PERSISTENT PRAYER

5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him,
6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’
7 And suppose he calls out from his 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.’
8 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.
9 “AND SO I TELL YOU, 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 TO YOU.
10 FOR EVERYONE WHO ASKS, RECEIVES. EVERYONE WHO SEEKS, FINDS. AND TO EVERYONE WHO KNOCKS, THE DOOR WILL BE OPENED."
Luke 11:5-10 (NLT)

• Keep on asking until your Joy is full. A believer is expected to be persistent, importunate, in his or her prayers.

• Prayer is a journey which has to be completed. When you started it, you do not disembark or turn back from it.
• When you stop praying about a particular thing which you have been praying on, the power behind the problem or predicament is usually reinforced by the devil, and that makes it difficult when you start to pray on it again. It would be as If you are starting all over again.
• Jesus said keep on asking. Another passage of the Bible says, pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
• Thus, be persistent and relentless in prayers (Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-5).

• Keep on seeking or searching, and you will find. Endeavouring, or seeking, or searching, is done both spiritually and physically.
a. You seek through inquiries, when you wanted to know what to do—steps to take.
b. You seek by being sensitive.
c. You seek by taking a step, which could also mean a searching.

• Seeking is part of prayers. You do not seek carnally, that is, being led or moved by the flesh, but by God's leadings.

• Keep on knocking and the door would be opened.

• Persistence in knocking should be on what agrees with God's Word. If you are persistent in knocking for the door to be opened on a wrong thing, there might not be an answer.
• If what you are seeking for is God's Will for you, then keep on knocking, the door would surely be opened for you.
• The knocking is part of the prayer, and persistency is needed on it also. There is no cheap result or success in the Kingdom. You had to be resolute on whatever you want to receive in the Kingdom.
• When God spoken or granted a request, the thing is already released, but left for you to appropriate it, bring it to realization, or make it happen in your life—in the physical.
• A Believer who walks in the light of the Word of God, and prays without ceasing, had what it takes to receive whatever he or she requested: "FOR THE LORD GOD IS A SUN AND SHIELD; THE LORD WILL GIVE GRACE AND GLORY; NO GOOD THING WILL HE WITHHOLD FROM THOSE WHO WALK UPRIGHTLY" (Psalm 84:11 NKJV).
• God is a good Father, He is willing and ready to give good things to His children who are loyal and faithful to Him. Those who walk in line with His Word.

• Prayer is a means of communicating with God the Father. You receive from God through the means of praying.

• The believers are required to ask, seek, and knock, before they could receive from God (Luke 11:9,10).
• Someone said, since God knows the needs of an individual Believer; Does he or she necessarily need to ask before God met the needs?
• Asking is required by God, before He could do or give whatever is needed by anyone, because humans had the power of choosing (John 16:24).
• If God, without the request of a particular thing, should give or do the thing for you; which might be a thing you did not like, and it resulted in stresses or burdens, your complaints would perhaps be, I have not asked or requested for it, It was God Who gave it to me. And that would become a blame on God (Genesis 3:13).
• Whatever God would give or do for anyone, would be what the person requested or asked for by himself or herself, or someone on his or her behalf, in prayer.
• God would not force any Blessing of His on anyone. Even If God desires to do a particular thing which would be beneficial to you, and you are not aware of its importance, or have not heard or known about it before; He would first of all give you a Desire or thirst for It, before it would be done for you (Philippians 2:13).
• God will stir your heart to Will for what He intended to do; to want or desire the particular thing, and move you to ask for it in your prayers, before it would be granted or given. Without that, God will not arbitrarily grant you, or give to you, or do, what you had not desired or requested from Him, to you.
• If a blessing is received without your request for it, you might despise it, or not appreciate it, or commonise it, and treat it with contempt.
• So Prayer involves asking, seeking or looking and knocking. And the three Acts; asking, seeking or looking, and knocking, had to be with persistency.
• The asking or any other Act should not be what you do once and quit (Luke 11:8; 18:5).
  READ: Luke 11:5-10; 18:1-8
• P. U. S. H: Pray Until Something Happens. Do not give up in your prayers, your miracles, answers to your prayers, are around the corner.
• Something is about to happen, believe it, I could sense and hear the sound of abundance of rain (1 Kings 18:41).

• You will have a reason to laugh and rejoice in Jesus' name.

• If there is any ailment in your body, draining your health, Joy, and resources, such is rebuked and uprooted completely now in Jesus' mighty name.
• Whatever challenge on your health which has been a source of sorrow in your life; such is cursed and brought to an end in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
  Peace!

STEPS TO SALVATION
• Take notice of this:
IF you are yet to take the step of salvation, that is, yet to be born-again, do it now, tomorrow might be too late (2 Corinthians 6:1,2; Hebrews 3:7,8,15).
a. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess your Sins (1 John 1:9); And ask Jesus Christ to come into your life (Revelation 3:20).
b. Confess that you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that you confess it with your mouth, Thus, you accept Him As your Lord and Saviour (Romans 10:9,10).
c. Ask that He will write your name in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:8).

• If you took the steps As highlighted above, It means you are saved—born-again. Join a Word based church in your area and Town or city, and be part of whatever they are doing there. Peace!