August 20, 2010

SPEND TIME SEEKING YOUR FATHER

Luke 11:1-13

Abbi Koons
Friday's Devo

August 20, 2010

Friday's Devo

August 20, 2010

Central Truth

Spend time with the Lord and seek Him because He is our Father and not our genie in a lamp.

Key Verse | Luke 11:9–10

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened." (Luke 11:9-10)

Luke 11:1-13

The Lord's Prayer

Now Jesus 1 11:1 Greek he 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, 2 11:3 Or our bread for tomorrow
and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence 3 11:8 Or persistence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for 4 11:11 Some manuscripts insert bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Footnotes

[1] 11:1 Greek he
[2] 11:3 Or our bread for tomorrow
[3] 11:8 Or persistence
[4] 11:11 Some manuscripts insert bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for

Dive Deeper | Luke 11:1-13

Sometimes, we think of God as a genie in a lamp. When we want something, we just rub the lamp and ask the genie for it, expecting Him to give it to us. Then, we put Him back in the lamp and put it away where we may not touch it again for a week, a month, or even longer.  At times, I feel like I'm too busy for God. Instead of spending time with Him, I hang out with my friends or watch TV, and the next time I grab my Bible is in small group. God is not like that! He loves us, and He wants to talk to us every day—even if we do not have anything to ask of Him. He wants us to spend time with Him and grow in our relationship with Him.   

Imagine you have children between the ages of 6-18, and you take great care of them. Imagine further that you want to build more of a relationship with your children because they have not spent time with you in a long time. So you ask them what they would like to do, and they reply, "Sorry, we're too busy to hang out." Despite their reply, you are determined, and you ask them over and over again to spend time with you. But they only say, "We're too busy." Wouldn't you be heartbroken? Upset? After giving your children everything they need, they are too busy for you.

That's exactly what God thinks of us, His own children. He wants us to go to Him and talk with Him. He wants to have a relationship with us because He loves us. He wants us to seek Him and find Him so we can have the strongest possible relationship with Him. All we need to do is accept His invitation and talk with Him.

Discussion Questions

1. Are you spending time with God or just putting Him away in a lamp in storage?

2. Are you being the loving child you should be and making time for God or are you putting Him off?

3. Is your relationship with God strong? What would God say? How can you make it stronger?

FAMILY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Here Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. A great acronym to use is . . . PRAY! First PRAISE God for who He is and what He has done in your life.

2. Next, REPENT of the sins in your life, ask for His forgiveness and forgive others for what they may have done to you.

3. ASK God for what you know others need.

4. And, finally, pray for YOURSELF. Spend 5 minutes each day next week PRAYing this way.