Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker Elle David Harris. Good morning, good morning, good morning.
It is Sabbath, January sixth, twenty twenty four. Hello, my name
is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your Daily
Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today is no
exception. We are continuing in our lesson study series through the Book of Psalms,
and today we are considering teach us to pray. Very interesting teach us
to pray. If you are a BI student, this should resonate with you.
We'll get into that in just a moment, but let me just say
again a great big happy Sabbath to everyone joining us. I want to give
a great big shout out to whoever is listening on the radio you are on
up to two thousand. I wish it were two thousand, up to two
hundred radio stations around the world, and I'm thankful that you are here.
Of course, those who are online on the various platforms and on television and
listening after the fact on podcasts. I just thank God for your presence.
Let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway. Father,
thank you for giving us the privilege of opening up your word this Sabbath morning,
and I'm asking you to please give us your understanding. Teach us how
to serve you and ultimately Lord in this case, please teach us how to
pray. Teach us to pray as John taught his disciples in Jesus' name,
I pray, Amen and Amen again. So, as I said a little
bit earlier, if you're a Bible student, then our caption for today is
resonant with you. You you recognize this from a time or an interaction Jesus
was having with his disciples, and so the lesson writer uses the Book of
Luke as a backdrop. I'm going to go to Matthew chapter six, and
what I want you to do. What I want you to do is answer
this question. Really, what was Jesus really And I wrote this in all
caps. Let see this with my little pencil here and my device that can
take this digital pencil, right, so it's real life to me, is
what was Jesus really teaching when he taught his disciples to pray? What was
he really teaching? I wish we had five hours, but we just literally
don't. And did we get it when he was teaching them? Did we
get what he was teaching? So let me go to the Book of Matthew,
as I said, and read in chapter six, and let me just
say he was teaching a good amount of stuff about hypocrisy and not being like
hypocrites, not being like religious zealous who really just wanted people to see them
praying in air quotes, and not being people who are into vain repetitions like
the Heathens do, thinking that somehow they can impress God with so many words.
Right, Sometimes people get real rhythmic. If you're not a Heathen,
you may be a believer who somehow you get into a frenzy based on the
rhythmic way in which you pray, and you feel more excited and you feel
like that may be a way to connect with God more. You may not
say it that way, but when you're thinking about it, you cry more.
When you do it that way, right, you get more excited,
you get more intense in that way. But what God is saying, it's
a lot simpler than that. It's about part of me connection with God.
I wish I had the time, But the Bible says, be ye not
therefore, like unto them, I just really ran through this verse eight.
For your father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask him.
So the first thing that we really need to hear in Jesus's teaching is that
God listens and he knows even before you speak, before I speak, he
knows what we have need of. So don't try to impress him. It's
not necessary, and really it just won't work. And then the Bible reads
verse nine after this manner, therefore pray ye see his children, his disciples,
Jesus's disciples were observing him in his own communion with God, and they
were like, please teach us how to connect with God. Like teach us
to pray like you do as John taught his disciples. And he said,
okay, well, this is what you do. Verse nine. After this
manner, therefore, pray ye our Father, which are in heaven hollowed,
be thy name. So we respect God, our father. We respect him,
and we know that he is indeed our father. He's holy, He's
holy. I don't have the time. Verse ten, Thy Kingdom, Come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We want
God's will done in our lives, and the way that He has his will
done perfectly in heavenly places, we want that in our lives. Give us
this day our daily bread. What are you listening to today? Look behind
me, over my shoulder seat. There your daily portion. You thought I
got this from out the sky. Nope, if I didn't give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. Type in the chat what you're learning here, because I can't really
pull those all out today, huh. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and
the glory forever and ever a man. And then Jesus says, for if
ye forgive men their trespasses, your father will also forgive you. And then
he teaches us the converse, if you don't, then neither will the Father.
So so many jewels here about forgiveness, about relying on God for our
sustenance, about relying upon God for our spiritual sustenance, and teaching us how
we must forgive, how it is our privilege to forgive others, because after
all, for Christ's sake, God has forgiven us. So what was Jesus
really teaching and did we get it? Was he teaching us to recite his
prayer When people are reciting his prayer and they and then they say, let's
pray together, and then they say these exact words. Is that what Jesus
was getting at, like when he said this is what I'm going to teach
you after you ask the question, and then we just by wrote and sometimes
just sort of mindlessly say what Jesus said? Is that what his goal was
when he said that, oh, I think not, I think not.
Okay? And so here are some actionable items from Luke chapter eleven and verse
one. We read Lord teach us how to pray as John also taught his
disciples. Whereas if you study the life of Enoch how he walked with God,
then at every time at any time in the day or night, we
should be at whatever point we need to. We should be reaching out to
God. We should be reaching out to God. It's like walking with God.
But if you look into the life of Daniel, if you look into
what we can infer from this passage in Luke eleven and verse one, there
are times that we should dedicate to prayer. So while fervent and unrehearsed prayer
as merit that spontaneous concept that I mentioned, Jesus's disciples request in Luke chapter
eleven and verse one shows us seeking instruction that can enhance our devotional life.
Daniel he prayed three times a day inspecific besides when he was walking and interacting
with people. He had those times dedicated for connection with God. Jesus came
aside a great while before day, and then he also prayed connecting with his
father before he went in and about his daily duties. Okay, and then
we can utilize the Psalms, because after all we are talking about the Psalms,
we can utilize the Psalms as a prayer book. In the Book of
Psalms, chapter ninety six, verses one and two, it says sing unto
the Lord, a new song, sing unto the Lord. All the earth
sing unto the Lord. Bless his name and show forth his salvation from day
to day. And if you survey the book of psalms, you will find
many, many instances when you could say, okay, I can see how
inspiration shows to connect to God in prayer. We can learn from prayers from
God's people. In the Book of First Chronicles, chapter sixteen, verses seven
through nine, it says, then on that day David delivered this psalm to
thank the Lord, Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the people, sing unto him, sing psalms unto
him, and take and talk excuse me of all his wondrous works, and
so many other takeaways. But these will sit with for just now. If
a wonderful rest of your sabbath. Peace. Thanks for joining us listening.
Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with
el David Harris, make it a great day. Yeah,