Faith & the Friend at Midnight
This is a great story about prayer and faith that Jesus gave the crowds that had gathered to Him. It’s an encouraging parable of not giving up on your prayers. Luke 11:5-13,
“Then He 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; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.”
“And from inside he answers and says, ‘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.”
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
“For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will 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 is 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 will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
What is fascinating about this parable of Jesus, is that it directly follows what He instructed about praying the “Our Father”. Jesus is making the point to persist in your prayer. Which is why here in Luke 11:1-4 Jesus first says,
“It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
“And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
“Give us each day our daily bread.
“And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
Jesus is linking this prayer that we call “The Our Father”, to consistency in our prayer, and having faith that we will eventually be heard (based on our human terms only).
This same discussion about having faith in our prayers is found again later in Luke 18:1-8,
“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.
“There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'”
“And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
“I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
The two things that Jesus makes clear here are;
- Persistence increases the practical usage of believing God and having God hear our faith filled prayers.
- Jesus questions us about the ‘last days’ Church in the earth, those days just before the rapture of the church: “Will they still operate by faith”. He is not asking Himself the question; rather, Jesus is challenging with the question, instructing us to not lose heart in using our faith in the last days.
Our prayer for today,
Father Yahweh, now I know that faith, patience and persistence work together, I ask for these gifts of grace to abound in my daily life, in Jesus’ name, amen.
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