The Call of the King 7: Ask for the Spirit
For Meditation
As the disciples continue their journey with Jesus, learning form him, watching him and listening to him, they recognize that there is a powerful resource at work in Jesus’s life: prayer.
The disciples want this resource; they too want to connect with the Father in this way and learn through this practice. So we see that at the beginning of Luke chapter 11 they ask Jesus, "Lord teach us to pray." They have realized that Jesus’s effectiveness and power in his healing and teaching ministry is rooted in his intimate connection with God through prayer. And they want to learn.
So Jesus teaches them to pray, through teaching them what we know of as the Lord’s Prayer. However, this might be more accurately named the "Disciple's Prayer" since this is the prayer Jesus gives for all of his disciples.
As we look at passage this week, we’re going to talk about how to use prayer in our own lives, why we need it, how we do it, and what it’s for. And our hope is that prayer will continue to become one of the greatest spiritual resources of our lives as we seek to follow Jesus everyday.
Once published, our weekly worship guide can be downloaded here.
Luke 10:38-42, 11:1-13
10:38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
5 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; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 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.’ 8 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.
9 “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. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
