Our first duty is to pray. We touch God by prayer.

That is how we commune with Him. To praise God, you must pray. If you would bless others, clear your own vision, confess sins, go over plans with God, find God’s will, renew strength, get needs met, THEN YOU MUST PRAY.

The Christian life is a life of prayer.  To pray is to live.

Prayer is our very pulse beat.

“How is he, Doctor?” asks one at the bedside. “Very weak,” says the man touching the faltering pulse. Later the nurse hastily summons the doctor once more. It is vain — no pulse. The limp arm is rested beneath the sheet. Life is over….And, so is the spiritual life when prayer ceases.

Before launching into a study of our text, let me give two words of instruction basic to prayer:

l)Be definite in your prayers. Don’t beat about the bush. Otherwise you will never get particular help. You will never with certainty see God’s footprints at your door. Prayer will become a discouraging, lifeless task.

2)Be constant. Stay at it confidently. That is the point of our text now.

Read with prayer and care Luke 11:1-13. Study with special attention the section regarding the man whose unexpected guest arrives at midnight. Having no bread to offer, he is forced to seek food from a friend. The friend refuses at first, but at last yields to the persistent pounding on the door because of importunity. To this Jesus adds:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Verse 9.

Are there not enough incentives in this story to stir your heart to an active life of prayer? By these very incentives to prayer, God seeks to lead each Christian to an active prayer life.

I.  YOUR NEED–The Empty Cupboard

Even this is to CAUSE us to pray. The “midnight hour” arrives for every person. We are caught in our inadequacy. The cupboard is bare! We are driven to the gate of our friend, our Father in heaven.

Now, this is typical of the Christian life. We are not to lay up treasures on earth.  It is only natural to store our bread in the cupboard, but that bread direct from the Father’s hand to our hand is the best.

The midnight hour crises are good for the soul. See that man with his keen, shrewd mind brought now to wait at God’s door for that superior wisdom which cometh from above. Now, the healthy one, once prone to rely on inferior natural vigor, cries for the Holy Spirit’s strength. Yes, when money of the world fails, we turn more to heavenly riches and are content with God’s daily supply.

But let us notice that the man in our text is actually not burdened for himself alone. He is, in effect, interceding for his guests. Intercessory prayer is surely a higher form of praying. When the needs of others become my burdens then I am getting somewhere spiritually! Such burdens will see me oft at God’s door.

II. SEEMING DELAY–The Closed Door

What a surprise!  God’s door shut against us? “Surely,” we had thought, “I shall now find God more than open to my plea!” But, see the door — closed and locked. Now, is this to be counted an incentive for prayer? Yes!

I want you to picture in your mind this man pulling on his coat and hastening across town. As he plows through cold, midnight fog, he is a good picture of a true intercessor. Sleep? Others can, he cannot. He is on duty for others. Their needs are his burdens.

Bravo! And, noble it is, too, but….If he expects great signs of welcome in the heavens, he is facing disappointment. Arriving at his friend’s home, he finds — alas! — the lights out and the door tight-closed. Now, this very reception has turned many a “crusader” into a quitter.

He raises a timid, limp fist to knock, hesitating thoughtfully, “My, but it’s quiet.” The very angels of heaven look and wonder, “Will he turn away, or go through with it?”

Well, he settles it and knocks and knocks yet again louder. Can you now imagine the faith-jolting experience when he finally gets the response: “I can’t get up and give you anything!” (Verse 7).

At this point, many give up their requests. Some have a neat answer all figured out as they stumble homeward empty-handed. When asked, “Were your prayers answered?” the smug reply is, “Of course, they are always answered one way or another.” “And, what did He say?” After a pause, “He said, ‘No!'”

Well, then, he might as well have remained at home for all the bread he got! Much too often the answer of “No” is used as a cover-up for want of faith and persistence in prayer.

A simple, child-like study of our text will show that God wants us not to quit with the seeming “no.” God means to teach us something by that. No doubt he is pointing us to the truth that He cannot rise and give to us unless we do opportune Him. In other words, prayer is not incidental to God’s workings. It is an absolute essential. Having so ordered things, God will not, yea, He cannot do otherwise. (For, He cannot deny Himself.)

III. THE SUPPLY–Full Arms!

“He will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” Are these not good words?

Think of the multitudes of empty-handed, heavy-hearted believers who have made their way to God’s door, knocking with tears. And, they shall doubtless come again bringing their bread with them! (Study often Hebrews 6:11, 12).

Be sure you ask and expect enough, too. “as much as you need” is what our man in the text gets.

Now, if he is a novice, he may be staggered a bit by this “free” bread. Hear him say, “This is just fine! Why, I’ve got all I need….just like that!” (You see, some don’t carry their loaves well! God could scarcely trust them with a key to his greater riches.)

What our starry-eyed, skipping friend fails to see is that God put that bread in his arms — not in his big old cupboard. Heaven’s gifts are like daily manna — enough for now. Manna is not for tomorrow. God gives what we can carry. These true things are always portable. In turn, they are to be dispensed, not stored. “Give us this day, our daily bread.”

Back at the house, the guests are well fed and by next evening are on their way. Still musing, the good man idly flips the last crumbs of the bread into his mouth. “Delicious!” “How good of my Friend to have given me all I needed!” “Hmmmmm it’s getting late again — around midnight — I’d better get to be….Hark! What is that? A knock at the door….no! More guests….my cupboard, why it’s bare!”

It is a hard lesson to learn but so true: We shall never get very far from God’s doorstep. There arc NONE who graduate from the discipline of prayer.

Resting on laurels is ruinous. God won’t have it. You must be weakened so that you will cry for His strength. Emptied, to call for His plenty. And, if necessary, chased by our own sin and the very devil himself to the door of His grace, to the feet of Jesus.

What a life! This life of prayer. Oh, friends, all of this is intended to urge us to do but one thing: Pray and keep on praying. Pray yet again for that loved one over whom you’ve ceased to long and struggle. You feel no supply of the Spirit to carry some burden further. The cupboard is quite bare. You seek the Lord, but the door is closed. You knock, and to your dismay, the reply comes, “I can’t get up and give you anything.” You knock again and receive.  But then to your utter dismay, you are caught this day with empty arms, empty cupboard, empty heart.

Do you not see it? Prayer is our life! Quick, haste to the fountain! Be filled! Then live in the Spirit by prayer.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”