Luke 11 (Part 1): Heaven to Earth

Luke Chapter 11
is all about
the Kingdom of Heaven;
and it starts with Jesus
teaching his disciples
to pray like this,
 Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive
those who sin against us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”
Luke 11:2-4

I never noticed this before,
but Jesus extends the teaching about prayer.
In verses 11:5-8,
Jesus tells a story
about a friend
who comes knocking at your door,
late at night, 
to request something to eat.
The man in bed
did not want to get up,
but because of his friends persistence
he would rise and wake up.

Once again,
Jesus teaches us
spiritual things,
through short stories
known as parables.
 
Basically,
He says that our Father is good;
and he favors us when we honor Him.
 
Jesus said that when we pray,
we are to stay persistent the whole way,
and we are to keep knocking at God’s door,
because He will answer and give us more.

In fact, Scripture says,
“to knock with shameless persistence”
with no hesitation 
and all conviction,
because Jesus
gives us this promise,
“if you sinful people
know how to give good gifts
to your children,
then how much more
will your heavenly father give
the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him.”
Luke 11:11-13

Did you notice that Jesus
first showed them how to pray,
by honoring our Father
this very day?
"Hallowed be thy name"
shows reverent honor, glory and power
to the Name above all names.
  
And then he tells them
what to ask for
when knocking on God's door.

"Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven."

It's not a car, a house or a thing,
it's bringing heaven to earth
through the Lord's blessing.

Then, in essence,
Jesus says...
eat my Word and show My love,
when He uses the words,
"Give us this day our daily bread.
 And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive
those who sin against us."

And when He says, 
"Lead us not into temptation"
He is not saying Holy Spirit is tempting us!
He is saying,
"Do not be driven by your flesh!"
Help us Jesus -
not to mess this up!
We have to stop blaming you for our stuff!

Then He tells us
to get ready to receive,
because His Spirit
is what He truly wants to give.

When we choose to align our will to Him,
this is how we truly
give glory and honor to Him.

Jesus said,
“If you ask for bread,
then don't expect a stone;
and if you ask for a fish,
then don’t expect a snake.” 

He did not say exactly this,
but it is my guess
that Jesus
is not talking about things of this earth.
Rather, He is referring to
bringing spiritual things,
by bringing heaven to earth.

Holy Spirit is rooted in love,
and His spiritual fruit is what we eat from.
The Tree of Life is given to us,
when we accept Jesus as our Christ.
Eternal life is a priceless gift,
and it's given free of charge
to those who love Jesus. 

And if that is not enough,
Jesus sends us Holy Spirit to live in us.
He guides us and comforts us
in times of trouble,
and He reminds us
that He is with us
wherever we go. 

Holy Spirit transforms our soul
by dividing our spirit
from the marrow.
Hebrews 4:12

And it is only through
His discernment
that we can be the vessel
to go where His Spirit wants us to go.

We must learn to settle our souls
so that we can see and hear
what His Spirit holds.

The bell will toll for everyone,
and His prayer
is that we will all want to be with Him.
Our Father is patient with us,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but wanting everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
 
It amazes me to see
the very next text
that comes after prayer - 
Jesus casts out a demon
from a man who is mute.
 
Luke said the crowds were amazed
at what Jesus could do,
so seeing that He was only human -
they attributed the miracle to Satan,
the prince of demons.
Can you believe
that Satan received the glory,
as if he is the only one
who is worthy
of doing such things!
 
Isn't it like that today!
 
When people see others
stepping out in faith,
they step back,
make a distasteful face
and start to negate.
And when they hear of acts
that are done in faith,
they automatically assume
the miracles are fake.
 Even today,
Satan receives the claim,
for miraculous things
that are done in Jesus's name.
In fact,
in this age -
many believe
that the laying on of hands,
and the healing of men
is usually done
through false prophets and demons.
 The same is true
for God’s people
who experience
visions and dreams.
Many don’t believe
that another human
can experience
these kinds
of spiritual things.
 It amazes me,
that people who say
they have faith and believe,
have slammed the door
on living faithfully focused and free.
How can they deny Holy Spirit power,
when they believe
that Holy Spirit lives inside of you and me?
Do they not have spiritual eyes to see,
that blessings can flow from the one who receives?
Do they not remember the story,
of the woman with blood
who had such an incredible faith to receive?
Jesus did not have to do anything,
it was simply the pressing in
that allowed the woman to receive her healing.

Anyway,
Back to the story,
verse 16 says that
“others tried to test Him,
and they demanded that He show them
a miraculous sign from Heaven."
Seriously,
what is wrong with humanity? 
Trust is the most basic developmental need
in order to attain relational consistency.
Without trust, you have nothing.
Jesus was literally healing the sick.
He was casting out demons.
He was preaching the Word of God
to the teachers of the law,
in their synagogues!
And still -
they did not believe. 

What more could these people possibly want?
Holy Spirit power not enough
because they were used to human mistrust,
instead of Spirit-filled love.
 
But Jesus knew their thoughts and said,
“Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation,
and a house divided against a house falls."

This is certainly how the bell tolls for most.
Most people do not choose peace,
when the Bait of Satan takes precedence.
Offense usually wins,
when it fills the heart of humans.

Let's look at American politics,
we are dead nation
divided
into Republicans and Democrats.
Who wins,
when the pendulum swings? 
All it does is divide and slice men.

Don't even get me going on religious camps!
Word of Faith vs. Calvinists,
Catholics vs. Protestants,
Puritans vs. Evangelists,
the list...
could go and on!
What about going back to the simplistics, 
and keeping it all about Jesus?
What if we just focused 
on the author and perfecter of our faith?
Wouldn't this bring us back into true discipleship?
Wouldn't this be a pure measure of faith,
and help us to love through true fellowship?

We sure know how to complicate things!
It's no wonder God allows
the testing of our faith!

Jesus goes on to say,
“You say I am empowered by Satan
but if Satan is divided
and fighting against himself,
how can his kingdom survive?”
 
That is so true!
I just love Jesus's truths.
If Satan was really casting out demons,
he would be killing his own kingdom.
In my opinion,
if that happened,
he would be almost as stupid as humans!
I mean think about it,
“men eating men”
is what we are known for!
How dare you 
not live, breath and think like I do!
If you don't like it,
then we can go to war!
And when I'm offended,
you better watch your back,
because I'm coming for you!

Jesus said,
“And if I am empowered by Satan
what about your own exorcists?
They cast out demons too,
so they will condemn you,
for what you have said.”
 I think what Jesus means
is that if humans
are casting out demons,
does that mean
that they are demons too?
He then goes on to say,
“But if I am casting out demons
by the finger of God,
then the Kingdom of God
has come upon you."
I love what He says next, 
"When a strong man, fully armed,
guards his own palace,
his goods are in peace. 
But when a stronger than he
comes upon him and overcomes him,
he takes from him all his armor
in which he trusted, and divides his spoils."
 I believe what Jesus means
is that He is King!
And Satan is foolishly deceived
to believe
that he has the strength to win.

Then Jesus said,
perhaps the most scary thing!
“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me,
and anyone who isn’t working with me
is actually working against me.”
 
This is a refreshing slap in the face!
We must wipe the sleep
from our spiritual eyes,
and become awake!
The devil is prowling like lion,
seeking to destroy everyone he can.
If we lack in faith,
we will become food to him!
He will chew us up and spit us out!

Do you believe that Jesus is who He says He is?
Do you believe God's Holy Spirit
comes to live in the hearts of men?  
Do you believe that He has the authority,
to cast out demons and heal the sick?

Do you believe in spiritual gifts
described in Romans 12:6-8?
Prophecy, Serving, Teaching,
Exhortation, Giving, Leadership and Mercy?

What about the ones
found in 1 Corinthians 12,
where the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for the common good?

Do you believe in the message of wisdom,
or the message of knowledge?
What about the one that I believe that I have,
Faith - which is a measure of God's love?

What about healing and the working of miracles?
Do you believe in prophecy
and the discernment of spirits?
And how do respond
when you hear someone speak in tongues?
Do you shy away
and think they are acting alone? 
And what if you heard an interpretation,
that did not match what your own thought was?
Would your pride get in the way
of believing
that Holy Spirit
apportions as He wants?
Would your self-righteousness 
begin to seep out?

We have to be so careful
about self-righteousness,
because it really does
spiritually blind us.

This is what almost took out
the man named Job,
the one that God
even called
a man of righteousness!

I'm sure that Job
did not think
he was opposing God,
because everything
He did
was done
to honor God as Lord.

But it was in the trial
that Job's sin came out,
it's the most blinding of sins -
this "self-righteousness."

It's a sin
that I have personally struggled with,
and the only way
I have learned to overcome this
is to keep my eyes
firmly focused on Jesus.

 I had to stop looking at men,
and trying to make
an accurate perception of him.

I had to stop
looking at religious camps,
and decided to get back
to true discipleship.

It is only then
that I can be
a pure reflection of Him.
I've learned that His light
will only move
when I have set
my spiritual eyes ONLY on Him.

In Luke 11:24 - 26,  
Jesus speaks about
the unclean spirits
who live inside of men,
and He shares this
directly after
his warning
NOT to oppose him. 

He says,  
 “When an unclean spirit
goes out of a man,
he goes through dry places,
seeking rest;
and finding none, he says,
‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 
And when he comes,
he finds it swept and put in order. 
Then he goes and takes with him 
seven other spirits more wicked than himself,
and they enter and dwell there;
and the last state of that man
is worse than the first.”

I always wondered why
I became jealous and envious
when I believed
that someone else was being blessed.
This was because
I was acting in opposition to Him,
by keeping my eyes set
on the achievements
of other men.
And when I thought I was good,
another root would show
and I would focus in on it!
My God!
It took me a long time -
to get over myself and stop hiding!
Finally, when I exposed it all to Him,
He ripped out the roots
instead of me focusing on the stems!

This should be a warning to all of us,
that our first love must be Jesus!

Sometimes our intellect
can get the best of us,
and leave us more open
to spiritual unrest.
I've often found myself
in this hazy mess,
and have to repent
and come back to the cross.

People are NOT
the perfecters of my faith,
but they are also
not my true enemies. 

If I hear the gospel
coming from a man’s mouth,
and see that he behaves like David, 
a little eccentric,
and he begins to dance and shout -
it does not mean
Holy Spirit does not live in Him,
in fact,
it could be just the opposite.

At the same time,
Mrs. Dry Eyes 
can be more Spirit-filled
than the man
jumping up and down
in the aisles.

There may be a preacher
who stands on the Word of Faith,
who truly loves Jesus
and believes in the power of Holy Spirit.

There may be a prophet
who speaks about suffering,
yet truly believes that Holy Spirit
has the power to heal. 

All of this is to say,
that I must choose
to stay aligned
with Holy Spirit
who guides my every move.

If I get out of line,
I'm opening my soul
to all kinds
of Satanic kinds.
 
So the answer
is obvious to me,
I will not be distracted
by what other people think.

If Holy Spirit tells me to go,
then I will go.
And if He tells me to stay,
then I will stay.

I do not want to move,
when He does not move.
This would be an abomination,
and He would totally disapprove!

Holy Spirit has not failed me yet,
He has saved my marriage,
and He is healing my foot.
Holy Spirit led me to my church,
and He has had His hand
over our marriage group.
Holy Spirit has opened the doors
for me to counsel
the broken and hurt;
and He has increased my faith
more and more
by opening my heart
to understand His Word.
Holy Spirit has given me
words of poetry,
and He has given me
words to speak.
But most importantly,
Holy Spirit has forgiven me
for blasphemy;
during a time
when I didn't take the time
to know Him.

He is truly
the only One that I trust.
And without Him,
I would be spiritually lost.