“5 And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 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.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one who asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If you 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 11:5-13
Importunity – persistence, especially to the point of annoyance.
The ‘friend’ did not rise to give the man knocking that which he needed because he was his friend. No, not at all. He gave him all that he needed because of his persistence in asking.
If the sufficiency of this need being met by an unwilling source because of persistence, how much more shall the Lord, He Who came to die on Calvary’s Cross that we may have life and life more abundantly; He Who has promised to meet our every need according to His riches in Glory…how much more shall He give the Holy Spirit to them who ask of Him?
ASK and it shall be given. SEEK and you shall find. KNOCK and the door shall be open unto you.
So many of us believe the Lord ‘can’ do that which He has promised but we have a hard time believing He WILL do that which He has promised.
The unbelief which causes us to think ‘that’ will never happen to us, whatever ‘that’ may be, is the same unbelief which causes us to think that our Heavenly Father will not supply all of our needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.
We watch the news and see warnings of things that may happen if we use such and such product but we quickly dismiss the warning as if won’t happen to us. We believe those things happen but we don’t believe they will happen to us. This is the same unbelief we exhibit toward the promises of God.
Each and every promise of God is conditional though. They are conditional on our faith being placed in Jesus Christ as the Source and His Cross the means by which we receive from God. It is not our good works, our intellect, talent or abilities which earn us these promises but our faith and our faith alone in the Cross of Christ Jesus.
As Jesus was teaching His Disciples how to pray in Luke 11:1-4, He continued His teaching with this parable of the persistence of the man seeking bread
“1 And it came to pass, that, as He (Jesus) was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His Disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2 And He said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name.Your Kingdom come. Your Will be done, as in Heaven, so in Earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” Luke 11:1-4
As Believers, we must seek God’s Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven and we must believe that He will do that which He has promised as long as our faith is in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, He Who is sitting down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God…He Who searches the earth constantly looking to and fro for those whose hearts are perfect toward Him to show His strength in their weakness…He Who IS and WAS and IS TO COME; King of King and Lord of Lords – HE is Whom we have chosen to believe and HE IS able to keep that which we have committed unto Him against the day. HE is Jesus Christ and Him crucified…be determined to know NOTHING else among you.
-Donna Clark Warren
Living in The Spirit 