Chapters 11 and 18 in the Gospel of Luke are dedicated to the principles of prayer, especially the principles that are most effective in the end time. They give the basis for the change we are approaching. We are going to change—physically, mentally, spiritually, economically—in every way.
We can claim things and believe for them for a long time; then suddenly we come to a calm. It is like getting into the eye of a hurricane. The center or the eye of a hurricane is always calm.
We all pass through battles that are like hurricanes; they blow hard against us. But as we come into what God is ready for us to have, it seems as if a great calm comes over us, as though we are now ready to enter into a new phase that we have not been in before. Our whole thinking is going to change drastically, and we will have to shift gears rapidly.
In our walk with God, we dare not be old wineskins. We will have to be flexible, because the demands on us may be far greater than any of us can anticipate.
Whenever the Lord makes greater demands upon us, He intends for us to make greater demands upon Him. He does not intend that His demands upon us should be met in our ability or our reserves; He intends that they be met by an appropriation of Himself.
Therefore, we must make greater demands upon His provision, His promises, His fullness, so that we can walk in what He is demanding of us. Otherwise, we could become exceedingly discouraged when He makes demands upon us.
It would overwhelm us, and we would say, “Lord, I am not able. I cannot meet what You are demanding of me. It is too much. It is beyond me. I am doing my best now; how can I do any better?” The Lord whispers back, “You can do better if you just draw more of Me—more of My strength, more of My wisdom, more of the abilities that I can impart to you.”
God is continually teaching us to pray. There are those who learn to pray because they sense in their spirits that they must become people of prayer; they believe it is necessary.
Others learn because God is continually dealing with them, and so they have to pray. Do you want to be a person who prays because God is continually making you a desperate seeker? Wouldn’t you rather be a man of prayer because you are continually and aggressively seeking for the coming forth of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, just as His prayer taught you to pray?
The eleventh chapter of Luke is devoted to prayer. When Christ was in a certain place praying, His disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” So the Lord gave them the Lord’s Prayer. His intention probably was not to teach them how to pray as much as to give them a guideline in their actual praying.
With verse 5, there is a change in the pattern of prayer that Jesus is teaching. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee? I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needeth. Luke 11:5–8.
To understand the truth in the following verses, you should know that the verbs are written in the Greek aorist tense, in which an action of the present is extended into the future.
This is the literal translation: …Ask (and keep on asking), and it shall be given you; seek (and keep on seeking), and ye shall find; knock (and keep on knocking), and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh (and keeps on asking) receiveth; and he that seeketh (and keeps on seeking) findeth; and to him that knocketh (and keeps on knocking) it shall be opened. Luke 11:9, 10.
You cannot become weary in prayer, nor can you become weary in well-doing. You can never abandon either the work God sets before you or the prayer He sets before you. The Lord has taught us about violence in prayer and about persistence in pursuing the things that He has given us by prophecy and by promise. Do not stop praying. No failure, no mistake, no falling flat on your face, is really valid; it is not a permanent valid thing in your life. The Word speaks of victory for us; therefore, yesterday’s defeat is not valid. The devil cannot make it effective unless you continue to lie there on the battlefield. Then he will grab you by the heel and drag you off, taking you captive. Get up! That defeat does not count. Though the righteous falls, the Lord upholds him with His hand (Psalm 37:24).
Do not believe Satan. Do not believe in defeat. Some people walk along with God, winning victory after victory; yet when they fall once, they accept it as total defeat. That is stupid. The problem is not the fact that you slip and fall; the real problem is your mental attitude about it afterwards. Observe a prizefighter, how he comes into the ring, carefully watching his opponent. If he is not looking at just the right moment, he may get knocked down; but he jumps up so fast that it looks as if he is embarrassed. He does not let the fall count; he wipes it out in a hurry. You should do that, too. Get right up! Go on. That knockdown is not a defeat. You are going to win. Keep on praying. Keep on seeking the face of the Lord.
Satan deals most effectively with attitudes, with moods and feelings, and with seeming defeats. These are his most effective tools. These are the real problems. Do not accept defeat as a way of life. Refuse to become an unbeliever just because you happen to fall into something wrong. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I John 2:lb. Get up on your feet. The longer you sit around and mull over your mistake, the more time you lose. Do not magnify your defeats. Magnify the Lord and the victory He has given you.
This passage in Luke 11 is trying to teach you an important truth: After you start praying you should not stop praying, even if the Lord seems reluctant. Go to Him and say, “Lord, I’m disturbing You because I want some action.” In this parable Jesus described the way to pray. He said, “Suppose you go to a friend at night and say, ‘Someone came from a journey and I do not have anything to set before him. I need three loaves of bread tonight.’ The friend replies, ‘Do not bother me. My children are in bed asleep with me. I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ”
You have to know a little about the Palestinian home before you can understand this passage. Most of the houses had flat roofs, and sometimes the family slept on the roof. Often the houses were actually divided, with livestock on one side and sleeping quarters on the other. The family usually slept together, with the father in the middle. Their beds were pallets which were placed on the floor. (When the Lord told the sick man, “Arise, take up your bed and walk,” He was not talking about a four-poster canopy bed. It was just a simple pallet that one could roll up, put on his back, and take with him.)
Imagine a family sound asleep, when suddenly someone bangs at the door. You know what will happen. Soon the dog will be barking, the cows will be mooing, and all the children will wake up. This unwelcome neighbor knocks on the door and the father says, “Don’t bother me. My children are with me. Go away.” But the fellow keeps right on knocking. Finally the father says, “Well, you are going to wake up the children anyway, so I might as well get up and give you all the bread you want.”
Jesus said, “I tell you, he would not give it to him because he was a friend, but because of his importunity.” Just because you are a child of God may not mean that you get what you want; but if you are an importunate child of God, you will get what you want, all that you desire. God will open the door and give you many things. Go after them.
Do not accept any limitation as being valid. The promises of God are pointing to a better day, and you must determine to walk in it by the grace of God. How do you do it? By insistence and persistence, by keeping after it, by insisting, “I’m going to be blessed. Lord, I’m going to have an answer!” Pray without ceasing. Cry unto the Lord, but not because you are trying to merit favor by your long speaking. Say, “Lord, are You there? Come on, answer me, Lord. I’m looking for an answer.”
When God gives promises, some people are content to wait and see them worked out over a long period of time. But others say, “Come on; don’t give me a long-term deal. I want it now. I need a change now!” That is the correct kind of praying. Ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock and keep on knocking. For he that asks and keeps on asking is going to receive. He that seeks and keeps on seeking is going to find. He that knocks and keeps on knocking will have the door opened to him.
Jesus gives another principle of prayer to prove beyond a doubt that God is not reluctant. And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:11–13.
The account in Matthew reads, …how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:11.
God will give us anything we need, if we just ask Him. His promise is unlimited. If we are willing to give our children these good things, how much more will the Heavenly Father be willing to give us whatever we have need of!
Do you want to prophesy? Do you want gifts of the Spirit? Do you want blessings on your home? You know that those things are all promised. Haven’t you been able to walk in them? Keep on praying; keep on seeking. Do not be hesitant, thinking that God may be trying to work something out in your life and therefore He is withholding His blessings. Do you have to be beaten down before you seek God? Do you have to be deprived and in a corner before you seek Him earnestly? Why not ask and keep on asking before that happens? That is all God is after anyway—to get you to seek Him with your whole heart. If you are willing to do that without any pressures, He will certainly not lay any unnecessary trouble upon you.
Let me illustrate what I mean. If you have a son who is disobedient, you turn him over your knee and give him a good spanking. Then he will do what you tell him to do, and he will develop into a good man. On the other hand, if your son is obedient to do everything you tell him, if he is an aggressive little boy who seeks the Lord and is obedient to his father, are you still going to turn him over your knee and spank him? No, in that case the spanking is unnecessary. You would not spank your boy just because you felt like it. There would be no purpose in it. You spank him when he is disobedient. You want to get his attention and teach him to discipline himself.
The Lord is pleased, too, if you give Him attention and obedience and submission so that you do not need to be spanked. Why don’t you ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking? You can bypass many of the difficult dealings of the Lord by giving Him that persistent obedience, that faith and submission, without waiting until He disciplines you.