Prayer needs to be our priority. There are other things that are good and important but prayer is to be our priority. The people at the Laodicea Church had put Jesus outside and He had to knock at the door to try and get in! Other things had taken priority. The story of Mary and Martha is set in Bethany. Mary and Martha both love Jesus. Martha is determined that Jesus needs a good meal. She feels that Mary is skiving off while sitting down listening to Jesus. Martha wants Jesus to command Mary to help in the kitchen. Jesus is not saying house work is wrong. The timing is wrong. Jesus is teaching and the priority is to listen.

1 – We are all to pray

We are all called to be a man or woman of prayer. We can’t claim to be a Mary or a Martha. We are to be practical and pray. We can be busy with business but can we pause for prayer? How good are we on our knees in prayer?

2 – What to pray about

Jesus only left one short prayer. We might have left one for every day of the year? Jesus uses one title for God. It is “father”. We may or may not have had a good father. Sometimes our father may have been violent. We all have a need to experience a strong, eternal loving father. He will always be there are love us. God is concerned about our daily needs like bread on our table.

Jesus tells the story of the man who bangs on his neighbour’s door for bread for his visitor. The neighbour was not keen but he realised that the man was not going to go away until he gave him what he wanted. God is not so reluctant. He wants to give His blessings.

Jesus rams the point home. God does not give bad for good. God is perfectly good and gives good things for His children.

3 – What to do with it?

You need to move forward in prayer. We are move forward and know more about God’s generosity. They are plenty of opportunities for prayer. This is for all of us. Some of us pray a lot and some little. God treats it all as gold.

Categories: Luke