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APRIL 12
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of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to sign from heaven. But He, knowing their
pray, as John also taught his disciples.” thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divid-
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: ed against itself is brought to desolation, and a
house divided against a house falls. If Satan
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Our Father in heaven, also is divided against himself, how will his
Hallowed be Your name. kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out
Your kingdom come. 19
demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out
Your will be done demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread. cast them out? Therefore they will be your
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4 And forgive us our sins, judges. But if I cast out demons with the fin-
For we also forgive everyone who is ger of God, surely the kingdom of God has
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come upon you. When a strong man, fully
indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation, armed, guards his own palace, his goods are
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But deliver us from the evil one.” in peace. But when a stronger than he comes
upon him and overcomes him, he takes from
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall him all his armor in which he trusted, and
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have a friend, and go to him at midnight and divides his spoils. He who is not with Me is
say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a against Me, and he who does not gather with
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friend of mine has come to me on his journey, Me scatters.
and I have nothing to set before him’; and he 24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man,
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will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and
me; the door is now shut, and my children are finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my
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with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? house from which I came.’ And when he
8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to comes, he finds it swept and put in order.
him because he is his friend, yet because of his 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other
persistence he will rise and give him as many spirits more wicked than himself, and they
as he needs. enter and dwell there; and the last state of that
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to man is worse than the first.”
you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will 27 And it happened, as He spoke these things,
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be opened to you. For everyone who asks that a certain woman from the crowd raised her
receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that
who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
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bread from any father among you, will he give 28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are
him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks
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for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If
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you then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will 11:28 More than that. This has the sense of,
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to “Yes, but rather….” While not denying the
those who ask Him!” blessedness of Mary, Christ did not counte-
14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was nance any tendency to elevate Mary as an
mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, object of veneration. Mary’s relationship to
that the mute spoke; and the multitudes mar- Him as His physical mother did not confer on
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veled. But some of them said, “He casts out her any greater honor than the blessedness of
demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” those who hear and obey the word of God.
16 Others, testing Him, sought from Him a
DAY 12: How far would some go to explain away Jesus’ power?
Having just watched Jesus cast a demon out of a person, some people said, “He casts out
demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons” (Luke 11:15). Originally this referred to Baal-Zebul
(“Baal,the prince”),chief god of the Philistine city of Ekron.The Israelites disdainfully referred to him
as Baal-Zebub (“Lord of Flies”).
Jesus reminded them that “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation” (v.
17). This may have been a subtle jab at the Jewish nation, a kingdom divided in the time of
Jeroboam,and still marked by various kinds of bitter internal strife and factionalism,right up to the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. He also questioned them:“By whom do your sons cast them

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