Persistence and Boldness in Prayer - Vineyard Christian Church of Crystal Lake

Persistence and Boldness in Prayer 2024 (Luke 11:5-13)

Jesus’s disciples ask him to teach them how to pray. So, he teaches them what we call the Lord’s prayer.
Jesus follows this up by telling them a parable about bold prayer.
- The Lord’s prayer is more of a method or outline, that you can follow.
- Whereas this passage leans more into the character and nature of Who God is.
- We must understand the character and Nature of God to be able to pray effectively.

Verse 5-6 Let’s set the context for this teaching a little.

Food was not as readily available as it is today. No 7/11 or 24hr Walmart’s
In Jesus’ day they would only bake enough bread for the day unless it was the Sabbath’s eve.

Now there was another cultural tradition that we must understand.

The honor of the whole village was at stake when it came to entertaining and hosting guests.
If you did not have enough for a guest, it was the expected norm that the whole village would help.

In Jesus’s day It would have also been insulting to set a broken loaf of bread before the traveler, so the host is looking for new and untouched loafs of bread.
This is a typical peasant house of Palestine so it would have been a one room house and so waking the master would have meant waking everybody in the house.

Verse 7 The wording in this verse could be seen as, “stop being a bother.”

This answer by the neighbor would have been shocking and revolting to Jesus’ audience.
This scene in the verse is meant by Jesus to stand in sharp contrast to how God would respond.
- We must not compare God to the stingy neighbor. He was contrasting God to the neighbor.

Verse 8 The point of the story is to point out how committed the host is to meeting the needs of the traveler and thus his boldness and shamelessness in asking.

If you can be this bold with a neighbor, then surely you can be this bold with God.
The point of the parable is that if an irritated person responds to boldness, so you can be bold with a Gracious God.
Jesus’ implication here is that we are to emulate in prayer this petitioners or host’s boldness.
The real key here in this verse is the word that the NIV translates as “shameless audacity.”
The lexicon definitions of the word are, “shameless persistence” or “insolence” “offensively contemptuous.”
- Some translation use “shameless persistence.” NLT
But the point here is, this is a really bold, shameless request!
- Of course, there is a fine line between being bold and demanding.
- We would never demand of God, but we can be bold to the point of shameless persistence.

Question why? Why do we need to be persistent and bold in prayer?

I think the most important answer is to remember this is about relationship
If God answered our prayers the minute we prayed, then that would make God a magic genie. Rub the bottle and get what you want.
- That is not the kind of relationship God wants to have with us.

Verse 9 The three verbs are in the present imperative form giving them the sense of being a command to continually ask, continually seek, and continually knock.

“To each action, there is also a corresponding response: (ask) it will be given, (seek) the disciple will find, (knock) and the door will be opened.”
Now this is the key, the first response verb is a passive. will be given The giving will be done to us. We have no part in it other than the command to pray.
The middle response verb (you will find) is a future active. This verb shows our active involvement. We will find God as we seek Him, this is not being done to us but is a joint effort between us and God.
The third response verb (will be opened) is again a passive verb. So the door is being opened for us.

Verse 10 Jesus repeats everything for added emphasis. Meta narrative of sorts.

Verse 11-12 Jesus now illustrates this point about God’s willingness to answer prayer likening it to human fathers.

Both questions are rhetorical and of course He expects the answer, “No one would do such a thing.”
If a father or a parent will take care of their children concerning the necessities of life how much more will our heavenly Father.

Verse 13 This is tied to the seeking and knocking. The greatest thing we can ask for is the presence of God and this comes to us through the Holy Spirit.