Luke 11 All for One and One for LOVE, for or against?

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Luke 11:1-54
Ask for What You Need
1One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, "Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."
2So he said, "When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right.3Keep us alive with three square meals.4Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil."
5Then he said, "Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. 6 An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don't have a thing on hand.' 7"The friend answers from his bed, "Don't bother me. The door's locked; my children are all down for the night; I can't get up to give you anything.' 8"But let me tell you, even if he won't get up because he's a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he'll finally get up and get you whatever you need.
9"Here's what I'm saying: Ask and you'll get, Seek and you'll find; Knock and the door will open.
10"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. 11If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? 12If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? 13As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing--you're at least decent to your own children. And don't you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?"

No Neutral Ground
14Jesus delivered a man from a demon that had kept him speechless. The demon gone, the man started talking a blue streak, taking the crowd by complete surprise. 15But some from the crowd were cynical. "Black magic," they said. "Some devil trick he's pulled from his sleeve." 16Others were skeptical, waiting around for him to prove himself with a spectacular miracle.
17Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, "Any country in civil war for very long is wasted. A constantly squabbling family falls to pieces. 18If Satan cancels Satan, is there any Satan left? You accuse me of ganging up with the Devil, the prince of demons, to cast out demons, 19but if you're slinging devil mud at me, calling me a devil who kicks out devils, doesn't the same mud stick to your own exorcists? 20But if it's God's finger I'm pointing that sends the demons on their way, then God's kingdom is here for sure.
21"When a strong man, armed to the teeth, stands guard in his front yard, his property is safe and sound. 22But what if a stronger man comes along with superior weapons? Then he's beaten at his own game, the arsenal that gave him such confidence hauled off, and his precious possessions plundered.
23"This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse.
24"When a corrupting spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn't find anyone, it says, "I'll go back to my old haunt.' 25On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant. 26It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place."
27While he was saying these things, some woman lifted her voice above the murmur of the crowd: "Blessed the womb that carried you, and the breasts at which you nursed!"
28Jesus commented, "Even more blessed are those who hear God's Word and guard it with their lives!"
Keep Your Eyes Open
29As the crowd swelled, he took a fresh tack: "The mood of this age is all wrong. Everybody's looking for proof, but you're looking for the wrong kind. All you're looking for is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. But the only proof you're going to get is the Jonah-proof given to the Ninevites, which looks like no proof at all. 30What Jonah was to Nineveh, the Son of Man is to this age.
31"On Judgment Day the Ninevites will stand up and give evidence that will condemn this generation, because when Jonah preached to them they changed their lives. A far greater preacher than Jonah is here, and you squabble about "proofs.' 32On Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will come forward and bring evidence that condemns this generation, because she traveled from a far corner of the earth to listen to wise Solomon. Wisdom far greater than Solomon's is right in front of you, and you quibble over "evidence.'
33"No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It's put on a lamp stand so those entering the room have light to see where they're going. 34Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. 35Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don't get musty and murky. 36Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room."
Frauds!
37When he finished that talk, a Pharisee asked him to dinner. He entered his house and sat right down at the table. 38The Pharisee was shocked and somewhat offended when he saw that Jesus didn't wash up before the meal. 39But the Master said to him, "I know you Pharisees burnish the surface of your cups and plates so they sparkle in the sun, but I also know your insides are maggoty with greed and secret evil. 40Stupid Pharisees! Didn't the One who made the outside also make the inside? 41Turn both your pockets and your hearts inside out and give generously to the poor; then your lives will be clean, not just your dishes and your hands.
42"I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but manage to find loopholes for getting around basic matters of justice and God's love. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required.
43"You're hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You love sitting at the head table at church dinners, love preening yourselves in the radiance of public flattery. 44Frauds! You're just like unmarked graves: People walk over that nice, grassy surface, never suspecting the rot and corruption that is six feet under."
45One of the religion scholars spoke up: "Teacher, do you realize that in saying these things you're insulting us?"
46He said, "Yes, and I can be even more explicit. You're hopeless, you religion scholars! You load people down with rules and regulations, nearly breaking their backs, but never lift even a finger to help.
47"You're hopeless! You build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed. 48The tombs you build are monuments to your murdering ancestors more than to the murdered prophets. 49That accounts for God's Wisdom saying, "I will send them prophets and apostles, but they'll kill them and run them off.' 50What it means is that every drop of righteous blood ever spilled from the time earth began until now,. 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was struck down between altar and sanctuary, is on your heads. Yes, it's on the bill of this generation and this generation will pay.
52"You're hopeless, you religion scholars! You took the key of knowledge, but instead of unlocking doors, you locked them. You won't go in yourself, and won't let anyone else in either."
53As soon as Jesus left the table, the religion scholars and Pharisees went into a rage. They went over and over everything he said, 54plotting how they could trap him in something from his own mouth.
Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
I feel so sad when believers have been deceived by God’s very enemy into thinking if they ask God for something God already wants them to have, that they might actually get a demon spirit or something!
Or that they are too unworthy to get what they are asking for, such as healing or pain relief.
God is such a gentleman in nature. He gives the best gifts of all! Healing IS God’s gift. Being filled with God’s spirit is a good thing.
People have been deceived into thinking that if they ask for God’s spirit, they’ll somehow be possessed by a devil who will throw them about and control them.
God is a free-will God, HE GAVE humans free-wills, even let then choose to refuse Him if they want to! Why would the God who allows people to choose, take and possess and control you? Man, I get so sad when I see people missing out on the best gift of all, the reception of God himself and all of the supernatural help he gives to our human spirits!
Prayer is our direct connection to our father, the one who loves us. Every unanswered prayer is not because God does not will it to happen. I love how this scripture tells us to persist in those prayers. Sometimes we need to see how much we really want something, the more we ask, the more it is weighed out for us to consider all of the cost involved in getting what we ask for. Also if the enemy would lie to us telling us that we don’t really want God’s very own personal helper to come live inside of us, then how many of our prayers do you think he wants to come true? Especially God centered ones? If we decide to agree with something God says about us or our world, why would that just be so easy to get? The enemy sends angelic help to thwart the plans and will of God. If the will of God was always accomplished for us automatically we’d just love and serve God with a whole heart and the enemies of god would be defeated completely! Add a little test of faith and commitment and we find how solid we really are in agreeing with God’s will and desire.
Everything worth something has a price tag on it. Truly.
This part is gonna hit on a note of controversy, but I’m gonna write it anyway, because it is truth and love is truth and is willing to declare truth even to its own hurt or even at the chance of risking a reputation…..
My little 6 year old asked me today if Halloween is the devil’s B-day or something? She wanted to know why people put skeletons, jack-o-lanterns and other creatures of darkness as decorations in their yard at this time of year? She had told me two weeks ago (in September), that she does not want to go to our local Wal Mart until after Halloween!
Today as we were passing houses on the way home from church, she brought up the subject again. Without knowing that this was today’s scripture I used it, explaining how there was a time people thought that demon spirits went about looking for places to rest, and that even in the Bible there was a time when a dark spirit of death passed over homes and would stop and kill any firstborn in that house, if the house was not covered by the Blood of the Lamb. I told her some people believed this time was a time for the dead to wander about and spirits of evil to wander about. If people put certain things up in their yards or near their homes or did a certain thing a certain way, they’d be somehow protected and the passing evil would not rest on their home or place of residency. I told her by revelation of the word, that evil cannot ward off evil. Only the blood of the lamb can ward off evil spirits or spirits of death. I told her if even in Exodus the death angel came over our home mommy and jazzy would die if we did not have the blood shed for us. Only the shed blood of the lamb could sanctify any house then and now. Only the mark of the shed blood of the Lamb!
Evil cannot ward off evil. Nothing but the blood of Jesus! I told her many do not understand that and they do think they are having fun, getting candy and playing dress up games, but we choose not to participate in that which has an evil root and masks evil as good.
This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy
This is why someone anyone willing would receive the Holy Spirit, so that their life would be clearly marked for God’s spirit and they would be used by God for God activity and there’d be no question of any other allegiances, ever! If there’s no God activity what kind of activity is there?
There’s NO neutral ground!
If we are THE light of the world, then we must make stances and declarations that show us as that light with no compromises to darkness or its subtle evil works.
Do we know about or know personally the very character of God Our Father? If we are willing to display it and go against the worldly flow, we show forth His power in oneness with Him. There is another father, ya know?


Daily Repetitive Verse(s) -
John 17:15 I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one.