Saul of Tarsus, who had gone on a mission to bind Christians and commit them to prison, was coming to Damascus when a bright light blinded him. Falling to the ground, he heard the Lord speak to him to go into the city to receive further instruction. While there, he would be told what he…
As Luke had emphasized the life of prayer in Jesus according to his gospel, so he continues to emphasize prayer in the life of the saints in Acts. Prayer was such an important work that the apostles asked the saints to choose seven men to wait on tables so they could give themselves steadfastly to…
The Lord’s prayer in Gethsemene was the most dramatic and heart-wrenching prayer that we have on record. Jesus had been here before. Luke tells us that it was “his custom” to go to “the place” in the garden where he prayed. The intensity of this restless and sad soul on this night is expressed in…
It is common for the world to refer to the Lord’s prayer that He taught as a model and example of prayer. That model was not Jesus praying to the Father. It was an example of how to pray. However, John 17 is a prayer that He prayed and is, therefore, The Lord’s Prayer. It…
After Jesus had fed the five thousand, Luke alone records, “Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old…
Luke 6:12-13 reads, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles” (ESV). Immediately, I am struck by the clear and unmistakable implication of the passage. If…
In Matthew 14:22-23, the text reads, “Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone” (ESV). Two things…
I have considered prayer to be of two types. One is what I would call short petitions and thoughts spoken to the Father throughout the day. These are usually normal activities of life for the spiritual mind because his or her affections are directed toward home. The other kind is what I call “closet prayers”…
Luke appears to emphasize the life of prayer in Jesus. Jesus taught that men ought to always pray and not faint (Luke 18:1). His disciples asked him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). Jesus example of prayer is the best teacher anyone can have and that the disciples could tell that this was…
The word “temptation” may be translated from Greek as trials, testing, proving, or temptation to do evil. The context determines whether it refers to the temptation to sin or trials. One way to know may be to explore whether the context includes God as the source of it. If so, then, the word means trial…