Month: September 2023

“Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him,⁶ ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ ⁷ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ ⁸ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

⁹ “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.¹⁰ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?¹² Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! ¹³ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (NLT) – Luke 11:5-13

I have read this passage so many times and always thought that my nagging or constant and incessant prayer about something, I thought that, that is what it would take for God to grant me whatever it was I was asking for. The bottom line, my prayers are almost never answered how I anticipate, no matter how persistent. I have discovered some key design principles that can apply to prayer. I will provide links to some earlier posts.

While there is nothing wrong with persistent prayer, after all, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray without ceasing.” The parable in Luke give an example of being persistent, shameless persistence. But that’s not what gets the neighbor out of bed. It may be easy to come to the conclusion that we need to nag God for Him to hear us and answer our prayer. But this interpretation would mean that God is reluctant in providing what we need. And that just isn’t so. Persistence or boldness in the greek anaideia can be hard to translate. A more clear, literal meaning would be “without shame.” Jesus is trying to illustrate that the neighbor tucked in bed for the night isn’t motivated by his friend persistently knocking on the door. What is motivating the neighbor is his reputation. He wants and desires to do the right and honorable thing, “without shame.”

Back in the day, Israel was an honor-based community. A person’s reputation was of utmost importance and was extended to family and the community. The neighbor didn’t want to shame himself, his family or his community and this is what motivates him to get out of bed.

Jesus makes a point about about prayer that is simple: God answers our prayers not because of our reputation, but because of His. This reminds me of the Wedding at Canaa. (If you haven’t watched The Chosen yet, there is a whole episode about this) Jesus, Mary, his mother and his disciples were invited to a wedding. Wedding celebrations lasted a week. This family was friends with Jesus and his family, his own mother was there, so they had to be somewhat close. Mary comes to Jesus saying that they have run out of wine. He tells her his time has not yet come and what is he to do about it, why is she coming to him? So Jesus gives instructions to fill 12 jars with water and turns the water into wine. I believe Jesus performed his first miracle to protect this family’s reputation, his mother’s and most importantly, his. This takes the focus off our righteousness and puts the focus on God’s desire to keep His honor. It’s not about us at all. Instead prayer is received and answered because we have a holy, righteous and good, good Father. Verse 11 – 13, “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?¹² Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! ¹³ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” This realization relieved me of so much pressure. If a prayer didn’t get answered, I must have not prayer right, or included something, I was doing something wrong. It’s not about me, it’s not about us. How silly of me to think I could persuade God to do anything but be a good, good, Father. Prayer is not a religious way of nagging God to answer our prayers. Prayer is simply asking God to be who He is, God.

Further reading:

Design for Life – Alignment

The Chosen TV Season 1 Episode 5 “The Wedding Gift”