Luke 11:1-13

content/bible_journal/luke_11:1-13.md

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+title = "Luke 11:1–13"
+date = "2022-12-09"
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+
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk11.1-13)
+
+I keep noticing how I am apparently more familiar with the accounts from
+Matthew and Mark than the one from Luke. This version of the Lord's prayer is
+abridged, compared to the one usually set to music and quoted all the time. The
+simpler language and structure emphasizes God's greatness and our basic need
+for Him to give us what we need to live, temporally and eternally.
+
+After Jesus gives this model prayer, He gives a couple of illustrations to
+explain why the disciples should pray like that. The first explains that your
+friend won't give you bread in the middle of the night for your guest because
+you're his friend. but he will because you asked him to. (Though being your
+friend does make it more likely than if you woke up a stranger to ask for
+bread.) The second illustration is an argument from the lesser to the greater.
+Fathers give food to their children, especially when they ask for it. So then,
+our heavenly Father who is perfectly good will give His children the good
+things they ask for, even more than we sinful, earthly fathers.
+
+Note that there is no mention of children getting whatever they ask for. A good
+father doesn't accede to every request from his children. ("I want a pony!"
+"Ice cream for breakfast!") This is the truth that makes the Prospesrity
+"Gospel" a lie. If you are sinning in your desire for an objectively good
+thing, then it is not good for you and it is better for you not to have it.
+Christ is sufficient for _all_ our needs, even if it doesn't feel like it.
+
+* * *
+
+Help us to pray as we ought and to rely solely on You.