Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Praying as love

Luk 11:1-13  And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.  (2)  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.  (3)  Give us day by day our daily bread.  (4)  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.  (5)  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;  (6)  For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?  (7)  And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.  (8)  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.  (9)  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  (10)  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  (11)  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  (12)  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  (13)  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Jesus prays to the Father a lot in the Gospels.  Here He teaches his disciples to pray, and then explains that they ought to pray, and keep on praying, because they are praying to a Good Father who will give good gifts…even His Holy Spirit.  There also seems to be some hint in vs.5-8 that we ought to pester God with our prayers.

You pointed out some time ago that the statistics of marriages that end in divorce is very low among husbands and wives who pray together.  There are so many reasons to turn to the Father in prayer at every opportunity with our wives, and for our children to see us praying, and to pray with them.

I’ve not been doing this very well, so you need to get on me…I thought you were all about challenges?  So challenge me on this one.

No comments:

Post a Comment