The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 11:5-10, “And He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and from inside he shall answer and say, “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.”’

8 “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.

9 “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.

10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.”

What do you know about prayer? I remember someone in my college days asking the professor, “Does prayer really work?” It was a secular college and the professor knew as little about it as the student who was asking. That was not true in Jesus’ case. His disciples recognized something of the value of prayer because they asked Him, “LORD, teach us to pray…” (v. 1).

A good teacher gives the basic principles of the object and then follows up with a clear illustration of how it works. Jesus was a Master Teacher. In verses 1-4, He gives them the model by which they are to pray. Then in verses 5-10, He illustrates it. What works is the persistence involved: Oh, I’ll never get any sleep if he keeps pounding like that! I might just as well get up and give him what he wants. There is no suggestion in Jesus’ words that the Father doesn’t want to answer our prayers. It may be that He wants to know how sincere and urgent we are in asking. In any event, Jesus’ instruction is that we ask, seek, and knock. His promise is that when we persist in asking, the Father will respond to our request.

Only this morning, I read an email that said, “Our family requests your prayers for our loved one; the doctors say…” It was an earnest and sincere request; and its urgency lies in what the doctors say about the patient’s condition. I don’t know the patient or the family making the request. But I know what it is to be in need of God’s intervention, and that calls for help from others in pounding relentlessly on Heaven’s door. If we expect others to pray for us when we’re in need, surely we need to pray for them when they are.

The Bible contains over 300 verses on prayer. Prayer is important to God. It must become important to us.

We stand in need of your prayers, even as we pray for you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”