LUKE CHAPTER ELEVEN

                                                                 LUKE CHAPTER ELEVEN

In Luke Chapter 11, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.  Jesus talks about prayer beginning with the Lord’s Prayer. 

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.   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.  Give us day by day our daily bread. 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.  Luke 11:1-4 (KJV)

One thing that strikes me about the Our Father is that it is a communal prayer.  Also, Jesus is praying to His Father.  This unites us as one in Him and God the Father.  We are all united because we believe and accept Jesus as our Savior and God as our Father. 

Jesus also talks about forgiveness, “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” Luke 11:4 (KJV)  Forgiveness is so important because Jesus also said in Matthew 6:15,  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  (NIV)

Jesus goes on to say in Luke 11:5-10, Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’  And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’  I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  (NIV)

THE PARABLE OF THE PERSISTENT WIDOW

 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  Luke 18:1-8 (NIV)

Children, especially very young children, already understand this concept.  If you promise them something they will never forget and keep reminding you about it.  They will also keep asking and asking and in many cases wear you down until they get what they want.  We should do the same knowing that we can come as a child to our loving Heavenly Father. 1 John 5:14-15 says, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (NIV)

There are several things that I see here.  One of them is that we should be persistent in our prayers.  Some of our prayers may not be God’s will for our lives so it is important to know His will.  If we are living our lives according to God’s will then we will know what to ask for because the Holy Spirit will gives us discernment.  If God has told you what His will is for your life, decree that promise and do not let go.  Decrees are powerful especially if they from the Word of God such as Isaiah 53:5   But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.  (NIV)

In Luke 18 Jesus said, “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  Luke 18:8 (NIV) I believe that Jesus is emphasizing that faith is the key to answered prayer.  Why would the widow continue going to the judge unless she had faith that her persistence would pay off?  It is also like the woman with the issue of blood who said, “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.  She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”  Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.  Mark 5:25-29 (NIV) He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Mark 5:34 (NIV)

 Jesus also drove out a demon and was accused of being a demon Himself.  He rebuked them and said, “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20 (NIV)

 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.  Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness.   See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.  Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”  Luke 11:33-36 (NIV)

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

How does Luke 11 apply to us today?  I believe that we need to have faith in God, not in man.  In this time of chaos, God has been listening to our prayers for justice.  There are some that say that we have not prayed enough or fasted enough for God to hear us.  Yes, God has heard and He will bring justice.  Do not lose heart!

We are united as one in Christ.  Jesus taught the disciples how to pray in faith so that our prayers would be answered.  Sometimes our prayers are not answered the way we think they should or at the time we think they should.  I think patience is the hardest thing to attain when our timing does not match up with God’s.  This is the hardest for many of us because there are promises that we still wait for and we need to have faith that in HIS TIME, they will come to pass. 

Forgiveness is very important to God and so important that He made sure that it was included in the Lord’s Prayer!  We need to forgive others from our heart.  Sometimes it only takes saying that you forgive someone out loud to ourselves and in some cases, telling the other person that you forgive them and maybe you need to ask for their forgiveness as well.  It is an ongoing process.  Sometimes it is very difficult but God gives us the strength.  Another helpful way to have healing in the process of forgiveness is when the hurt comes up you pray for that person.  It is hard to have unforgiveness in your heart when you pray for someone.

We need to be the light in the darkness.  Jesus is the Light of the world.  We reflect His light within us if we truly live in His light.  People will be attracted to us when they see His light in us.  They may not even know why.  People were attracted to Jesus, even the evil ones who sought to destroy Him.  Light dispels darkness.  No matter how dark the world gets we need to be the light and one way is to be truth seekers and convey the truth to others.  There are some that will never accept the truth but for those who are seeking it, we will continue to speak out and not be afraid of the cancel culture out there.  If Jesus had listened to the naysayers, He never would have preached; He never would have healed people or cast our demons and He never would have been outspoken to the leaders and even the religious of that day!  His purpose would never have been fulfilled because He needed to shed His blood on the cross for our salvation and transfer His inheritance to us so we can do the same works that He did.  

If Jesus were to come back today—would He find any faith on the earth?  I would hope so, even if it is only the remnant Church.  We need to stand in whatever sphere we find ourselves in.  God has a perfect plan for our lives.  It may not be on a grand scale as others but I remember a poster that I saw once that said, “If I cannot do great things, then I will do small things in a great way.”

 “If God answers your prayer, He’s increasing your faith. If He delays it, He’s increasing your patience and if He doesn’t answer, He’s got something better for you.”  (Dr. Charlie Ward, 2021)  AMEN!!