When have you found it pays to be persistent? #Standstrong QUESTION LifeWay BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 37

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1 When have you found it pays to be persistent? QUESTION 1 #Standstrong BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 37

2 THE POINT God always answers persistent prayer. THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE What does persistence look like? Jacob Riis was a police reporter who used his photojournalism talents to document the deplorable living conditions of the poor in New York City in the late nineteenth century. The images he captured became famous, and Riis was celebrated for his passion and concern for the poor. However, his efforts to get others to see the problems were not immediately accepted. Yet he kept after it. He later told what he did when he felt discouraged. I would go and look at a stone-cutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it would split in two, and I knew it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before together. 1 Many areas of our lives call for such persistence. Even prayer. But God is not a reluctant God He is not a cold, hard stone we must keep chiseling at to get what we want. He is quite the opposite. Jesus used several illustrations to capture our hearts for passionate, persistent prayer, grounded in the confidence that God is always loving and ever willing to hear us and answer. 1. Jacob Riis, The Making of an American (Macmillan, 1901), SESSION 4

3 WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? Luke 11:5-13 (HCSB) 5 He also said to them: Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don t have anything to offer him. 7 Then he will answer from inside and say, Don t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can t get up to give you anything. 8 I tell you, even though he won t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 9 So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. Persistence (v. 8) Persistence involves continuing in a course of action in spite of difficulty, opposition, or weariness. In this instance, it refers to determined and diligent prayer. The Greek term carries the sense of shameless audacity, lacking any concern for what is considered proper etiquette or appropriate behavior. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 39

4 THE POINT God always answers persistent prayer. Luke 11:5-10 Of all the things Jesus disciples observed Him doing, we know that they asked Him specifically for training in only one thing. It wasn t how to preach, teach, or perform miracles. Perhaps the disciples saw the vital connection between prayer and everything else Jesus did, because right after they saw Him praying, one of them said, Lord, teach us to pray (Luke 11:1). In verses 2-4, Jesus gave the disciples a model for prayer. In this Model Prayer, He noted the importance of praying about God s honor and His kingdom. He taught the disciples and us about praying for God to: supply our daily provisions, forgive our sins, and help us to avoid temptations. Then, beginning in verse 5, Jesus moved from modeling what we pray to teaching how we pray. Verses 5-10 can be summed up in one word: persistence. We are to pray and keep praying. Our culture is full of people who know what they want and they want it now! We are not very good at waiting on anything. That impatience tends to carry over into our daily walk with God. We take our needs to God and want Him expect Him to meet those needs right away. Fix it now, God. But God does not work like this. Jesus calls us to keep asking, searching, and knocking. In our previous Bible study, we focused on Psalm 34 and the truth that our loving and gracious God provides for us. Since that is true, why would God hold out on us, wanting us to keep asking? Why doesn t He simply answer the first time? For that matter, why do we even need to ask at all? After all, Your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him (Matthew 6:8). What s the connection between patience and persistence in our relationship with God? QUESTION 2 40 SESSION 4

5 We might conclude, then, that Jesus was drawing a similarity between God the Father and a grumpy neighbor in Luke 11:5-8; instead, Jesus was making a contrast. God the Father is quite the opposite of this reluctant neighbor. Hospitality was a basic expectation in ancient culture. No matter how inconvenient it might have been to the man and his family, refusing to show hospitality to his neighbor would have brought shame on himself and even on his community. He could be shunned by the community. If even a reluctant man like this can provide, how much more will a loving and gracious God answer our requests! But we still haven t settled the issue: Why doesn t God just answer immediately? Why all the asking, searching, and knocking? God supplies the answer when we need it, not just when we want it. We can trust the omniscient God to know what is best for us, so we can also trust His timing. Let s not look on prayer as trying to convince God or change His mind; instead, let s look at persistent prayer as a vehicle to move us into a position of humble submission and trust before God. God knows exactly what we need, and He knows exactly when we need it. When we fully trust Him and are in constant contact with Him, we will never have an unmet need. Granted, our human nature will always be battling against the patience God desires us to have, but God will always reward our diligence and patience with more than we could ever hope to experience. What keeps us from praying more persistently? QUESTION 3 BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 41

6 THE POINT God always answers persistent prayer. "Prayer does not equip us for greater works prayer What is your reaction to the promises in this passage? is the greater work." OSWALD CHAMBERS QUESTION 4 ASK, SEEK, & KNOCK When it comes to praying persistently, how are you doing? I m for it, but I m continually distracted. I m good at having a consistent prayer time for a while, but I struggle to continue praying for something long term. I have a consistent prayer time. What current need in your life calls for persistent prayer? 42 SESSION 4

7 Luke 11:11-13 Jesus used a father s love for his child to help us understand and appreciate how God responds to us. Rabbis often argued a point by reasoning from the lesser to the greater. Jesus used that same pattern: Since A is true, how much more is B true? If a human dad can do good for his child out of his love even though he is a fallen human being then how much more can the perfect God of the universe love us? If a loving but sinful, imperfect father only gives good things to his child, how much more so does our loving heavenly Father give good things to us? God not only provides as a loving Father, but He gives us His very best. How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? This pronouncement surely surprised His disciples. First, the Jews did not address God as their Father. To pray to God as Father (v. 2) was to invite a relationship and intimacy not taught by the rabbis. Second, the presence of the Holy Spirit was seen in the Old Testament as a blessing for only a few special people. And now this wonderful gift the presence of God Himself would be available to all who sought God and asked. God can give us no greater gift than Himself; it is the gift par excellence. When we come to Christ by faith when we ask Him into our lives as Lord and Savior He comes into our lives in the presence of His Holy Spirit. All those led by God s Spirit are God s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father! (Romans 8:14-15). Jesus invites us to pray and bring our needs and requests to God. At times we will need to keep asking, searching, and knocking; but we can do so in the confidence that when God answers, He will answer out of His infinite goodness. What does this passage teach us about God? QUESTION 5 BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 43

8 THE POINT God always answers persistent prayer. LIVE IT OUT While God hears every prayer we pray, Luke 11:5-13 instructs us to persevere in bringing our needs to Him. Identify at least one way God has answered a prayer over the past few months. Thank Him for His faithfulness to hear and answer when we pray. Post Luke 11:9-10 somewhere you will see it often. Let it be a reminder to continuously go to God with your needs and to trust that He will answer. Make a plan to follow through the next time a friend asks you to pray for them. Combat forgetfulness by setting an alarm on your phone to remind yourself to pray each day for a week. After a week has passed, check in with your friend and find out how things are going. Continue to pray until his needs are met. God knows what we need and when we need it. When we engage in an ongoing conversation with Him, we get a front-row seat from which to watch Him work. We will see for ourselves that He has not only promised to hear us, He s committed Himself to reply. My thoughts 44 SESSION 4