Be Persistent

The Model Prayer

Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray

He taught them to pray to the Father

for his name to be glorified

for His Kingdom to be established on the earth

for our daily needs of food, clothing , shelter

for our daily needs of forgiveness

for our daily needs of protection against evil

Jesus is going to go on and teach more about prayer

about our good Heavenly Father

Read Luke 11 5-13.

A Parable of Contrast

V 5-6

You have an unexpected friend just come in from Pittsburgh and he is starving.

you have no food to feed him

you go next door and bang on his door and when he wakes up

you tell him I need a big favor. I need food to feed my friend

I need 3 loaves of bread please thanks

the neighbor tells you to go fly a kite

forget it i’m not getting up for you

but the only way for him to get back to bed and go to sleep is for him to give you what you want

but what this man is asking for is for the neighbor to get up

fire up the oven and bake 3 loaves of bread

its like me asking my neighbor at midnight to mow my lawn for me.

and I don’t take no for an answer

and keep banging on his door until he gives in and does it

just let me do this and get it over with

What this man who’s friend has come needs is very important

the culture demands that he is a good host

remember Abraham when the 3 from heaven came to visit him he ran to kill a goat then he baked bread for them

the culture requires a host to give whatever is needed

as far as food and lodging

this neighbor had a legitimate need in bread to provide to his traveling friend and he was not able to provide

V 7-8

Contrast the neighbor who because of the persistence

he gave

to God the Father

everything this neighbor was …the Father is the opposite

neighbor was a friend

behind locked door

asleep

annoyed

did not want to help

out of the persistent nagging he finally gave in

our Father, our close relative says

come boldly to the throne room

He is never asleep

never annoyed with your prayers

always wants to give good gifts

never thinks your persistence is nagging

He gives what we need at the right time

what is the lesson from this contrasting parable?

besides the contrast between the Father and this neighbor

we need to be persistent in our prayers

Paul tells us to pray without ceasing

our prayers form intimacy with the Father

our greatest need is to be with God not necessarily our prayers to be answered

God knows what we need before we ask for it

but He also knows that if we did not need it we would not ask for it

our time spent with Him will be shortened

our time with the Father is the most important of the day

yet we all cut this time short

V 9-10

so go on praying and the Father will answer

the Father is listening

these verbs are continuous so be persistent

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4526 Brainerd Prays through to Indians

4526 Brainerd Prays Through To Indians

David Brainerd was a man of great spiritual power. The work which he accomplished by prayer was simply marvelous. Dr. A. J. Gordon, in giving a sketch of Brainerd’s experience, said,

“In the depths of those forests, alone, unable to speak the language of the Indians, he spent whole days literally in prayer. What was he praying for? He knew that he could not reach those savages; he did not understand their language. If he wanted to speak at all, he must find somebody who could vaguely interpret his thought; therefore he knew that anything he should do must be absolutely dependent upon the power of God.

“So he spent whole days in prayer, simply that the power of the Holy Ghost might come upon him so unmistakably that these people should not be able to stand before him. What was his answer? Once he preached and the interpreter was so intoxicated that he could hardly stand up. That was the best he could do. Yet scores were converted through that sermon. We can account for it only by the tremendous power of God behind him.

Our Good Father

V 11- 12

God gives his children the best answers to their prayers. He gives himself. He gave his Son to us on the cross, and he gives his Spirit to us for daily living. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not along with him give us every good thing?

Anyabwile, T. (2018). Exalting Jesus in luke (p. 188). Holman Reference.

through the Holy Spirit we receive everything we truly need

food ways of defeating temptation and forgiveness when we fall

V 13 you being evil speaking to us / disciples

Heavenly Father is holy and good

He wants to give us His grace

The Lord wants us to be communing with Him

our Heavenly Father desires our company to shower us with his blessings

We have to spend time with Him

we need to be persistent in our prayers