I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
Luke 11:8
In Luke 11:8, Jesus tells of a man who was insistent. He didn’t go away. He kept knocking.
When the Bible says in verse 9, “Ask…seek…knock,” this isn’t exactly what Jesus said in the original Greek. He said, “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.” The verb tense implies an ongoing, continuous action. This is made clear by the context of the story. The example is of a man who won’t take no for an answer. He keeps on asking, and because he keeps on asking, he gets what he’s asking for. The gospels are filled with this lesson.
In Luke 18 “… Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: ‘In a certain town, there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Jesus urges us to realize that if an unjust judge will eventually give in and do what’s right, how much more will our heavenly Father, who’s not unjust, do what is right for us? Verse one says Jesus told them this story in order to teach them to keep praying until the answer comes. How many times do we pray briefly, then give up?
I’m not a good fisherman because I don’t enjoy standing on the dock casting and reeling for the amount of time it takes to catch fish. It’s so much more convenient to go to the fish market to get fish. The process doesn’t thrill me; I’m looking for results. The same thing is true when it comes to hunting. My brother loves to hunt. I love to eat venison. I am perfectly content to benefit from someone else’s hard work.
Most people pray like I fish – not very much, not very often, not very long. When we pray, we pray perfunctorily, “Okay God, if you can do anything about this, please help us out.” If nothing happens in five minutes, we assume, “Oh well, I guess I’ll have to take care of this myself.”
This problem is older than our “fast food” generation. God told Abraham and Sarah He would give them a son, and through that son, God would make Abraham the father of a great nation. They waited for a very long time, and it seemed obvious to them that Sarah would not conceive. So, Sarah said to Abraham, “Here’s my handmaid. Take her. She’ll give you a child. We can raise the child together, and he’ll be ours.” This was not a good idea. Instead, they should have prayed persistently. We should learn from their mistake.
What do you expect?
Pray humbly, pray specifically, pray persistently and pray expectantly. His will is good, and He wants to bless: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking. God answers prayer! For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Keep at it. Don’t give up! As we persevere, continuing in what God has told us to do, we will receive an answer.
I prayed regularly for over twenty-one years for God to give us a piece of land for a children’s home. Every time Susan and I would go on vacation, we’d see a farm for sale somewhere and we’d say, “Wow, do you think this could be it?” We’d go and walk around the land and pray and say, “Lord, if this is the place for the children’s home, we’d be so excited.” We didn’t know how this was going to come about. We didn’t have land or money to inherit, but I was confident that someday, somehow, somewhere God would give us a piece of land. When He finally did after over twenty-one years of praying, I was amazed.
The specific answer to our prayer for land came a year before we received it. Our friend, Annette Ryan, had drawn up an extensive plan for a children’s home. In her business plan, she suggested that the ideal land would consist of “about one hundred acres – about forty acres of pasture and the rest wooded.” The plan was specific.
The land we were given was one hundred four acres, thirty-eight in pasture and the rest wooded. We were convinced that God had clearly answered our prayer. God wants to bless us. He wants us to pray specifically and expectantly so that we can rejoice in His gracious answer.
Most of us don’t expect God to do what we desire. This is one reason we aren’t more specific. We keep our prayers very general, hoping to avoid disappointment. But, we don’t receive the blessing our generous heavenly Father is eager to give to His dearly loved children. He wants us to spend time with Him, so that He can conform our desires to His and so grant our requests.
Will you start making a list of prayers God has answered and then add a few new items you believe God wants to do? Are you including the names of some loved ones who need to be saved? Do you believe God wants to bless?
Featured Resource:
Book “Hearing His Voice”
The Life of Prayer, Book 2