Luke tells us that one day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

Then, Christ sets out to explain elements of the prayer. If we follow these, we learn to trust ourselves to God’s care, and we can stand strong.

Jesus says to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night..’

“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.”

What does this mean? Does it mean that when we come to God with our needs we are to knock on his door over and over until God gives us what we want? That doesn’t sound very spiritual. Or does it mean that we are simply to be bold in our asking, whatever that means.

Then he continues, “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.”

Think about that for a moment: everyone who asks receives. Have you received everything you’ve ever prayed for? It sounds so simple. “Ask and it will be given to you.” That is not my experience. There are many things I have asked God for that I haven’t received. But you know, some of them I’m glad I didn’t. Ask . . . seek . . . knock . . . it’s a beautiful passage, but what does it mean? It’s not an easy one to figure out.

There are two lessons I take away from these teachings of our Lord about prayer. These lessons are not superficial or shallow. They are the product of a lifetime of struggling with the teachings of Jesus and seeking to apply them to everyday life.

First of all, prayer is essential to the life of a Christian. I don’t see how anyone can make it as a Christian without a deep and rich prayer life. Sometimes we will pray out of a sense of deep need. Other times we will be so filled with joy we will be driven to our knees in thanksgiving. And then there will be times when we will be ashamed of some action or some thought, and we will pray, “God have mercy on me.”

But to be a faithful Christian is to pray.

Not only are we to pray, Jesus tells us we are to persist in our prayer life even if it seems that God is not listening. When Jesus talks about the man who comes knocking boldly on the door at midnight asking a friend for a favor, I believe he’s saying that God honors persistence in prayer.

The second thing we need to see is that prayer works. “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.”

Jesus is not saying that everything we ask for will be given to us. He’s saying to us, however, that every prayer is heard. Every prayer is answered in some unseen way.

Brandon’s Story…

Every prayer is heard. Every prayer is answered, but sometimes not in the way we might hope.

The message is: keep praying and keep trusting. Life can be very cruel, but we have an Ally, a Friend, who never forgets us nor forsakes us. Do not hesitate to pound on heaven’s door. But do not lose hope, even if things do not turn out as you had hoped. God has not forgotten you.

Some day you will see God’s plan in all it fullness and you will understand that God’s plan was for your best good. If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does God know how to give gifts to God’s children? That’s the promise, and God always keeps God’s promises.

Amen.