Importunity and Prayer !

IMPORTUNITY AND PRAYER: Let's look now at another passage of Scripture where Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray: "And it came to pass, that, as he 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" (Luke 11:1) Notice that the disciples didn't say, "Teach us how to heal the sick or how to cast out demons." Neither did he ask to be taught how long to pray or when to pray, but he recognized that the power behind Jesus ministry was the fact that He knew how to pray accurately. Knowing how to pray accurately is one of the keys to victorious living. The story is told of a missionary walking down a Jungle Trail in Africa, when suddenly a huge lion appeared in the trail. Being the man of prayer that he was, the missionary fell to his knees and prayed, "Father, I pray that this will be a good Christian lion." The lying immediately fell to the ground, put his paws together, and said, "Father, I thank You for this food. Now blessed it to my body." The missionary's prayer was answered, but he was still in trouble because it did not bring deliverance. Learn to be specific and accurate in prayer. The disciple asked, Lord, teach us to pray. Jesus answered: "When You Pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil (v v.2--4). 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; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. 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 (v v.5--7). Notice that Jesus is asking a question here from verse 5 to verse 7. The amplified Bible has the mark at the end of verse 7, and I believe this is where it should be. To help you understand clearly what Jesus is saying, I want to ask you the same question: would you have a friend like that ? If you went to him or her at midnight and said, "Company came in unexpectedly and I need a couple of loaves of bread. Would you land me some ?" Would he or she say, "No, you ugly thing, you ought to have come by before I went to bed. I can't give you any bread now" ! Would you have a friend like that ? Would you want a friend like that ? No, of course not. With friends like that, you wouldn't need any enemies. Now you can see what Jesus is saying. Notice He That is talking about a friend. There is no relationship, no kinship here and all. He or she is just a friend. He wants to know if you would have a friend like that. I'm sure you have already answered it in your own mind. None of us would want a friend like that. In the literal Greek, verse 6 reads this way: "For a friend of mine in his journey has come unto me and I have not what I shall set before him." Now you can recognize this as a faith statement. He doesn't have it or see it yet, but he says, "I will set it before him."