Knocking...

First, let me say it was a wonderful Father's Day today! What a blessing to be able to celebrate my awesome husband!! He deserves for it to be Father's Day everyday!!

So, the reason for my post though is our Pastor's sermon... I just can't get it out of my mind. It was on Luke 11:1-10...

Luke 11 is where the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray and He responds with the Lord's prayer, but He follows it up with a parable about a man who goes to his neighbor at midnight to get bread for his friend who has come for a visit... The neighbor denies him, but Jesus said that the man will not give up until he gets his bread.

I never knew this about a parable, but our pastor said that a parable teaches one lesson and when I googled it, I learned that a parable has one defining characteristic, it teaches how a person is to behave or believe.

So, I always struggled with this parable, because of the way the sleeping neighbor responded... "Don't bother me... I can't get up..." I know that is not how my heavenly Father would respond, so I didn't really get it...until today.

Our pastor said the point of this parable is not to teach us a lesson about God, it is to teach us how we are to approach God in prayer... with urgency... immediacy... persistence... knock... Knock... KNOCK... As he preached this, he knocked hard and loud on a table... It was profound and powerful!

And then he quoted someone who said, "Our prayers must mean something to us if they are to mean anything to God." It really made me stop and think...how many of my prayers are prayers of urgency? Or are they prayers of duty and obligation? Do I REALLY believe, with all of my heart, that prayer changes things?

I don't understand how it works, but Scripture leaves me with only one conclusion... God CHOOSES to use the prayers of His people... In Revelation 8, the angels bring a golden censer before God, it is incense that is the prayers of His people... And then the angel "takes the censer, fills it with fire from the altar, and hurls it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake."

Max Lucado says this, "Your prayers move God to change the world. You may not understand the mystery of prayer. You don't need to, but this much is clear: Actions in heaven begin when someone prays on earth. What an amazing thought! When you speak, Jesus hears. When Jesus hears, thunder falls. And when thunder falls, the world is changed. All because someone prayed!"

If I really believe this, with all of my heart, then I will pray with urgency... passion... boldness... for my family... my friends... the President... our nation... I will pray for His glory and their good (not my personal gain) and I will not give up, just because God doesn't respond the way I think He should, or in the time I think He should... I will keep knocking, with persistent urgency, because God promises, He will hear my prayer and answer.