Tag Archives: God

True Blessedness

When Jesus cast out the mute demon from the man, enabling him to audibly praise the Lord, the people marveled and then grumbled. Some alleged that his miracles were the work of the devil. Others argued they weren’t enough. No one in that moment spoke up in his defense (as if the word and works of God need defending). But Luke tells us that there were more marvellers than the antagonistic and skeptical.

One Stronger

The first thirteen verses of the eleventh chapter of Luke’s gospel are in essence Jesus’ response to one request, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus responds first with the Lord’s Prayer, providing a succinct model or pattern for our prayers, followed by a parable teaching us the attitude we are to have when we pray, all of which presumes that we pray. Knowing how to pray is of course no benefit if we don’t do it. But what exactly is prayer?

The Yes but How of Prayer

Jerry Bridges tells of a man who when reading a book would often write “YBH” in the margin. When asked what the letters meant, the man replied, “They stand for Yes, but how? I agree with what the author is saying, but I need to know how to apply it.”[2] In the first thirteen verses of this eleventh chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t tell his disciples to pray but instead gives us the “YBH” of prayer.

When You Pray

Let us then be faithful to pray as our Lord taught us, following the pattern and petitions he has given. Consider that our Lord Jesus has given us a prayer, which contains, as Calvin says, “all that he allows us to seek of him, all that is of benefit to us, all that we need ask.[14] Such is the kindness and mercy of God, who has given the prayer he desires to hear from us.

Our Heritage

David cries out, “Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer” (Ps. 61:1), a prayer that includes at least six petitions. But before he petitions the Lord, he describes his predicament, “from the end of the earth,” where his “heart is faint” (61:2). It is possible, that he is describing a literal distance from Zion, but more than likely he is experiencing a seeming distance from God’s presence. He feels far from God, perhaps even vulnerable, weak, and weary. And maybe you do too. Have you ever cried out to God, feeling as if he isn’t listening? Have you ever petitioned the Lord in prayer so many times that you don’t think you can pray it again? Has your heart felt so heavy that you felt like you were on the other end of the earth from the Lord? You’re not alone.

The King’s Heralds

It is his word by his Spirit that does the work, as he told the seventy-two, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). We are simply called to be the King’s heralds, but where the gospel is preached the kingdom is near.

What Does Following Jesus Look Like?

Jesus traveled from region to region, from town to town primarily on foot. And he didn’t travel alone. At this point in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had a large following, made up not only of his chosen twelve but many more, some of whom he would commission into vocational ministry, as we will see in the next chapter. And as he traveled, he conversed with those who followed him as well as those who would, such as the three types we find our passage today, whom I call the naive, the preoccupied, and the half-hearted.

Serving As Christ’s Church

And so, serving as Christ’s church, alongside those who are for us, we advance the gospel to our neighbors and the nations, trusting God for the increase. For, as undeserving sinners saved only by the grace of God, we too desire others to receive the same. Indeed, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace [we] have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5). Such is the testimony of Christ’s church.