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Asking Continually
Importune Prayer
Asking, Asking, Asking

Scripture

Luke 21:25 "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;"
Luke 21:26 "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."
Luke 21:27 "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."
Luke 21:28 "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
Luke 21:29 "And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;"
Luke 21:30 "When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand."
Luke 21:31 "So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand."
Luke 21:32 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled."
Luke 21:33 "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away."
Luke 21:34 "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares."
Luke 21:35 "For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."
Luke 21:36 "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."
Luke 21:37 "And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives."
Luke 21:38 "And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him."

Text

Luke 21:36 "Watch ye therefore, and pray always···"

This of course means
to pray every day, but it also means to pray all day, each day.

And it means
Don’t give up on praying, either.

Every Tuesday Night we gather to pray.
And for the last so many months we have prayed according to the prayer mentioned above.

We have not prayed this prayer
But we have used it as an outline to pray by.

Luke 11:1 "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."
Luke 11:2 "And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Pray to the Father Hallowed be thy name. Praise God, revere Him for His holiness Thy kingdom come. God has authority over His kingdom Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."

Pray according to the Father’s will
that His will be accomplished in our lives like it is in the lives of those in Heaven.

Luke 11:3 "Give us day by day our daily bread."

Pray for daily provision
even for the necessities of life.

Luke 11:4 "And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. In prayer, ask the Father to forgive of sin, but sin will only be forgiven to the extent that we forgive others. And lead us not into temptation; Pray that God lead us. but deliver us from evil."

Pray that God deliver us.

I generally ask each person to pray, if they want to,
and to choose one of the areas above to concentrate in.

For instance
We can pray whatever we want, but also pick a subject from the above prayer and dwell on it as much as possible.

In particular
one may begin to forgive all that have done us wrong, as a group or individually.
Then that same person would begin to confess our sins.

Since we do not listen to gossip
we may not know the particular sins of any single person, but everyone knows that none of us love God like we should, etc.

Oh, this is a great help
in learning how to pray.

And we must learn
just as the disciples asked to be taught.

We are going to shift gears and get into another kind of Prayer.

Luke 11:5 "And he said unto them···"

Now, the following is a type of Parable
that illustrates a particular kind of Prayer.

"Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight ···"

Notice this person
is going to his Friend in the middle of the night.

and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;"
Luke 11:6 "For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?"

Notice again
that this person is going to his Friend in the middle of the night in behalf of another friend who has a need during his pilgrimage.

Now watch what happens

Luke 11:7 "And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee."

This Friend
with whom he pleads for help says, don’t bother me now.

He doesn’t even get out of bed
but shouts through the open window···

"It is not time to talk about food, it is time to sleep."

Luke 11:8 "I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."

Jesus says,
that the person in the Parable will not help because he is a friend but he will help because of importunity

To urge persistently
not just urge but to urge and urge and urge on a persistent basis.

To appeal and appeal and appeal
like the scared prisoner does in our appellate court system.

To solicit repeatedly
not just solicit and give up but to solicit repeatedly.
repeat···repeat···repeat

To ask aggressively
not to simply say please but to do like our 3 year old grandson, Travis, does
Please!···Please!···Please!

To press
to push on the right side,
then push on the left side,
and from underneath,
and then on top,
and keep pressing.

Importunity is to beg
This has the idea of asking from a helpless position.
Begging for the necessities.
Begging for your daily needs. In the case of this story, bread.

Some have said,
I don’t think God wants us to Beg.
You are right.
He does not want us to sit on a corner and to attempt to gain sympathy by keeping a dog on a leash and beg for money while holding a sign that says "I will work for food.".

There is also something else wrong with this picture.
These people know it is true, that they will receive more money, if they have the dog.
Why would someone have more compassion, towards a human being because their is a dog present?
Is it because they think the dog can’t help it, but the man could?
Shouldn’t the man receive help before the dog, even if he is a bitter, lazy, worthless panhandler.
Animals should never be considered before a human being, even if the animal is a Million Dollar Race Horse and the man is a shiftless beggar.

But I am not going to bring that up.
Don't even try to get me to mention all of that.

Anyway,
we are talking about importunity

Jesus goes on in verse 9
to explain what this is.

Luke 11:9 "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Jesus says,
that we will receive results by···
Asking
Seeking
Knocking

Asking
by verbal petition
ask from one perspective
then ask it from another perspective
but keep asking and asking and asking.

People usually give in,
if they have it.

If they do not have it,
Seek the person that does have it.

Seeking
Seek and seek where it can be found
and when you find where it is kept start asking again and again.
And ask over and over

People will usually give in
if they have what you need.
Because of your warting them to distraction.
You have what I need, won’t you help me with it.

How many of you have heard of MADD, M-A-D-D???
Mothers Against Drunk Drivers?

They do a good job
but when they started they couldn’t get anyone to pay attention to them, but they kept asking and asking and asking until they found that the ones they were asking had no power to help them out.
So they began seeking and seeking and seeking to find the place where their help was.

The homosexuals have learned
the power of importunity.

They just kept asking and asking and asking
and found they were asking in the wrong people and so they began seeking and seeking and seeking to find the right person.
They found the Politicians and the Liberals.

Then what needs to be done?

Knocking
Make some racket, noise, annoyance.
Be like the drip at the sink.
Just keep dropping and dropping and dropping and every drop is a knock on the door to get attention.

This is what your children do
at the check-out stand in the grocery store.

They have been seeking for the place
where the Groceryman keeps candy and they seek and seek and seek until they find where it is.
But it is not free so they ask and ask and ask but no one listens, so they knock and knock and knock.
At first with a please, then with a whine, then with a scream, then they receive.

Luke 11:10 "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Luke 11:11 "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?···"

Bread is a minor staple of life

"··· or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?"

Fish is a little more hard to get

Luke 11:12 "Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?"

An egg maybe even tougher to come by their society

Luke 11:13 "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

The Holy Ghost is the most prized of all gifts
yet God is perfectly willing to give Him

To whom????
To those that ask.
To those that seek.
To those that knock.
To those that will employ importunity.

If you are lost today
and do not know for sure that God is your Father and Heaven is your home,

Won’t you ask?···and seek?···and knock?

If you are saved today, already,
I know something about you as well.
You do not have everything you need.

You have great needs in your life.
It is time to ···
Ask,
Seek,
and Knock.

Seek out
where it can be found.

Ask
if your need can be filled

Knock
to raise enough commotion,
to get everyone’s attention.

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Copyright - 1999 to 2008
G. Steven Andres
Psalms 45.17
Missionary - Evangelist