Do you ever lose heart in prayer?
Jesus taught about prayer on one occasion by telling a parable. In the parable, a man has an unexpected houseguest (Luke 11:5-8). It’s late and he has nothing to offer the weary traveler. So he goes to his neighbor for help.
The neighbor is unhappy about the interruption. It’s late. “Don’t bother me!” he says. His door is locked. His children are in bed. “I can’t get up to give you anything!” the neighbor tells the man.
Sometimes it seems as if God is like the unwilling neighbor in this parable. It seems as if God is saying, “Don’t bother me!” As if the door to his blessing is closed and locked. As if God is busy with those on the inside, and I am on the outside, empty-handed.
But I know God is not too busy. His door is not locked. He cares for all his sons and daughters, including me. I know it. I don’t always feel it. But I know that God is faithful. And I know that God is able.
Jesus concluded his parable by saying that the man would eventually get out of bed and offer help. Why? Not because the man was his friend, but because of the man’s shameless boldness.
I’ve heard some people pray who sounded like they were giving God commands, barking orders. Is this what Jesus is calling for? If so, we should find examples of prayer in the rest of the New Testament where people were brash and pushy with God. We don’t.
Prayer in the New Testament is often bold and confident, but never demanding or demeaning to God. If I start telling God what to do, then my prayers have gone from seeking “Thy kingdom” to chasing “my kingdom.”
Jesus continues his teaching about prayer by telling his disciples to ask, seek, and knock. Ask is a word that describes the heart and soul of prayer. We should ask. But Jesus doesn’t stop there.
Jesus says that prayer is also seeking. The Bible tells us that if we seek God with all our hearts we will find him. This makes sense. If we want to ask God then we must first approach him.
Since God is everywhere, seeking him may be more a matter of setting aside the world so that we can be aware of him, and so that we can be aware of our constant need for him. To seek God means that we must put aside our many distractions.
Jesus goes one more step and characterizes prayer as knocking. Knocking implies that a door is closed and must be opened. The Bible speaks about God opening the storehouses of heaven, God opening the floodgates of heaven.
If a friend who doesn’t want to get up and help can be persuaded by a little bold persistence, then how much more so will God answer our prayers when we ask, seek, and knock! Jesus continues by saying that God will give his Spirit to those who ask.
The Holy Spirit is God himself. The Holy Spirit is God’s invisible, personal, powerful presence in the world today, dwelling in the hearts of his people, his sons and daughters, followers of Jesus. God himself is our greatest need because he is the ultimate source of all our provisions and blessings.
We go to God and ask him to help us with our needs. God responds, I’ll do more than that! I’ll come and walk with you. I myself will be with you to meet every circumstance, every enemy, every challenge! The best thing we can have, the greatest gift of all is God on our side, God with us, God in us.
May we ask, seek, and knock, and may God’s Spirit answer by filling us and empowering us,
Brother Richard
brotherrichardsblog.com 