motivated by the assurance that our God and Father in Heaven will undoubtedly
answer our petitions. JESUS confirms this in the second half of the parable:
Our Heavenly Father knows what's best for us
“You fathers—if your
children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for
an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11: 11-13)
Earthly fathers want the very best for their children and won’t
deliberately give us things that hurt us, even when we ask for what is harmful.
JESUS makes this point in the story with the fish and eggs versus snakes and
scorpions – the former two are nourishment and good for our physical bodies
while the latter two are harmful and dangerous.
Our Heavenly Father, who is perfect, also desires the
greatest good for His children. He would never give us things which will harm
us when we have asked for what benefits us. And if we foolishly ask for things
that in His wisdom He knows are harmful, He withholds those from us.
More so, GOD gives to every one of His children something that
our earthly Fathers cannot – the gift of His Holy Spirit, GOD Himself living within
us. Every follower of CHRIST JESUS receives the gift of the Holy Spirit by whom
we will know the mind of GOD and His will for us. By this He grants us power
for a life of godliness.
No one can know a
person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s
thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have
received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful
things God has freely given us. 1
Corinthians 2:11-12
As a child of GOD, our greatest motivation to pray is the
privilege of communion with the Father when He shares His deepest thoughts with
us and we tell Him what we need from Him.
Even JESUS sort out such times of intimacy with the Father.
But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. Luke 5:16
To be continued…
Prayer and Thanksgiving: Holy
and righteous Father, our LORD and KING. We continue to be awed by your
goodness to us as we learn from your WORD how much YOU desire to share YOURSELF
and YOUR power with us. Thank you, Father for being a perfect provider, for
giving us the gift of YOUR HOLY SPIRIT, He who knows YOUR thoughts and will teach us YOUR truth. Thank you for sending CHRIST JESUS to be our advocate and living
example of how we should live and pray. Thank you for providing all
that we need for life and for godliness. To YOU belong all
dominion, all power and all glory, for ever and ever. We pray and ask all
things in the precious Name of Jesus Christ our LORD, the NAME above all names.
Amen!
Always by God’s Word and prayer,
Cecile
No comments:
Post a Comment