Luke 11, Matthew 12: 22 - 50 (13th October) - Junming

Disciple: ''Lord, teach us how to pray.''
Jesus: "Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.''

This is the ''model'' prayer, something singaporean students would love. A formula to memorise and to ace in. Jesus loves Singapore=)

But of course, Jesus is teaching us that when we pray, we give glory and praise to God, then ask for God to fill us, forgive our sins (but first we forgive others for theirs) and to keep us from temptations. I believe most of us know this. THEN verse 5 begins with the word(or discourse marker), ''then''. So the passage from verse 5 till verse 8, and even from verse 9 till 13, are all in response to the disciple's request to Jesus to teach them how to pray. So not only do we pray the above items when we pray, but there're more to ask of God.

From verse 5 till 8, God tells us to ask out of boldness, and because you are bold, you will be given. Note, in verse 6, the person who asks is asking for bread not for himself, but for his friend who has come to visit. The bold guy wasnt seeking to bless himself and to meet his own needs, but the needs of others. And because of his boldness, God will bless him.

We all know ''ask and it'll be given, seek and you'll find, knock and the door will be opened''. But in the context of the previous passage, God reminds us. Ask BOLDLY and it'll be given, seek BOLDLY and you will find, knock BOLDLY and the door will open. Be bold! Unfulfilled goals for year 2007? Ask big now!

That said, if there were times that you asked boldly and it wasnt given, you sought but couldn't find and when you knocked, either the door didnt open or it opened into your face, check your heart. Do we ask for ourselves to be blessed or for ourselves to be a channel of blessing?

Well, yes, if we ask for ourselves to be blessed, God loves you, he does bless us with the things that we want, as is mentioned in verses 11-13. But if we keep doing that, then it becomes greed. We store up treasures in our earthly homes and grow fat.

Or maybe it's just the right thing, but at the wrong time.

Between verse 14-26, Jesus talked about driving out demons. Jesus is indeed stronger than all demons and even Satan himself. If everything in your life is going wrong, there is still hope in Jesus=) But the important thing that God reminds us is that after we repent or are cleaned, continue to keep Jesus in your heart. Do not let your guard down, for Satan and his devils can come back again even more strongly.

The rest of the chapter talks about the sign of Jonah, where Jesus prophesied to the hard-hearted Pharisees about his resurrection. They are blind to the light that they are already seeing. God says that we don't need a sign from God. God is always here with us. We need good eyes to see Him working around us. Soften your heart.

Then Jesus gave 6 woes. Can you imagine Jesus woeing you? Not woo. Woe. That's pretty depressing. But yes, if your heart is stubborn, then uh.. woe to you. But you can repent. Woo.

Matt12:22-50
Essentially similar to the passage in Luke. Note verses 33-37 though. A good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. Watch your heart and watch the words that you say. It might not even be vulgarities. It might be jokes that go too far, comments that are insensitive. ''For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.''