Day 76

Memorize: Thundering woes against Pharisees

Luke 11

Key Verses: 1, 9, 13, 17, 22, 25, 33, 52

One of the universal desires of humanity is to communicate with God. Many of the teachers of Jesus day had specific ways to pray, and Jesus’ disciples wondered if Jesus had His own way for them to pray. Think about all the books that have come out in recent years about prayer. People still wonder if there is some formula that will guarantee that God will hear and answer. Just so you know, there is no such formula. Jesus emphasizes relationship over formula. Father! He emphasizes boldness over obligation. Simply ask.

But before you ask for that new car, look at verse thirteen. Luke emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit as the One we need. When we have the Holy Spirit present, all other needs fall to the side. When we know we are not alone, ‘things’ just don’t seem to matter as much.

The stupidity of some of the arguments against Jesus is so laughable. Satan working against himself. What a joke! This is still true today. The desperation some people go through in their efforts to deny someone they don’t believe exists is amazing. If Jesus isn’t God, then why put up all the fuss. Why all the angry protests if Jesus was just a man? Why should it bother them if He has no relevance to their lives? But Jesus is the stronger One who is working even in the hearts of unbelievers, thus the energy of the protest. They are working against the Spirit who is tugging on their hearts. They have to drown out the Spirit’s voice, thus their loud protests!

Whatever is on the inside of us will come out. It will be just as obvious as when a lamp is lit in a dark room. Everyone will see it. I don’t know about you, but I look people straight in the eyes when I talk with them. I have learned that our eyes give us a window into what is going on in our lives. It is hard to hide our sorrow, pain, shame, joy, exhaustion, deception, or any other emotion. They all seem to show up in the eyes.

Each of the woes that Jesus pronounces against the religious leaders has to do with what they were doing. They were hypocrites. Their lives demonstrated that they were not consistent. They said one thing and did another. They said they were god-fearers, but their actions said they were in it for themselves. They were not entering into a relationship with God, and they were actively stopping others from entering by their hypocrisy.