365 Days in the Gospels and Spirit of Prophecy
"Teach Us to Pray" — June 21 [Description]
Bible discovery
1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 365D 172.2
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our [a] Father [b] in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. [c] Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 365D 172.3
3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 365D 172.4
4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, [d] But deliver us from the evil one.” 365D 172.5
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 365D 172.6
6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 365D 172.7
7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 365D 172.8
8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 365D 172.9
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 365D 172.10
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 365D 172.11
11 If a son asks for [e] bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 365D 172.12
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 365D 172.13
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” 365D 172.14
Spirit of Prophecy Reading
Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing pp.102-122: 365D 172.15
The Lord's Prayer was twice given by our Saviour, first to the multitude in the Sermon on the Mount, and again, some months later, to the disciples alone. The disciples had been for a short time absent from their Lord, when on their return they found Him absorbed in communion with God. Seeming unconscious of their presence, He continued praying aloud. The Saviour's face was irradiated with a celestial brightness. He seemed to be in the very presence of the Unseen, and there was a living power in His words as of one who spoke with God. 365D 172.16
The hearts of the listening disciples were deeply moved. They had marked how often He spent long hours in solitude in communion with His Father. His days were passed in ministry to the crowds that pressed upon Him, and in unveiling the treacherous sophistry of the rabbis, and this incessant labor often left Him so utterly wearied that His mother and brothers, and even His disciples, had feared that His life would be sacrificed. But as He returned from the hours of prayer that closed the toilsome day, they marked the look of peace upon His face, the sense of refreshment that seemed to pervade His presence. It was from hours spent with God that He came forth, morning by morning, to bring the light of heaven to men. The disciples had come to connect His hours of prayer with the power of His words and works. Now, as they listened to His supplication, their hearts were awed and humbled. As He ceased praying, it was with a conviction of their own deep need that they exclaimed, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Luke 11:1. 365D 172.17
“Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine.... In Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.” 1 Chronicles 29:11, 12. 365D 172.18