READING: Joshua 18-21, Psalm 15, Luke 18
It’s the first verse of Luke 18 that most catches my attention today: “Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up” (Luke 18:1).
The verse amazes me because Jesus’ audience, particularly His disciples, had learned how to pray at His feet (in fact, I encourage you to spend some time walking through Luke’s Gospel to see its focus on Jesus’ prayer life, and I’ve included the verses and a blog post link below). So, their prayer teacher was the greatest Teacher who ever lived – but still He knew that they, too, would struggle with prayer. The pressures of the days to come would be personally intense. All their misplaced hopes in a political Messiah would be dashed. Their Lord would die. Their lives would be on the line. You would think they would have prayed more, but we know they slept when they should have been praying. Even for them, it was easy to forget the example of the Master.
We’re the same way, frankly. We read of the prayer life of Jesus but still don’t pray like we should. None of us, it seems, defaults into dependence on God. Especially in these unusual days, how we must cry out with sincere hearts, “Lord, teach us to pray!”
PRAYER: “Lord, please do teach us to pray.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Joshua 22-24, Psalm 116, Luke 19
LUKE’S GOSPEL: Luke 3:21-22; 4:42 (cf. Mark 1:35); 5:15-16; 6:12-13; 6:27-28; 9:16, 18, 28-29; 10:1-2, 21; 11:1-13; 18:1-8, 9-14; 19:45-46; 20:45-47; 21:36; 22:17-19, 31-32, 39-46; 23:33-34, 46; 24:30, 50-51.
BLOG POST: 15 Ways to Pray Like Jesus Prayed
