Living in the Spirit
July 23, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 11:1-13

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.’ 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 indebted to us.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’ –Luke 11:1-4

I honestly do not remember a time in my life when I did not pray. I do not remember being taught to pray, but I surely was. We prayed before every meal. My mother prayed every evening on her knees at her bedside. Example is a great teacher.

Jesus was a great example for his disciples, and they indicated hunger to learn more. He taught a simple prayer. First, it recognizes the omnipotent, all-powerful nature of God. It then, in the briefest of statements, gives Jesus’ purpose, which he passed on to us: to bring about God’s Kingdom on the earth. Nourished by a request for sustenance, I think both spiritual and physical, we are enabled to ask for forgiveness of our sins and to forgive the sins of others. The final phrase in Luke’s reporting of the Lord’s prayer is not in Matthew’s more familiar rendition. Luke includes a plea for not bringing us to the time of trial, which speaks to our human fears as well as trust in a loving God.

It feels like a time a trial now and fear leans heavy on us. It reminds me of Helen Keller’s saying, I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. It is a time to trust in a loving God.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace*.

Prayer: Lord, so nourish us with your love that love becomes the only response we can make to those people and events that cause us fear. Amen.

*Chorus from Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus, Helen H. Lemmel. See at http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Turn_Your_Eyes_upon_Jesus/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.