Pestering God

Jesus’ disciples said to him “teach us to pray.” In response, Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer. It is a simple, sweet prayer, perfect and all-encompassing. Some say that if you just pray the Lord’s Prayer, then you know all you need about prayer. Well, I must disagree. There’s more to being a person of prayer than knowing how to pray. Knowing how to bait a hook doesn’t make you a fisherman. Knowing how to use a box wrench set doesn’t make you an mechanic. Knowing how to sew doesn’t make you a dress designer. And knowing how to pray doesn’t make you a prayer warrior. Jesus didn’t stop at the Lord’s Prayer. He dealt with other considerations as well. How can we improve our spiritual lives (that’s what our prayer life actually is—the totality of our spiritual lives) we may improve it by expanding upon one of three dimensions—by increasing our desire, by increasing our understanding of God’s power, or by increasing our persistence in seeking His help. In Luke 11, Jesus deals with all three of these dimensions-- Luke 11:5-8 Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' "Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 1. We increase our desire for God's help. We don’t have people dropping by in the middle of the night, In Jesus’ day, there were no hotels or restaurants. People stayed in one another’s houses. So it was important to have extra food in the home. Not to have extra food was a serious social embarrassment. We don’t see it that way today. We just can’t fully understand why this man was so upset. So, to understand this parable as Jesus intended we must change it a little. Imagine it’s 4 A. M. You are home alone on a sultry summer night. Because you are alone and because it is hot, you are not wearing pajamas. Suddenly, you hear a thump on the door. You get up, put on a robe, and go outside to see what it is. You open your door. There is no one there. You look down and see a newspaper thrown by the paperboy laying on the porch. The paper must have hit the door. You bend down to pick it up, but there are some things you don’t realize. You do not know that the sash to your bathrobe is not securely tied Furthermore, you do not realize that the sash is caught in the front door. When the storm door closes, it catches on your robe. When you stoop over to get the paper, you bump the door, causing it to automatically close and lock, taking your robe with it. So there you are, newspaper in hand, suddenly undressed. What can you do? There’s no one in the house. Soon, your neighbors will awaken, and you will be there in front them all. First you panic, then you try and think. Desperate moments require desperate measures. So you go to your neighbor’s door, holding the newspaper in front of you. “Whaddya want?” he yells. “Please,” you say, “This is your neighbor! I need to borrow a bathrobe and a crowbar!” “At this hour?” About this time, you hear other voices. His wife and children have also awakened. His wife says “Who is it? It is a burglar?’ “No,” he says. “It’s our neighbor. I think he must be drunk or something.” “Please,” you reply. “I’m desperate.” Come back in the morning.” “Please, not. I have to have it right now!” Ordinarily, you would respect this man’s privacy and come back in the morning. But you are driven by utter extremity. You are willing to risk a friendship to save yourself from ruination. That ia closer to the way Jesus wants us to experience this parable. The reason most of us have so poor prayer lives is that we have so little knowledge of our own needs. We don’t realize how serious our sins are, how desperate our situation. We don’t see the danger we are in, so we don’t pray as we should. George Morris, formerly of Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, told of taking a high school evangelism team at Daytona on Spring break. They were scheduled for a six o’clock prayer meeting, then they would hit the beaches in teams with tracts. The first day, only a handful of kids showed up for prayer. Then they hit the beach, and it was embarrassing. Some of them were laughed at and chased off. One team was sprayed with beer. It was a humiliating first day. The next day, however, when six o’clock rolled around, the room for prayer was full. They had learned how desperate their need for prayer was. 2. We increase our view of Christ’s power. We must realize that Christ is capable of meeting our needs, and we are not. We simply do not have the wherewithal to meet our own needs. We have no other place to go. One of the most damaging phrase in the English language is this-- “I can handle it.” We are plagued with a foolish sense of independence. A couple is lost on a car trip. The wife suggests they ask directions. The man says “I can handle it.” A man is moving a couch. The wife warns him that if he doesn’t get help, he could hurt his back. He says, “I can handle it.” We were not created to exist alone. We were created to need help from God. In desperate times, we desperately need to lean on Him. How big is your God? Most people’s view of God is not very big—only a little larger than their view of themselves. When our view of God is too small, it is easy to imagine God is incapable of helping. In this parable, the homeowner had to believe that his neighbor had bread, before he could ask. We must believe that Christ is the Bread of Life, before we ask, too. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” If we want to increase our spiritual life, we just need to get a bigger God, one who is able to provide more than we imagined before. It is important that we understand where God’s power lies. Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." God’s power to save, heal, and to provide is found in Jesus Christ. 3. We increase our faith through persistent asking. Most of us are afraid of being a pest—even to God. That is why shy people are poor at getting what they want from life. They are afraid to inconvenience others to get it. But look at this parable. The homeowner came to the door, stepping over his sleeping children. This man was willing to pass over his own children to answer the neighbor. Will God answer the prayer of a sinner? Most people would say “no,” but this is not true. God does not have to answer an unbeliever’s prayer, but there are plenty of example of Him doing just that. If anyone asks of him, persistently, believing He will hear, He will pass over his own children to answer. Salesmen are taught to not take “no” for an answer. The first time a person says “no” they may not mean it. We must believe that we can get what we want, if we are persistent enough. Jesus told us not to take “no” for an answer, either in verses 9-10 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ask and keep on asking, to seek and keep on seeking, to knock and keep on knocking. He assures us, though that if we ask He will give. God answering prayer is not random—it comes when our need meets His power through persistent faith. If we are lacking in any of these, we will not receive. But if we expand any of these, then a perfect connection occurs, and we receive what we ask of Him. Don’t take “no” for an answer, not even from God. Keep asking, keep knocking, keep begging, and we will receive. Answered prayer is not random. Whether or not our prayers are answered may be predicted. Answered prayer comes when desperation meets faith. Once we realize that we can find help nowhere else, and at the same time recognize that God has the power to meet our needs, then wonderful things occur.