Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 65:2-4
LORD, You are the God who answers prayer,
and to You I come with confidence.
When I am overwhelmed by sins,
You forgive me, You bless me,
and You bring me near to live in your arms of love!
LORD, graciously fill me with all the good things
You have in store for me today. Amen.
Reading
In Jesus’ day, most Israelites lived in very simple homes which were essentially one big room with a lower level for general living and a second level about one step higher where the wood stove was located and cooking/baking happened during the day. On this slightly raised level the whole family would also roll out their sleeping mats at night, close to the warmth of the stove. The household animals would be brought into the home for the night, and would rest on the lower level. So, quite literally, getting up in the dead of night to hand over left-over bread would have caused a significant disturbance.
In telling this parable, Jesus is not suggesting that God is loathe to answer our prayers. It is a parable of contrast. Unlike the friend who would not be persuaded on the basis of brotherly-love but had to be cajoled into helping, God is our Loving Heavenly Father who delights to give us our daily bread (see Luke 11:3). So when it seems that God’s answers to our prayers are delayed, we ought never to give up presenting our requests to Him. God loves us and invites us to call on Him for our every need and for the needs of others.
If I were to translate this parable into a straightforward statement of command it would be this:
Pray with persistent, shameless audacity …
But I believe that the context demands that I would also have to add:
… for your needs and the needs of others.
This parable is not an invitation to make demands that God should meet our desires or greeds! Notice that the man in the story was desperate for daily bread … and that this was for a friend. He was not asking from selfish motives but from a desire to help a friend. His approach reminds me of that classic statement on prayer in James 4:2-3:
2 … You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
So let us learn to be shameless, audacious and persistent – but also selfless – in prayer, presenting our requests to God with much thanksgiving for His amazing grace and mercy towards us and others (Philippians 4:6).
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over and over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will be shameless, audacious and persistent in selfless prayer today.
Holy Spirit, please give me the grace to persist in prayer for the needs of others. Amen.
Dave's Diary 