Banquet With The King: May 2026

Sunday, May 3, 2026

Pray to the Lord

Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:9-15

Meditate reverently.

Teach your children and grandchildren to fold their hands in prayer.

During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His disciples and followers just how to pray. This is also sustinctly recorded in the book of Luke and books have been written on this subject, so I’ll just add a couple comments of my thoughts on this topic. Prayer to God is the backbone of communication and a relationship with Him. How?

Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.” Luke 11:2-4 (NLT)

First, reverently and respectfully honor and acknowledge our Holy God. His will and Kingdom are important to Him and should be of utmost importance to each of Jesus’ followers…then and now. Jesus next point was to ask for a daily portion of food. As a kid, my sixth grade Sunday School teacher suggested that this was not just the three square meals we each hoped for, but spiritual food as well. Spiritual food. That was a new concept to me and has intrigued me ever since. Spiritual food. God’s word. It is importantly to “be fed” spiritually every day. Just like we need food physically, we need spiritual food daily. How’s it going with your spiritual diet these days?

Forgiveness is essential. Jesus advised His followers to forgive others and to ask for forgiveness. Can’t have one without the other. Similarly, the next part of the prayer model is to ask for protection against temptation and the devil. God is all powerful and we can trust Him to protect us. Just ask. That is the key: ask. Jesus mentioned and clarified this later.

Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” Matthew 21:21-22 (Underlined for emphasis.)

This simple plan, designed and provided by Jesus, can give your prayer life a boost and as you rely on the Lord, trusting Him. It surely will strengthen your relationship. Blessings.

Prayer ~ Dear Lord, Thank You for this practical lesson on praying. Help me to improve my prayer life and my relationship with you.

Verse of Salvation ~ But I keep praying to you, LORD, hoping this time you will show me favor. In your unfailing love, O God, answer my prayer with your sure salvation. Psalm 69:13 (NLT)

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Graduation Goal

Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 (NLT)

Meditate on goals and God.

Amelia and Kim hiking Badger Mt.

Kim and Amelia strolling down the hall

Amelia with siblings Zander and Liberty

Congratulations on your AA Graduation from Trident College, Amelia! We are so very proud of you!

Paul intructed the church at Thessalonica to live a quiet life. By nature, Amelia has a gentle quiet spirit. She has endured a lot of medical issues beginning with the diagnosis of Juvenile Arthritis when she was barely two. Have you ever heard of dysautonomia, POTS, MALS, or gastroparesis? She knows them well…and others. You’d think she would want to be a doctor since she is already so knowledgable of rare conditions, but ever since she was just a little tyke she has loved books and reading. She wants to be a librarian…but also now because of paralegal courses she’s taken, her passion is to be an attorney and a law librarian. Great goals. With her AA under her belt—she is now headed to Lander University in the fall…actually late summer to continue her studies.

Paul’s encouragement to live a quiet life is congruent to that of Jesus’ teaching of being kind and compassionate. The important thing is to believe in Jesus as Savior, just as Amelia does.

You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Luke 6:36

Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:29

Our future is in God’s hands, no matter what our goals are. God has a plan. We can merely trust Him. Rely on Him to guide us in the way we should go. Pray…and find your peace in His word.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Proverbs 3:5-9

Trust God and wisely choose your goals. No plan is a plan to fail.

Prayer ~ Lord Jesus, Thank You for the peace and quiet in my life that only comes from devoting my time and energy to You. Please continue to guide me along the narrow path that You have provided that began when I first believed in You as my Lord and Savior. My goal is to be in You, always.

Verse of Salvation ~ Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16

© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
Partial reuse of September 10, 2014, Banquet With The King blog.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.

Friday, May 1, 2026

How’s Your Prayer Life?

When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Matthew 6:5-8 (NLT)

Be like the humble turtle and pray quietly.

Meditate. Pray.

Jesus knew that people who had come to hear Him needed to learn about prayer. Who did they have as examples in their community? The babbling, hypocritical scribes and Pharisees?! They were looking for rewards, praise, acknowlegements, or public accolades. Their public prayers were actually acceptable at the synagogue. Private prayer was to be just that, private, but these hypocrites were doing the private prayers on busy street corners where everyone could see them. They were chanting like pagan did to their gods, and babbling on in nonsense to impress others of their piousness. Jesus was stressing that our Heavenly Father knows what we need—and I would presume, want— even before we begin to pray. Prayer is our way to communicate with God. Reading His word and discussing it with others is one of God’s way of communicating with us. Have you spent time praising Him—for His creation, life, and thanking Him for all He has done lately?

This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things. 1 John 3:20

This reminds me of a parable that Jesus told later about the prayer life of two very different men.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people -- greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner! ’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14 (CSB)
What is Jesus teaching us from these passage? Which of the men are you like? How is your prayer life?

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.