Ecclesiastes 1:1–11; Acts 8:26–40; Luke 11:1–13
We may be paralyzed and mired by the daily brokenness of the world and the words of Ecclesiastes that there is “nothing new under the sun.” But by faith and Christian acts of healing, we know the One who make all things new. It is God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who changes the unchangeable and restores wholeness of body, mind, and spirit. He can’t change what we don’t ask for. So we come to him in prayer.
Martin Luther wrote that prayer is a two-way activity. First, we speak to God, and then God speaks to us. As Jesus teaches us what to speak, his words are true grace because the speaker and the listener are the same.
Still don’t know what or how to pray? Luther explains: “A Christian is always praying, whether sleeping or awake, for the heart is always praying and even a little sigh is a great and mighty prayer.” Our very life is prayer and sometimes we use words.
As we engage in this special exercise of faith called prayer, we are reminded that God is never reluctant or hesitant in giving good gifts to those who ask.
Prayer: Lord, we pray for the fresh infusion of grace into our lives that leads us to pray for the real needs of the world through the prayer you taught us. Amen.
Today’s devotion was written by David J. Smith, Chaplain, Indiana Department of Correction, Pendleton, IN.
Aaron…My one sentence was my grappling with verses 9 & 10 in Luke 11: And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
I was asking myself…What if I didn’t ask God to intercede? Would anything change?