[Daily Devotion] January 12th, 2017

Question #9 – Luke 11:1-4 Am I enjoying prayer?

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

As we start 2017, we wanted to examine the 22 questions of John Wesley. He challenged his followers to ask these rigorous self-examining questions, as they walk toward holiness. For the next four weeks, we will examine each question, daily. Also, I encourage you to read the ‘One Year Bible Reading Plan’ suggested by Bishop Sharma Lewis. 

What the passage says

V. 1-2 Jesus comes back from his regular time of prayer, and his disciple asks him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” 

V. 2b- 4 Then Jesus teaches a form of prayer, called the Lord’s Prayer.

What does the passage say to me/us?

It is interesting to see how this version says, “He was praying in a certain place, and when he was finished…” (v. 1 NIV).
Meaning that it was evident, and we see it in various places of the Gospel, that Jesus was committed to prayer. He was God, himself, and didn’t need to pray. However, his habit of prayer had a particular impact, in the sight of the disciples, that they wanted to learn prayer from him. 

Jesus then shares a prayer that we now learn as the Lord’s Prayer. 
There are a couple of remarks I would like to make about the Lord’s Prayer.

1. Prayer does not have to be eloquent, like the prayer our Lord taught us. It is a conversation with God. So don’t be afraid to pour out your heart in the time of prayer. We don’t need to be self-cautious about what to say. God is a great listener. Eventually, you will see God speak to you, in the time of prayer.

2. However, the Lord’s Prayer contains a beautiful structure of prayer. Try to recite the prayer, once sentence at a time, and pause and add your own words to the prayer. It will help deepen your prayer life. Click here to see an example

3. How seriously do we take the Lord’s Prayer? How often do you recite it? Say, we pray the Lord’s prayer 10 times, maybe even more,  a day. See how your prayer life will change. 

The point I am trying to make… We need to model prayer, so others will be intrigued by this relationship that we have with our Lord. Then wouldn’t we see prayer time as a time of joy, rather than a chore? 

Prayer

Lord, we pray that our prayer life will be a precious time with you. We dive into your presence. And we pray to see how you will live in us, and we live in you. 
In Christ name, AMEN.

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