A friend comes to your house. It’s late, really late. He bangs on the door. “Let me in. I’m on a trip and need a place to stay.” You get up, let him in and prepare a bed. Just then he says, “I’m hungry. You got anything to eat?” Your friend’s hungry and there’s nothing to feed him.
So, you run next door and wake up your neighbor. “It’s me, your neighbor. My friend is on a trip and stopped to spend the night. He is hungry and I don’t have anything to feed him. Can you help me out?” Your neighbor pulls the cover up and hopes you’ll go away. You knock again. “I’m sorry but I really need your help.”
This time your neighbor is awake. He lies there for a few minutes and listens to your incessant knocking. Finally, he gets up, stumbles to the kitchen, gets something for his neighbor to feed his friend, and goes to the door. “Here,” he says, “go and enjoy.” Now, he goes back to bed, and you can feed your friend.
Jesus tells this little story in Luke 11. The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. He does (Luke 11:1-4). Then, the story followed with the famous verse, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Luke 11:9) Then Jesus follows this with an example. He looks around and says, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Well, that’s what happened in the story. Jesus goes on to point out that even people who are not necessarily good, even evil, know how to give good gifts to their children. If these people can do good things, just think how much more your Father in heaven is willing to do for you.
No one knew God better than Jesus. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he covered it all. First he taught them to pray remembering to praise God. Then, to pray for the coming of His kingdom and for His will to be done. Pray daily for your needs that day, ask for forgiveness and to resist temptation.
Then, he used the little story to emphasize his next points, the story of feeding his friend and banging on a neighbor’s door for help. How even those of us here on earth will help each other out. This brings us to the promise.
Ask, seek, and knock. James 5:17,18 gives the example of Elijah who prayed earnestly that it might not rain and then prayed for it to rain. And it was so. Elijah was continuous in his prayers. He sought God. God listened. When the time was right, He answered his prayers. Pray without ceasing. (I Thessalonians 5:17)
So, you run next door and wake up your neighbor. “It’s me, your neighbor. My friend is on a trip and stopped to spend the night. He is hungry and I don’t have anything to feed him. Can you help me out?” Your neighbor pulls the cover up and hopes you’ll go away. You knock again. “I’m sorry but I really need your help.”
This time your neighbor is awake. He lies there for a few minutes and listens to your incessant knocking. Finally, he gets up, stumbles to the kitchen, gets something for his neighbor to feed his friend, and goes to the door. “Here,” he says, “go and enjoy.” Now, he goes back to bed, and you can feed your friend.
Jesus tells this little story in Luke 11. The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. He does (Luke 11:1-4). Then, the story followed with the famous verse, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Luke 11:9) Then Jesus follows this with an example. He looks around and says, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Well, that’s what happened in the story. Jesus goes on to point out that even people who are not necessarily good, even evil, know how to give good gifts to their children. If these people can do good things, just think how much more your Father in heaven is willing to do for you.
No one knew God better than Jesus. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he covered it all. First he taught them to pray remembering to praise God. Then, to pray for the coming of His kingdom and for His will to be done. Pray daily for your needs that day, ask for forgiveness and to resist temptation.
Then, he used the little story to emphasize his next points, the story of feeding his friend and banging on a neighbor’s door for help. How even those of us here on earth will help each other out. This brings us to the promise.
Ask, seek, and knock. James 5:17,18 gives the example of Elijah who prayed earnestly that it might not rain and then prayed for it to rain. And it was so. Elijah was continuous in his prayers. He sought God. God listened. When the time was right, He answered his prayers. Pray without ceasing. (I Thessalonians 5:17)
