“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But God has told us that when something causes us to pray again and again—with persistence—He notices. And sometimes, our persistence and our determination is enough to move the heart of God. The hard part is usually holding out hope long enough to keep asking.

Scripture for the week: Luke 11:1-10

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, why do you think Jesus responded by telling a story about how frustrating prayer can be?

How does Jesus’ story about the friend in the middle of the night and the widow with the judge affect the way you view God? How does it motivate you to be persistent in your requests?

“Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him’” (Luke 11:5-6 NIV).

“Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything’” (Luke 11:7 NIV).

“I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs” (Luke 11:8 NIV).

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you: seek and you will find: knick and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9 NIV).

“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened” (Luke 11:10 NIV).

Do you have any thoughts?
What jumps out to you in these passages that might be important for students to hear/know?

I think my message will include this thought: "God is not bothered by your persistence. Sometimes He is moved by it."

Have you ever noticed how relationships seem to drift apart when we don’t get to spend time together? There’s just something significant that happens when we intentionally carve out time to connect with a friend or a family member. We get to hear what’s on their minds and hearts. We get to see the person beyond just what he or she can do for us, and see who he or she really is. That’s the heart of prayer—it’s our chance to connect with God in a way that goes beyond “Help me, bless me, protect, give to me.”

Doesn’t it seem like there should be more to prayer than just our typical “Help me, bless me, protect me, give to me” prayers?

Prayer has to be more than just talking to God—because He knows our thoughts, right? It has to be more than just us making our requests known to God—because doesn’t He already know everything that’s going on in our lives?

It’s like there’s some secret, some mystery we hope to unlock so we can “get through” to God. If we could just say the right words, maybe we can break the code and get a “yes” to all our requests. But what if prayer was something much bigger than that? What if prayer went beyond us getting what we wanted, and became about how to grow closer to God’s heart instead?

What if prayer wasn’t just about changing our present situation, what if it was about changing us?