Daily Devotion for February 3, 2024

Devotion:

For an audio version of this devotion, click here.

Read Luke 11:1-4.

Tomorrow in our worship services, we will be taking a detailed look at the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray. When I pray this prayer, it makes a difference for me to emphasize certain words in it. By doing so, it helps me better capture the meaning of the various statements in it. I look forward to sharing that with you tomorrow.

Both Matthew and Luke include this prayer in their Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. We are reading it from Luke today. First, I note that Luke has placed it just after Jesus’ encounter with Mary and Martha and the lesson he sought to teach Martha in that situation. She needed to give more of her attention to just being with Jesus and learning from him. Following that lesson up with a lesson on prayer is most fitting. We could all benefit from spending more time with our Lord in prayer.

Sometimes in our worship services, we use a different version of this prayer, thinking that will help us pay more attention to what we are saying and not just repeating a bunch of words. Here is a version of it I have memorized and use regularly in my own prayer life:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

Personal Worship Option:

Try putting this prayer in your own words and offer it to God today.