Prayer between friends

And I tell 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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 11:9-10

Jesus, by His example and in His teaching, shows us that prayer involves effort and hard work. That is the point of the short parable in Luke 11:5-13. The focus is that the person in need makes effort to request from someone who should care for him. I love it that the parable is about a friend in need going to another friend who can help. Even in an inconvenient time, friendship overrides the difficulty. The point is that God will treat His people like His friends.

Jesus tells this tale to make the point that relationship drives two things in prayer. First, it drives the Father to concern because “he is his friend.” God acts out of love when He responds to our prayers. It is not formulaic. It is relational. And that is often forgotten in our mundane and routine thoughts about prayer.

The second observation about prayer involves our effort in praying. It involves active commitment on our part, It is an asking, which is the basis of request prayer. It is seeking which brings with it the need to be worshipful and have an attitude of respectful expectation. And it is knocking, indicating that sometimes we have to stay at the task until the door that is between us and our Friend is opened and the answer is given.

Jesus teaches that prayer with God as our friend is a rewarding relationship. God hears us. When we ask, we receive an answer. When we seek God, He never hides from us and we will find Him. When we knock at His door, He is always ready to open to His children, not because He is obligated to us, but because He loves those who respectfully come to Him as to their eternal Friend.

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Parables,Prayer,Relationship with God.

Searchable Truth

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Mark 4:33-34

By teaching in parables. Jesus made truth searchable and knowable by anyone interested in honest investigation of His claims. That was the purpose of the parables (see Mark 4:10-12). And Jesus was a master at teaching in this way. He taught with many parables on many occasions. I believe it is entirely possible that much of what He told in parables is not recorded in the gospels. But we have all the important ones that explain the mission of salvation and the person of Jesus.

The interesting factor in this was the attitude of the crowd. This text says that Jesus taught in parables “as they were able to hear it”. This indicates that some may have been in attendance in the crowd, but may have not gotten to the point of the parables. The parables, however, provided two important things that made Jesus’ teaching “stick” in the minds of His hearers. First, as stories, they became memorable. Since we are not an aural society, we don’t appreciate this fact as much. But those who heard the stories in a society of story-tellers, remembered them. It is why we have them now. The second benefit of teaching the parables was that it created a follow-up opportunity. Anyone who wanted to ask for further clarification could do so. Those who investigated were the ones who “heard it”. They could take it further. That was Jesus’ intention all along.

Christian truth is knowable. It is not based on hunches or feelings or pragmatic mysticism. It is real knowledge and truth. Just like I can investigate and understand the periodic table of the elements in chemistry, I can investigate and explore the teachings and person of Jesus. And I can rest assured that the body of knowledge about Him is spiritual truth that is as real as any other body of knowledge. His own words, in His own parables, to His own disciples show me the way to such conviction.

Technorati Tags: Mark,Knowledge,Truth,Parables,Discipleship