In Luke 11:1-13, the Lord is not only teaching Hisdisciples about prayer, but He is also giving us some powerful incentives tolearn to pray. I’mconvinced that the best way to learn to be good at anything in life is to workat it, to be disciplined to practice the same thing over and over again. I’m saying allthis to say, the best way to learn to pray is to pray! To pray daily andcontinuously. This is what the above verses in Luke 11:9-13 are about.
First, the Lord gives us the pattern of prayer (vv.1-4). Secondly, He gives the persistence of prayer (vv. 5-8). Now Jesusis giving us the promise of prayer (vv. 9-13). After Jesus tells thestory or parable of the friend who is asking his neighbor friend at midnightfor three loaves of bread for his tired and weary friend who has showed up athis house unexpectedly, you might get the idea that our heavenly Father isreluctant to answer our prayers, and we have pester Him to get His attention.But with what the Lord says in these next verses, should put that wrongconclusion to rest. Our Father is heaven is not a reluctant Giver, He is aready Giver.
I love verse 9, "So I say to you, ask, and it willbe given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”The tenses of the verbs are important here: "Keep on asking... keep onseeking... keep on knocking." In other words, don't come to God only inthe midnight emergencies, but keep in constant communion with your Father.Jesus called this "abiding" (John 15:1-18), and Paul exhorted,"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). As we pray, God willeither answer or show us why He cannot answer. Then it is up to us to dowhatever is necessary in our lives so that the Father can trust us with theanswer.
The main thing about prayer is not getting what we want or need,but true prayer is first and foremost about communion with our holy heavenly Father!Spending time in His presence! God’s delays are not always His denials. Maybe Hehas noticed that the only time we spend time praying is when we desperatelyneed something, and He enjoys our asking so much, and our attitude ofdependence upon Him, that He waits to answer so we will learn to spend moretime with Him!
We can’t help but notice that this lesson on prayer closesagain with the emphasis on God as Father (vv. 11-13). Because He knows us andloves us, we never need to be afraid of the answers that He gives. Again, Jesusargued from the lesser to the greater: if an earthly father gives what is bestto his children, surely the Father in heaven will do even more. Here we arealso impressed with the “simplicity of prayer”. We come to our heavenly Fatherin childlike faith. When a baby or a child cries, the mother instinctively interpretsthat cry and knows the need of the child. The child is hungry and needs milk,or needs a diaper change, or just needs assurance of love and wants to bepicked up! Our Father in heaven knowshow to interpret our cries in prayer and knows what our need is even before weask!
If our human father knows how to give us good things whenwe ask, “how much more” does our heavenly Father know how to give us goodthings. In these verses we are reminded of our heavenly Father’s goodness, Hisgenerosity, and His greatness! The greatest gift first given to the earlydisciples was called, “the Promise of the Father which you heard from Me”(Acts 1:4). We are also heirs of this same “Promise” which is the “gift of theHoly Spirit”.
According to Matthew 7:11, I believe this means that I am continuouslyasking and receiving from my heavenly Father “all the good things” that comewith the Holy Spirit who now lives inside of me as a believer! (Ephesians3:14-19).
Have you ever received the “Promise Gift of the Holy Spirit”?
God bless!
