Scripture
And so it is with prayer–Keep on asking and you will keep on getting; keep on looking and you will keep on finding; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened.
~Luke 11:9, LNT
Quote
A Christian without prayer is like a body without breath.
~Martin Luther
Luke eleven begins with the disciples meeting Jesus after He had been out in a place of solitude praying. Luke more than any other gospel writer places emphasis on Jesus habit of prayer. Luke 5:16 is a good example: But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Luke 6:12 is another: It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.[Other references to Jesus praying in Luke: 3:21,9:18-21, 11:1, 22:32,41,44] The Disciples associated the power in Jesus life with His praying. Like a black pastor friend of mine in Seminary once said, “Where there is much prayer, there is much power. Where there is little prayer, there is little power.” Since that coveted the power, they asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Luke eleven is a discourse on prayer.
The first thing Jesus did was give them a model prayer to guide them in their praying. Jesus taught us to begin our prayers with recognition of the Father’s attributes. Thus our prayer should initially focus on the Father. Jesus was so proficient at this that He could pray all night. To Him, prayer was communion, sweet communion and fellowship with His Father. Prayer can be worship with us when we focus on the Father. BUT Jesus did not teach us to limit our prayers to praise, adoration and thanksgiving although, all three are very important. He taught His disciples to ask. Dr. George W. Truett said, “The law of prayer is to ask.” Why ask when God already knows what we need? Because Jesus gave us an imperative command to ASK. Jesus did not tell His disciples, “Guys, it might be a good idea to tell the Father what you need.” He didn’t, “Fellows, you should think about asking.” He said ASK and keep on asking. He did not say, “Ask, and if you don’t receive, stop asking.” We are to be as persistent as a bothersome neighbor who gets us up in the middle of the night for a loaf of bread. If you know that neighbor is going to keep on knocking, you are going to get up because you know that there will be no rest until you give him what he wants. You can’t press this analogy too far. We do not harass God into giving us what we want but He does want us to be persistent.
- Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. The LORD is good. I didn’t get an invite to the graduation but I did attend the party, at least long enough to congratulate the seniors and their parents and grandparents. They had a huge turnout. The FORTE was packed. I would guess 300 people or more. Frankie and Noah put a lot of time into it and it was a sight for sore eyes. I was tempted to stay and eat but there were too many people and I had to get up very early this morning.
- I give a lot of people a hard time but I’m simply trying to be God’s instrument of humility. Very seldom do I brag on people but I am very blessed when it comes to people being good to me. I want to thank Willard and Joe for keeping me going with all my equipment. It is was not for them and my neighbor Mr. Chastine, I don’t know what I would do. I want to give the LORD praise for these good friends.
- Joe David and I went to the Muscle Shoals Pastor’s Conference yesterday to hear Tim Keenum preach. I got mixed up on the starting time and Tim was already preaching when we walked in: it really threw him off, he like not to have recovered, NOT. Michael said, “I saw his wheels turning the minute you walked in.” In a brilliant way, he worked a Jack Bailey/Tim Keenum story into the sermon. It was a good message, sometime we quit when the battle is already won.
Redneck Grill
