The Kingdom’s Action Plan – Part V

Key Verse: Luke 11:9

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Additional Reading: Luke 11: 5-13

At the end of the story in Luke 11, my New Living Translation uses this phrase: “shameless persistence”. Jesus had told His disciples this story in answer to their question of how to pray. Here is a quick summary of the story in the suggested Additional Reading section.

A man went to a friend’s house at midnight wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. This man explained to his friend that he had an unexpected guest and he had nothing to offer him. This friend called out from his bedroom: “don’t bother me, the door is locked for the night and my family and I are in bed”. Jesus goes on to say that the man kept knocking until his friend finally got up to give him the bread. The man was able to feed his unexpected guest because of his “shameless persistence”.

Remember, this story was Jesus’s answer to His disciples’ questions about prayer! What implications should we draw from this lesson?

First, put some shameless persistence in your prayers. Do it because you are indeed talking to a friend. You are praying to someone who cares deeply about whatever you are talking to Him about!

Secondly, never forget that when you pray you are speaking to your Father in heaven, and He takes His fatherhood seriously! Jesus reminded His disciples that a good father would never “give a snake to a child who was asking for a fish to eat. Nor would a good father give a child a scorpion when the child asked for an egg” (Luke 11:11-12).

When you use the term “father” in your prayers, what picture comes into your mind? I ask that because I do realize that label doesn’t always produce a positive picture in some people’s minds.

Maybe your father was stingy or even mean to you. Maybe your father took off and you never got to have him in your life. It may be very hard to get a positive picture in your mind when someone calls God, our heavenly Father. If that is the case for you, try to imagine what a good father should be, and know that your heavenly Father is all those things and much more! He cares so deeply for us, and we can ask Him for anything!

Certainly, we must remember that, like a good earthly father, we won’t get those things that we ask for that He knows are bad for us. As children, we won’t always understand why God gives us a “no”, but we can trust His Wisdom and His love for us. He will NOT withhold anything that will bless us in every way!

Father, I do trust you and I will practice some “shameless persistence” in my prayers, always ending with “your will be done”! In Jesus’s Name, amen.