Saturday's Scripture Story
for the Week
The Midnight Visitor
Luke 11:5-13
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 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!”
Pondering Point
This parable from Jesus concludes with a teaching that we will receive the Holy Spirit when we ask. I remember hearing a sermon that the best answer to every prayer is more of the Holy Spirit.
Think about that. Don’t simply pass over it.
How could the Holy Spirit ALWAYS be the answer to whatever I’m praying about?
As you ponder that, consider the role and influence of the Holy Spirit in your life: The question is not "do you have the Holy Spirit?" but "Does the Holy Spirit have you?"
He is a pre-requisite to living a godly life, but His presence is no guarantee of a godly life in action. We are to submit to the Spirit and live as Romans 8:7-15 alludes to.
Romans 8:7-15
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Conclude with part seven of our Lord’s Prayer expansion.
Praying the Lord's Prayer, part seven
Note: these parts are out of order on purpose in order to have the appropriate part coincide with today's Immersion lession.
Today's Snippet of the Lord's Prayer
written by Revelations Jason Boetcher
Deliver us O Lord from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
- Deliver us from the evil that is in us (Romans 7:24). Loosen the grip that our old nature has on us that we may live in Your freedom.
- Deliver us from the evil that is in the world (Galatians 1:4). Loosen its grip on us that we may live in the world but not be of the world. I bring the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ between me and all people as Galatians 6:14 says, “I have been crucified to them and they have been crucified to me.” I command their human spirits bound back to their bodies, and I send all their sin and warfare and corruption bound back to the throne of Christ in their life. I forbid them or their warfare or their sin to transfer to me. And I allow only the love of God, only the bond of the Holy Spirit, between us.
- Deliver us from the evil one and his kingdom and the lies that he has told us and that we believe. Loosen the grip that he has upon us that we might live freely as Your dear children in Your kingdom.