Boldness in Prayer
Luke 11:8
“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.”
Scripture
Read Luke
11:5-8
Study
- In this
parable who has a need?
- Who works
at addressing that need?
- Why is
the need finally met?
God can only
answer our prayers if we ask him. Because we are friends of God he
will bless us and watch over us but he wants us to ask him to meet
our needs. This man was answered by his friend not because he was a
friend, but because of the man’s boldness in asking. However, we
cannot forego the friendship aspect because we cannot be so bold
with someone we do not know.
- A
friendship with God is even greater than a just a relationship
with God
It is common
to lament that we did not have a choice in who would be our family.
We have a relationship with them regardless whether we want it or
not. A friendship is much greater than a relationship and requires
more than just knowing a person.
- Jesus
said, “You are my friends if you do what I command”
- Abraham
believed God… and he was called God’s friend.
Motives in Prayer
God sees and
knows our motives when we pray. When we pray with selfish motives
God knows. In the case of the man who went to his neighbor at
midnight, the man’s motive was to be hospitable to another person
and that was an honorable motive. If the man had been throwing a
party and ran out of wine and had gone to his neighbor at midnight,
the result may not have been the same. (A party in today’s sense,
not like the one that Jesus turned water into wine.)
We can boldly
ask for a lot of things but simply asking does not guarantee our
receiving. James tells us that when we ask we do not receive
because we ask with wrong motives. When we pray, we must ask with
the right motives, and that God would ultimately be glorified in the
answering of the prayer. Even when we pray for others we can have
selfish motives and we must be sure that our motives are pure and
that God will be glorified in the answering of our prayer.
Adapted from
“With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray
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