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Day 292 or October the 19th. Let us pray. Our

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thoughts today come from Luke chapter 11 verse

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1. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.

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When he finished, one of his disciples said to

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him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught

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his disciples. And now the big picture surrounding

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this verse. Almost halfway through his gospel,

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Luke now concentrates on the southern ministry

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of Jesus. These next six months or so will climax

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with the crucifixion, but there are many adventures

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in the life of Messiah still to be recorded.

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One of his early actions is to send out 70 of

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his followers to put into practice what they'd

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learned from their master. Being a Jew, Jesus

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sends out 70. which is the same number as Moses

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had elders, the number of years the Jews spent

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in exile, and also the number that made up the

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Sanhedrin. Luke records the most famous prayer

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in the world, but his version is only about half

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the length of that found in Matthew. There is

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a church in Jerusalem which is called the Paternoster

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Church, and in which may be found scores of versions

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of the Lord's Prayer in many languages. It is

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a wonderful sensation to hear someone read the

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Hebrew version, or even better, the Aramaic version,

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as you are then hearing the prayer just as the

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disciples would have done. A very special moment

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indeed. And now today's action step. Most of

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us never master the art of praying, and it seems

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the disciples, even with God's Son in their midst,

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have the same problem. Luke gives us a clue for

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achieving success when he tells us that Jesus

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had a special place to pray. I have been in retreat

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centres where a prayer room had been established

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for many years, and you could sense the years

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of dedicated praying that had taken place there

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as soon as you enter. Of course, our special

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place doesn't have to be static. Some people

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redeem the time by praying when walking the dog

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or jogging. whichever place we choose, we need

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to follow Jesus' example.