Prayer

Luke 11:4b – The Lord’s Prayer: Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Devotions, Jesus, Prayer, Sin

The Lord's Prayer Devotions

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

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

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

N otice that Jesus’ instruction on prayer does not end with “lead us not into sin” but instead “lead us not into temptation.”  You may wonder, what’s the difference?

Many times we like to approach sin as an imaginary line.  As long as we stay on the right side of the line we’re OK.  But, as soon as we cross to the wrong side of the line we’re sinning.  The result of this mentality is that we often attempt to get as close to this imaginary line as possible without crossing or sinning. Most of us eventually learn that if we keep walking up to the edge of this line, we’ll eventually cross it. Continue Reading →

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Luke 11:4a – The Lord’s Prayer: Forgive Our Sins

Devotions, Jesus, Prayer, Sin

The Lord's Prayer Devotions

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

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

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

A s we pray for our needs we can often forget that our greatest need is forgiveness.  God wants us to experience the freedom of forgiveness: the freedom of being forgiven by God and the freedom that comes from extending forgiveness to others.  Scripture is clear that if we confess our sins to God, He will forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9).  Confession literally means to agree with God.   We are agreeing with Him that we’ve sinned greatly against Him.  We are agreeing that Jesus was a sufficient sacrifice for our sins.  We are agreeing that His mercy and grace are much greater than our sins. Continue Reading →

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Luke 11:3 – The Lord’s Prayer: Our Daily Bread

Devotions, Jesus, Prayer

The Lord's Prayer Devotions

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

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

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

Just in case we think He forgot, Jesus reminds us here that God wants us to present our needs to Him.  There’s something about praying “Father, hallowed by your name… Your kingdom come…” that puts us in the right mindset to pray about our needs.  Although God already knows our needs, presenting our needs verbally to Him brings us to a point of greater vulnerability and dependence. Just a few verses later in Luke 11:5-13, Jesus gives some thoughts on how we approach God with our needs.  Here are three very practical implications:

Continue Reading →

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Luke 11:2b – The Lord’s Prayer: Your Kingdom Come

Devotions, Jesus, Prayer

The Lord's Prayer Devotions

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

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

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

As Jesus continues His instruction on prayer, His second point is also interestingly not about us, our needs, and our struggles.  It’s all about praying for God’s Kingdom to come.  What does this mean?  Matthew’s description of the Lord’s Prayer includes this statement: “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Jesus’ point is that God’s Kingdom is not simply about where we go when we die. Continue Reading →

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Luke 11:2a – The Lord’s Prayer: Hallowed Be Your Name

Devotions, Jesus, Praise, Prayer

The Lord's Prayer Devotions

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

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

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

Jesus’ closest followers came with a significant request: “teach us to pray.”  Surely, they had prayed before, but somehow they recognized their need for instruction on how to pray most effectively.  Jesus’ instruction on prayer began with this familiar statement: “Father, hallowed be your name.”  To hallow something means literally to “render or acknowledge, to set apart.”  Jesus knew that we are designed to render and acknowledge something or someone who is bigger and better than us. Continue Reading →

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Genesis 8:10 – Testing the Waters

Christian Walk, Devotions, Prayer

Daily Bible Devotional Verse

He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove our of the ark. Genesis 8:10 ESV

God had spoken to Noah before the flood and given instructions on building the ark(Genesis 6:13; 7:1). God also spoke to Noah after the flood water had receded enough (Genesis 8:16).  There seems to be a period of time while Noah was on the ark and the rains had stopped that God wasn’t giving him instruction. Interestingly enough, we don’t see God telling Noah to send out a bird multiple times to ascertain how far the water had receded, and ensure there was dry land. In essence then, Noah was testing the waters, and was seeing where God was in his workings.

There can be situations in which we are trying to figure out what God is doing in our life or what his purpose is. Continue Reading →

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