Amazing when you consider it! Jesus has asked us to be shamelessly persistent, shamelessly audacious in prayer.
You see, there was this man and his family who were already in bed for the night when a friend of his had unexpected guests arrive and he had nothing to offer them. So this man went to his already-in-bed friend’s house, saw that the family was already in bed – the lights were obviously already out – and kept knocking insistently until his friend yelled from the bedroom. “Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you” (Luke 11: 5-13 NLT).
Then Jesus tells us, “But I tell you this – though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence (The NIV translates this “shameless audacity”).
“And so I tell you (this is Jesus talking), keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
I’m stoked about this. Do you have anything you’ve been asking for that you have not yet received, but you are still sure that this is within the will of God? Have you been seeking, but have not yet found that for which you are seeking? Have you been knocking but have had no response?
Keep going for it! Keep asking! Keep seeking. Keep knocking. That what’s Jesus says to do. “Shameless persistence.”