Read Through the Bible

October 19, Luke 10-12

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Luke 11 begins with yet another emphasis on Jesus’ prayer life.  This particular indication of Jesus praying prompts a question from the disciples to teach them to pray.  The question from the disciples implies that they had been eyewitnesses to Jesus praying on a number of occasions.  They wanted to pray like Jesus prayed.  The teaching that follows serves as a model for praying—not words to necessarily be mimicked, but a pattern that serves as a model.

Use Jesus’ model prayer to form the basis of a prayer time today.  In this model, we find:

Praise—“Hallowed be your name.”
Petition—“Give us each day our daily bread.”
Repentance—“Forgive us our sins.”
Commitment—“Lead us not into temptation.”

This simple model can add great value to your personal prayer life.

Devotional by Steve Horn. Scripture links by www.biblegateway.com. Animated video by www.thebibleproject.com. 

October 18, Luke 7-9

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We said yesterday that there is a certain emphasis on the prayer life of Jesus as recorded by Luke.  There is a nugget in today’s reading about prayer that catches my eye.  Luke 9:18 reveals, “Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him…”

Prayer, like any other good habit, is a process of discipline.  How are you doing right now in the discipline of prayer?  If you are unhappy about your habit of prayer, maybe you need for the present time to establish some structure into your life that will encourage you to develop this discipline. Follow Jesus’ model.  Set aside a place and a time to pray.  Commit to praying at that time and place every day.  Perhaps you need to ask some people to pray with you.  Notice in these examples in Luke that sometimes Jesus prayed alone while other times He asked the disciples to join Him. Maybe you need a model of praying.  Develop a model that works well for you.  Once we build discipline into our prayer time, we will begin to commune with God in such a way that we have this ongoing conversation with Him throughout our day.

Devotional by Steve Horn. Scripture links by www.biblegateway.com. Animated video by www.thebibleproject.com. 

October 17, Luke 3-6

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We begin to read today about the ministry of Jesus.  One of the notable features of Jesus’ ministry, as related by Luke, is the emphasis on prayer. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus is shown to be engaged in prayer only twice per Gospel (Matt. 14:23; 27:46 and Mark 6:46;15:34).  However, Luke indicated Jesus to be in prayer on nine different occasions.  In addition, Luke gave evidence of Jesus’ first and last words from the cross being prayer, giving us a total of Jesus praying 11 times.  Luke also gave evidence of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in 11:9-10, 18:1, 18:9-14, 21:36, and 22:46.

Some of those examples of prayer occur in our reading today.  Luke 3:21 records Jesus at his baptism, at the beginning of his ministry.  As He was praying, Heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and the audible voice of God was heard.  Luke 5:16 records a summary statement about the practice of Jesus in prayer even as people came to Him with sickness.  Then, Luke recorded that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before selecting the disciples (6:12).

Every time I read about the prayer life of Jesus I get really convicted about my prayer life.  If Jesus needed to pray in order to be refreshed and in times of momentous decision, how much more do we need to pray?

Perhaps, someone will raise the question, “If Jesus was God, why did He even need to pray?  Why did He need to seek the will of God?  Why did He need to pray for strength?”  Jesus lived His life on earth as an example for us.  Just as we need to model the servant nature of Jesus, we need to model the prayer life of Jesus.

Devotional by Steve Horn. Scripture links by www.biblegateway.com. Animated video by www.thebibleproject.com. 

October 16, Luke 1-2

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Luke is the longest and therefore most detailed of the four Gospels. Some attribute this to the fact that Luke was a physician (Colossians 4:14).  In addition to this, we should note Luke’s own words concerning his purpose.  Luke 1:1-4 indicates that Luke purposed to write out in consecutive order the events concerning Jesus’ life.  We might say that for Matthew, Mark, and even John, theology guides their Gospel, but for Luke chronology guides his Gospel.  That is, Matthew, Mark, and John wrote in such a fashion that would best develop their theme paying less attention to the chronology of how events unfolded.  Luke, however, was guided by chronology first.  Most importantly, we should underscore the fact that Luke purposed to tell the correct story about Jesus.  This perhaps gives indication of the likelihood of “false” accounts (extra-Biblical) of who Jesus was.

Because we know that there are “false accounts of Jesus’ life, we should be even more thankful for the reliability of God’s Word.  The miracle of transmission of God’s Word is every bit as much a miracle as the inspiration of God’s Word to human writers.  As you begin to read yet another trustworthy Gospel account of the life of Jesus, pause and thank God that we have His Word.

Devotional by Steve Horn. Scripture links by www.biblegateway.com. Animated video by www.thebibleproject.com. 

October 15, Mark 14-16

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One of Mark’s purposes is to show the Roman world that this man Jesus is “the Son of God.”  Mark begins simply by stating, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  The entire contents of the Gospel, story upon story, seek to show that Jesus is the Son of God. Near the end comes the greatest proof of all from a Roman centurion. Having been an eyewitness to Jesus’ death and the surrounding events of His death, the Roman centurion exclaimed, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”  (15:39)  What greater proof to a Roman audience then to hear one of their own attribute this to Jesus.  The statement of the Roman centurion along with the subsequent account of Jesus’ resurrection gives the final evidence that He was the Son of God.

Devotional by Steve Horn. Scripture links by www.biblegateway.com. Animated video by www.thebibleproject.com.