After our Lord taught his disciples a pattern for prayer (Luke 11:1-4), he emphasized to them the necessity for boldness and persistence of prayer. “And he [Jesus] said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth” (Luke 11:5-8).
The lesson hinges on the word “importunity” which means shameless (or bold) persistence. The friend asks and keeps on asking. In the parable the door was “shut” and the opportunity now passed. In this case, the friend’s persistence overcame the closed door to meet the need.
By comparison, our heavenly Father is not in the least reluctant to hear and answer our prayers. However, the Lord cultivates a bold persistence in our prayer life which is a necessity for our spiritual growth and vitality. As our heavenly Father, He wants us to come to him for any and every matter. Prayer is not about changing his mind nor is it a matter of getting him interested in what burdens us. Rather, prayer is ultimately about us getting burdened for those things that interest God. We are changed through prayer to love the things that he loves and see him as sufficient for our needs and desires. In prayer we become an active participant in God’s purpose and plan.
Our Lord Jesus reinforces this imperative of persistence with an additional promise. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). The tense of the verbs are continuous in action in the Greek. We are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking! In other words, don’t give up!
The unfailing goodness of God guided by his infinite wisdom lies behind the invitation to persist in prayer. Our Lord set forth this truth with this question. “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:11-13). Our heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts. In fact, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). He does not give useless gifts (a stone) or dangerous gifts (a scorpion). Rather, the Lord holds forth that the Father is prepared to give the absolute best of gifts, the Holy Spirit, to those that ask him.
The gift of his Holy Spirit is given freely to any and all that call upon the Lord for salvation. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law…that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14). “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13).
From the Chaplain 