SCRIPTURE: Luke 11
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
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! [Luke 11:13] This passage reveals the heart of Jesus’ message – a restored relationship with God! God is our Father, Jesus is our Brother, the Spirit is our Advocate. Prayer is not manipulating the divine for personal gain, it is relating to our Daddy. If we as sinners love our children and desire to truly bless them, how much more our heavenly Daddy. And He is not just interested in spoiling us with trinkets and toys, His greatest delight is to give us Himself (i.e. His Spirit in/with us). A spoiled child with toys but not love is not blessed; a loved child without toys is truly blessed!
Prayer is two-way conversation with God, much like Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden when God came to walk with them [Genesis 3:8]. No fancy language or lengthy, wordy sentences are required; keep it simple, keep it sincere. God already knows.
Religion focuses on rituals, ceremonies, traditions, formalities. Jesus’ judgment against the religious leaders is because they totally missed the point – they had twisted a relationship with God into a religion for God. It was hollow, formal, ritualistic… and dead. The religious leaders were so confused that they couldn’t recognize the heart of God in Jesus – they accused Him of being more like Satan. In fact, Jesus points out on a number of occasions, they are aligned wit Satan. Not having God in their hearts, the demons came into their empty hearts and made their condition worse. The focus (eyes) was on religion, not relationship, and their lives became dark.
God is not a tyrant, He is not a demanding deity. He is a Father that loves us, that wants to relate to us simply and sincerely. He wants to dwell in our hearts, and to give us life and power in Him. This is eternally life, not observing religion but knowing Him, and Jesus, and the Spirit [John 17:3]. What a mess we have made of things. I suspect that in most time periods, including ours, if Jesus came, the majority of religious people would not recognize or accept Him. We may think that we would do better than the religious leaders did in Jesus’ day, but I am not so sure.
We need to bring a personal relationship with God (through Jesus by the Spirit) back to the center, where walking and talking with Him in His garden is the heartbeat of our ‘religion’, and where that relationship overflows in a loving fellowship with all of God’s children, even sinners and enemies.
PRAYER:
Lord, help me to walk and talk with You, and to share Your love wit others!