Daily Reading: Luke 11:5-8:
“Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”
The Greek roots of the word hospitality literally mean "love of stranger." New Testament hospitality functioned on several levels. In a world in which being a Christian led to persecution, the church knew that it had to provide for those thrown out of their homes for becoming Christians. The ancient world had very few lodging places for travelers. Usually travelers of any kind stayed with whomever would open their homes to the stranger. This request was a common one with an expectation of hospitality.
Adam Clarke’s Commentary had it right in this parable that the “ask, seek, knock” refer to the lost. We are not the friend on the outside asking, seeking, and knocking, we are the children on the inside who are already with the Father. The Father is with us, we are snuggled warmly next to His side. He is that near to us and we are that dear to Him.
The point of the parable is to show if the man reluctantly answers the request of his friend on the outside, how much more eagerly will he answer the request of his children on the inside? So, “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! (Matthew 6:7-8).
Your praying effort doesn’t impress God and therefore, get Him to respond, -instead pray with confidence all the time because your heavenly Father loves you and delights to give good gifts to His children. If you know this and believe this you will want to pray all the time (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).