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The Upside Down World, Week 11, Day 5

by David Joynt on November 23, 2017


LUKE 11:9-11


These are some of the most famous verses in the Bible. They do not mean that we can treat God as a Blind Provider, who will give us everything we want, grant us everything we seek, and break every lock that blocks our entrance. Many times, we do not want what is ultimately best for us, or we seek things that don’t serve our final interests, or we want to enter places that could become prisons for us and not palaces or playgrounds. The life of the Christian includes times when God says no to a particular desire we have. Moses did not enter the promised land. The people of Israel did not avoid Babylonian captivity. Jesus did not have the “bitter cup” taken away from him, even though he requested so passionately in the Garden of Gethsemane.


When has God said no to you?


What do you make of these verses?

FAMILY TIME— Practice these verses until you can all recite them. Pray a family prayer together.

Tags: prayer

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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