3^rd August

“But I tell you this-though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.”

Luke 11:8

Jesus had just finished teaching His disciples how to pray using the model of the Lord’s prayer in verses 2-4 (also found in Matthew 6:9-13). Yet what differs from Matthew’s account of this prayer is the story that precedes after it.

Jesus shares this interesting parable to highlight a very important truth when we come before Him in prayer. He gives the example of two friends. One of the men goes to his friend’s house in the middle of the night, as a visitor had just arrived. The host had no food to offer his visitor so he went to his friend’s house to ask for some food. However, this friend was trying to sleep, the door was locked and his answer was no. However the helpless host kept on persisting and eventually the friend gave him some food to share with his visitor.

Jesus then goes on to explain the meaning of this parable and alludes it to our relationship with God when we pray. Jesus says that if we keep on asking, we will receive what we are asking for. However, persistent prayer is not trying to bend God’s arm into giving us what we want. It a discipline to daily put our trust in Him as the One who can answer our prayers. Jesus used the example of shameless persistence in this parable as instruction to us too. He instructs us to keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep knocking, Eventually we will receive, seek and find all that we are asking for.

God is so good, so gracious and so kind and knows how to give good gifts. In fact our Heavenly Father gave us the greatest gift ever, when He sent His only Son as a ransom for us. And if that was not enough, when Jesus ascended to Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter and guidance. Because God loves us so dearly, He wants to shower us with His goodness and grace. Let us persist in seeking His goodness.