A Praying Community (Read Luke 11: 1-13)
In the Gospel of Luke we see that the Kingdom of God comes as the Holy Spirit works in response to prayer. The opening scene of the book tells of a man, Zechariah, together with those who were assembled at the temple, and, as was their custom, they had come to pray. And as the people prayed, the Spirit moved and gave a vision to Zechariah concerning the birth of a son, John, to barren Elizabeth.
The closing scene of the book takes us back to the temple, with followers of Jesus gathered together in great joy, worshiping, praying, staying continuously at the temple, seeking the Lord. The book of Acts continues the story and we know that into these days at the temple, days of prayerful expectancy, the Holy Spirit came in power upon the church at Pentecost.
With these books ends Luke draws our attention to a theme that runs right through his Gospel, the Kingdom of God comes as the Spirit works through prayer. Alvin VanderGriend has written that “God has sovereignly determined to move in response to our prayers. God rules the world through the prayers of his people. ”Furthermore, Andrew Murray, a well known South African theologian of the late 19th century wrote, “that Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power by which his church should do its work, and that the neglect of prayer is the great reason the church has not greater power over the masses in Christian and heathen countries.”
Christ repeatedly took time to pray. The will of the Father that Christ gave his whole life to carrying out, was made possible through His communion with the Spirit in prayer.
PRAYER
In the Gospel of Luke we see that the Kingdom of God comes as the Holy Spirit works in response to prayer. The opening scene of the book tells of a man, Zechariah, together with those who were assembled at the temple, and, as was their custom, they had come to pray. And as the people prayed, the Spirit moved and gave a vision to Zechariah concerning the birth of a son, John, to barren Elizabeth.
The closing scene of the book takes us back to the temple, with followers of Jesus gathered together in great joy, worshiping, praying, staying continuously at the temple, seeking the Lord. The book of Acts continues the story and we know that into these days at the temple, days of prayerful expectancy, the Holy Spirit came in power upon the church at Pentecost.
With these books ends Luke draws our attention to a theme that runs right through his Gospel, the Kingdom of God comes as the Spirit works through prayer. Alvin VanderGriend has written that “God has sovereignly determined to move in response to our prayers. God rules the world through the prayers of his people. ”Furthermore, Andrew Murray, a well known South African theologian of the late 19th century wrote, “that Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power by which his church should do its work, and that the neglect of prayer is the great reason the church has not greater power over the masses in Christian and heathen countries.”
Christ repeatedly took time to pray. The will of the Father that Christ gave his whole life to carrying out, was made possible through His communion with the Spirit in prayer.
PRAYER
- Pray that God will continue cultivating in the hearts of our congregation, and the churches in our city, a burden for prayer.
- One person has written, “Persistent prayer leads to creative ways to care, which open ways to share God’s love.” May God build into our congregation a posture of “persistent prayer.”