belligerent prayer (by Jeff)

Luke 11

O) v8 "I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."

I) Not even their close relationship as friends was enough to make him rise and give at that hour. It was only his belligerent persistence that caused the man to get up and give to him. And he gave him whatever he wanted just to get rid of him. Jesus designed this story to illustrate what he wants believers to do in prayer. Believers cannot assume that just because they have a relationship with the Lord that their prayers will automatically be answered. There is much involved with this, so they must be belligerently persistent in prayer.

A) I must be belligerently persistent in prayer. I cannot assume that I will have an automatic answer to a request just because I am God's friend. There is so much more invovled that I do not understand but what I can understand is that God wants me, in His plan, to be ridiculously persistent in prayer. By Your grace Lord, I will persist in every request, in every need for my family, the church and the people until I receive Your will. You want me to beg You to answer because of the things that hinder. Today I will do this. I will obey You Jesus. We have some big issues so let's do this Lord, please come and answer us. Please rise and meet our needs. Thank you Jesus for the cross where you supplied all my needs.