Dr. R.E. Banks Sr.
May 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Luke 11:2, 4b NIV
When You Pray, Say…, #6
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place unknown. He regularly went to a solitary place to pray. He went to a mountainside to pray. He spent nights praying to the Father. When Jesus finished, one of His disciples (who is anyone who followed Jesus, including the 12) said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray", just as John [the Baptist] taught his disciples. Jesus prayed out loud upon the completion of prayer. Jesus had already taught the model prayer in His sermon on the mount. Perhaps the disciple who asked to be taught to pray was also on the mount.
In the book of Luke, Jesus tells us that we also must forgive everyone who sins against us, everyone indebted to us. Forgive anyone that you have ought against. Their heart is not right. As we have sought forgiveness of our own sins. So, when we ask God to forgive our sins, we are confessing that we do not deserve His mercy. Therefore, we must be willing to offer that same mercy to others because, hanging on the cross, God's Son, Jesus, asked His Father to forgive them for they know not what they do. Jesus is not implying that if we do not forgive others we are not saved nor in danger of losing our salvation. However, that individual who cannot forgive others, shows lack of appreciation for their own debt. But the debt has been paid in full. If we boldly and earnestly do not come to Him, we should not expect a pardon.