How Should We Pray Part 2: Persistently

Good morning and welcome to anther week of church here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we gathered here together. Last week we examined the Lord’s Prayer from the Gospel of Luke. Though it doesn’t follow the traiditonal formula and reading that the Matthew version does it is a powerful three verses that makes it clear how we should pray to God. Yet, Jesus didn’t only the disciples the words they are to say he taught them how they should pray. Let’s look at the scriptures together.

Luke 11:1–13 NIV

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’ ” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 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. 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. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The Late Night Friend

Let’s do what Jesus told us to do in verse 5. Imagine you go visit a friend at midnight and ask for some bread.

You might not have many friends for long.

In all honesty think about this imagine if you had a friend that came to you in the middle of the night how would you respond to them? How would you treat them if they came to you in need?

I thought about these questions for awhile and I thought of my kids, and the struggle of waking up with them in the middle of the night.

Now Angie will tell you that i don’t ever get up with the kids. Which 99% of the time is true. Its not that i won’t get up with them. It is simply Angie wakes up way easier than I do and in the middle of the night the kids want mom not dad.

Don’t believe me. One night I somehow managed to wake up first and i went to check on Isaac cause he was calling. I sit down on the side of the bed to ask him what he needs. He looks at me and says I want mama.

I respond Mama is sleeping. what do you need?

He responds I want mama.

I go get Angie because its clear he isn’t going to share with me what he wants. Angie goes and checks on him. He only wanted a drink of water.

You know Dad couldn’t get the water like mama can apparently.

Now don’t get me wrong i am thankful that my wife does those things for her kids and it is one of the things that makes her an amazing women to put up with the kdis and to put up with me and my inability to hear the kids at night.

Yet, what i find interesting is there are things that you will do to help you kids in the middle of the night because if they are calling for you, you know there is a need.

Likewise when a friend calls in the middle of the night you know it must be important. It’s an unusual circumstance. You take care of them. Even if its simply because you want to get back to bed.

What then does this have to do with prayer.

The Friend was Bold: Be bold in Prayer

The friend was bold enough to come to you in the middle of the night to ask for bread for their friend who came unexpectedly. Jesus is showing them that a prayer life is to be bold. It is to be pointed. It is to be focused.

Now i think we should clarify some things.

Does this mean i should be boldly praying for my million dollars and expect it. Good luck with that.

No we need to be boldly praying for things within the frame work of the the prayer given.

Does the Bold prayer recognize the Holiness of God?

Does the Bold Prayer Honor God’s Kingdom?

Does the Bold prayer meet our needs?

Does the Bold prayer seek forgiveness?

Does the Bold prayer Ask for Strength?

These are all questions we need to be asking ourselves. At the end of the day what is the difference between a person who prays for the million dollars for their own benefit. or the person who prays for a million dollars because the need to build a new homeless shelter is great in the area.

The is another aspect though to this Boldness that is important.

The Friend is Persistent: Be Persistent in Prayer

A friend that comes in the middle of the night is going to be persistent. They can’t afford to stop because they don’t have any other hope. The stores are all closed. The bakery isn’t open yet. They need bread to be a good host to their friend. They keep knocking at the door because they know you are home. The are seeking, knocking, asking, and they aren’t stopping. It is their shameless audacity that makes you get up and give them what they need.

Jesus reinforced this idea with another story later in scriptures.

Luke 18:1–9 NIV

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 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? 8 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?” 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:

The Friend is Persistent: Be Persistent in Prayer

The woman didn’t convince the judge with eloquent arguments. She convinced the Judge by being persistent to her need and plight. The Judge didn’t fear her or even God. Yet, he realized that she was never going to stop so he fulfilled her need. Even a Judge who has no need or desire to do good things for this women gave a good gift of justice to this women.

It was the women’s persistence that was powerful. It is the friends audacity and persistence in the middle of the night that is powerful.

Jesus is helping us to see that we must not stop in our prayers. We must be persistent.

When i was studying i read an amazing line in the commentaries that just stuck with me.

It is not the intensity of belief, nor absence of doubt that makes prayer effective. It is the persistent, daily practice of prayer that makes it effective.

David A. Neale

But Pastor Andy we are supposed to have faith and that faith is enough. Your right!

All we have to do is have a little bit of faith and we can move mountains! Yes you are right!

I thought about these kinds of arguments for awhile. IF we have faith in only a moment and expect a mountain to move where was our faith the rest of the time?

See the problem is we expect the mountain to move only when we encounter it. Only when it smacks us right in the face. Instead of asking God daily to move the mountains we might encounter so that we can further his kingdom.

Is there times we need that prayer in the moment. Absoltutely. Yet, it should be the prayer we are constantly praying.

Remember?

Luke 11:2–4 NIV

2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’ ”

Daily asking for his kingdom, his holiness, our daily bread, forgiveness, and strength in the face of temptation.

He promises good Gifts

While the mountain sometimes doesn’t move and we have to navigate in difficult times we can be confident in knowing that God cares for us and wants good things for us. which is why v. 11-13 is so powerful.

Luke 11:11–13 NIV

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

He promises good things for us. He promises the helper in the holy Spirit.

He promises to guide us an to be there for us in difficult times.

Communion

I thought about other good gifts that he has given us. I think of communion.