November 30, 2002
-
JMac on Bold Prayer
Here is another good study by JMac - again, not my writing. I need to study this, and if anyone else wants to take a peek, go ahead!
Pray Boldly - Luke 11:5-10
The story begins in verse 5 of Luke 11. "And He said to them, suppose one of you should have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves? For a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him.' And from inside he shall answer and say, 'Do not bother me, the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish, he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he has asked for an egg, you will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
A mature believer who has been shaped by Scripture understands the nature of God. Superficial, shallow, limited knowledge of God contributes to limited understanding and limited faith and limited trust. Being spiritually mature is understanding that God is eternal, powerful, holy, unchangeable, omniscient, omnipresent, purposeful, sovereign, in perfect control of everything He has created all the time. He is transcendent, high and lofty, majestic and lifted up and He is working to perfection His plan for the universe and for mankind. He has everything under control all the time and He's in perfect knowledge and bringing to pass the plan which He ordained from the very beginning. God never alters His plan and the plan was established from the beginning and He works it perfectly to the very end.
Jesus in the first chapter of Acts said this in verse 7, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority." Times and epochs, what does that mean? Chronological time, clock time, calendar time and epochal time, events. All chronological history and all the events that occur within it are fixed in God's own authority. Everything is determined from the beginning to the end by the purposes of God. God is sovereign and omnipotent. He knows the plan and He has the power to implement. He has perfect knowledge so there's nothing to change the plan. He doesn't need us to give Him more information and He doesn't react to circumstances.
These realities about God raise the question of how my prayers matter. The answer is that God has not only ordained the end, He has ordained the means to the end. We don't change God's mind or God's plans. We don't give Him new information. We simply allow ourselves to be used by God. Prayer is the means by which God's infinite wisdom, power and perfect purpose are brought together to accomplish His will. You can't be saved without believing, you can't be sanctified without obeying, and you can't enjoy the goodness of God in this life without participating in His unfolding purpose through your prayers and through your service to Him.
In verse 8, we see the word "persistence," also translatable "importunity," meaning troublesomely urgent, overly persistent or annoyingly relentless. This guy finally got out of bed and gave the man what he wanted because he was annoyingly persistent, overly bold and utterly shamelessness.
Jesus jumps back into daily life, very simple, unforgettable story. Here's a man who has a neighbor and goes to him at midnight, the worst time for a visit. He wants three pieces of flat bread, which would be a normal meal dipped in perhaps some kind of olive oil, or spread with some kind of fruit or whatever. It is not an emergency. He says, "A friend of mine has come, and I am just passing on the joy here!" Hospitality was expected among the Jewish people. It was part of their duty to God to care for the stranger. The man has the choice of being a poor host or a poor neighbor, and hospitality took priority. Both men would really be doing the right thing even if it was inconvenient. The door had been shut and the family was asleep on a big mat together in one room. If one get's up, everyone is up, and chances are that half the neighborhood is up, too. It is just too much trouble.
Jesus then makes the point of the story in verse 8. "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, this importunity, his brashness, his boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs." There's really no sense in not getting up because this neighbor doesn't care about the time or convenience and he is not going away. It's a picture of us going to God and saying, "I know it's inappropriate to interrupt You because You're running a universe, but I just need You to sit down and listen to me and look at this and don't be distracted."
The picture here is of shameless nerve, boldness, importunity, things that seem almost ludicrous to us going into the presence of the God of the universe. But our Lord is teaching us how to be invasive, how to be bold in our prayers. This man responded not out of friendship, but out of irritation. And remember that God never sleeps, so you're not waking Him up. And if this man would give this man what he wanted not for friendship, but just because of his shameless boldness, what will God who loves you perfectly give you when you come into His presence?
And so the parable leads to this promise in verses 9 and 10 This is the incarnate God speaking; the voice of absolute divine authority. He doesn't say, "Don't you dare come and bang around in God's presence demanding things!" He says the opposite. "I say to you, ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened." Ask...that's kind of the first level, "Psst, God, it's me." Seek, that's the second level, zeteo, it means to strive after or to demand. "Knock, now you're storming the gates of heaven. Don't be reluctant to ask and to get aggressive and to bang on heaven's door. We don't get everything and anything we want. We ask according to God's name, Kingdom and will.
Jeremiah 29:12 -13 says "For I know the plans that I have for you." That's sovereignty. "...plans for welfare not calamity to give you a future and hope, I know what I have planned for you." There is an affirmation of God's perfect knowledge, perfect sovereignty, and working out His purpose. In verse 12 He then says, "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you and you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." In a sense the two seem like they contradict. I know My plans, they're set, fixed and good. But I'm telling you, come and pray and I'll make you a part of the means of the fulfillment of those plans when you seek Me with all your heart. The result of this is that we experience of the goodness of God and communion with God. This is the richness of what we enjoy in this life and in the life to come, the eternal reward for being eager participants in the purposes of God.
Father, we thank You this day for such incredible generosity beyond comprehension. We thank You that we can come into Your glorious presence, understanding who You are and yet praying, fasting, weeping, pleading that we might be a part of the means by which You achieve Your ends. We thank You in the name of Christ.
God's Generous Response to Boldness in Prayer
Luke 11:11-13
"And He...meaning Jesus...said to them, suppose one of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him.' And from inside he shall answer and say, 'Do not bother me. The door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and get you anything, or give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish, he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he has asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
The one true and living God, is different in nature from the deities and the gods fabricated by men and demons. He is loving, merciful, gracious, forgiving, approachable, available and generous. The gods of human religions who are none of the above. In Esther 4:11, you have an example os a monarch in the Persian Empire. If one dared to go into the king's presence without being called, one could be put to death. But our God is just the opposite. You can go into His presence any time and not interrupt Him. In fact, He desires you to do that. Hebrews 4:16 says "Let us therefore draw near." We're drawing near to God, to our great High Priest, the Son of God in heaven. "Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne, a throne of grace," a throne that dispenses grace, it's not a throne of law, or justice, or judgment, it's a throne of grace!
Thomas Goodwin, the English Puritan says this. "When you pray, you literally can go to God and say what's on your heart and claim His promise. In fact, you can demand that He be faithful to His promise." Don't leave God alone, pester Him with His own promise. Tell Him what He has said He's going to do. Quote the scripture to Him. And you know God delights to hear us doing it, as a father likes to see this element in his own child who has obviously been listening to what his father has been saying. It pleases him. That is the attitude of bold prayer that goes to God and says, "You made the promise, You said to come, You said to ask what's on our heart, You said to be bold, so here we are."
We know that God is holy and that God is all powerful and all wise, all knowing. We know that God is unchangeable. We know that God is absolutely sovereign, that God is in complete control of every circumstance, every detail, and that He is working out His own plan perfectly. If God's going to do what He's going to do, why should I pray?
Although God has ordained the ends, He has also ordained the means. And the end is fixed and He uses the means to reach His end. And one of the means He uses to achieve His ends is our prayers. Even our simplest prayer is not insignificant to God. All the man in the story wanted were three little pieces of bread. What may seem a small thing to you considering the greatness of God and the vastness of His Kingdom and His eternal purposes is not at all a small thing. Like everything else in our spiritual experience, God's ends are achieved through means that involve our will, our obedience, our desire, and our faithfulness.
The key word in Luke 11 is the word "persistence" or in Greek anaideion, meaning importunity, meaning shameless, overly aggressive, having a lot of nerve or a lot of gall. Jesus is saying here this man got what he wanted because he was shameless. He got up in the middle of the night, he went right over there and he bothered his neighbor and it didn't seem to concern him that the man was asleep, he was in bed with his family. It takes some nerve to wake up this entire family in the middle of the night for something as simple as three biscuits.
The Lord is teaching us here something about how we approach Him. He's calling in this passage for bold, shameless interruptions, prayer that is aggressive, an unburdening your whole heart. When you're not embarrassed to ask, you get what you ask. James said, "You have not because you ask not." We're invited to come invading and intruding and claiming we have the invitation and saying, "God, You promised, You said to pray without ceasing, You said to ask. You said to come, so sue me if I'm out of line, here I am."
The application of this parable has an incredible promise. "And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened." It is as if God is saying, "I'm telling you, come...come in the middle of the night, come for what might seem small to you, come and hold me to my duty, just as one friend held another to his social obligation to show hospitality to give to someone who had a need, hold me to my promises, hold me to my responsibilities. You come, you ask and I'll give. You seek and you'll find, you knock and the door will be opened to you. You start out asking and then you get more aggressive and you start seeking and finally you start knocking, banging. Your appeal gets more aggressive. Does that ? Does that irritate God or turn Him away? Quite the contrary. You ask you receive, you seek which means you plead and you find, you knock which means you get more intense and the door to God's blessings will be opened to you.
The parable made sense because of a promise. The promise makes sense because of a principle: Fathers care for and do good to their children. humanly speaking, fathers care for their children. The man in the parable bangs on his neighbor's door appealing to friendship, which goes only so far. A father-child relationship is something else. This again is a typical common Jewish pattern of reasoning from the lesser to the greater. If a friend will respond to your boldness, what will a father do?
It is natural that children bring their needs and wants to their father, and they're going to receive it because they understand the relationship is one of love, care, responsibility and affection. Jesus is then saying this promise, you can ask and seek and knock and you will receive and you will find and the door will be opened, is based on the fact that you're coming to a father. A father will not mock a child's hunger and will not give the child something that will hurt him. Why that comparison between scorpions and eggs? Because scorpions in that area were a yellowy color not unlike the color of an egg, and when they curled up in a little ball, they looked like a small egg. Jesus says that says if a child wants an egg because he's hungry, a father is not going to give him a deadly scorpion. The parable illustrates that we are to come at any time, no matter how simple the need and to be overly bold in our asking. The promise that underlies our coming is that whatever it is that we seek, if it's within the framework of His will, we'll receive it. That is based upon the principle that God is a Father.
Now that takes us to the fourth and most important point. "If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" As humans, we still have the principle of sin operating in us. What we do may not always be evil, but our natures are evil. Fallen man still has the residue of the image of God, and sometimes does good. We see this when those who don't know God parent well or show kindness to others.
Here comes the "how much more" argument again. If we who are evil at heart give good gifts to our children, how much more will a holy heavenly father with perfect love, wisdom, compassion, mercy, understanding, mercy and grace give what is good to His children? Psalm 84:11 says, "He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly, His children. He holds nothing back."
God's Generous Response to Boldness in Prayer
Luke 11:11-13
If we who are evil at heart give good gifts to our children, how much more will a holy heavenly father with perfect love, wisdom, compassion, mercy, understanding, mercy and grace give what is good to His children? Psalm 84:11 says, "He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly, His children. He holds nothing back." So how much more shall your heavenly Father give than any earthly Father. John 13:1 says, "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them eis telos, to the finish, completely, totally, limitlessly, infinitely." It's out of that love, wisdom, and resources that God gives.
But there's this interesting point here. It says, "How much more should our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" That doesn't seem to make sense at first. The parallel passage, Matthew 7:11, says, "...how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him?" The whole idea is, come and ask for whatever's on your heart and rush into God's presence whenever you want, of course with a measure of humility and reverence, but still unbare your heart, speak boldly, be persistent, go over the top, if you will, and you can expect that God who is generous will give you whatever's good. But how does the Holy Spirit fit in?
When you go to ask God for whatever you ask God for, whatever it is, God gives you the Holy Spirit. You ask for comfort, He gave you the Comforter. You ask for help, He gave you the Helper. You ask for truth, He gave you the Truth teacher. You ask for power, He gave you the Spirit of power. You ask for wisdom, He gave you the Spirit of wisdom. You ask for guidance, He gave you the Guide. You ask for love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control and He gave you the Spirit whose fruit was released in your life.
You see, this is the generosity of God. You ask for the gift, He gives the giver. You ask for the effect, He gives the cause. You ask for the product, He gives the source. Is that generosity? He gives you according to His riches, not out of His riches. It's like asking God for some money, and having Him give you the bank.
God says, "I'll just give you the Holy Spirit, then you've got it, all because out of the Holy Spirit comes power, the anointing which teaches you all things, giftedness, fruit,direction and guidance. Out of the Holy Spirit comes intercession on your behalf so that all things work together for good. And God is even more generous. He does not give these things temporarily. We can even ask us to come and live in us permanently, in fouled human clay vessels. And when we ask, this is exactly what happens.
He not only gives you the good gifts, but He plants in us the source of every one of them. You are, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "The temple of the Holy Spirit." Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all he can ask or think according to the power that work in us." God says in effect, "They need so much help, I'll just put My Spirit in them and then they have the Giver and the Source and the Cause. Giving us the Holy Spirit specifically is not something less than good gifts, it is something more than good gifts. He says, "I'll just give you the good One, the third member of the Trinity, God of very Gods, the Spirit to come and live in your life.
When the Lord gave you the Holy Spirit, He gave you everything, absolutely everything. "By His presence, by His power, by His grace we are permanently the possessors of everything we need and so much more that He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or think." You have more resource in the Holy Spirit than you can even imagine or understand. That's why the prayer also of Paul was that God would give us the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge that we would understand what we have. God is so generous. He gives us more than we could even imagine because since we can't comprehend God, His power, wisdom, or resources, we can't comprehend the Spirit, even though He lives in us. That's why He's able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we can ask or think. Don't dishonor God by doubting His generosity, and hold Him to His promises and be persistent and demand that He listen and give you what is best.
This is all so overwhelming to us, Father. We are so undeserving and so utterly unworthy. And yet You have just given us way beyond what we could ever comprehend. We ask for a gift and You gave us the Giver. We love You and we thank You for being the generous One that You are, so magnanimous. We could never be so bold as to ask You to live in us and yet that's what You've done. We thank You that the Spirit is there to strengthen us, to teach us, to guide us, to comfort us, to help us, to intercede for us and to keep us, seal us until eternal glory. For this we thank You in Christ's name.
