But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. Luke 11:8 NLT
There are two points today’s Scripture is making and it’s found in the last two words. Shameless and persistence. Here’s something interesting I learned while studying this verse. The word shameless, or in some translations audacity, isn’t only referring to the one speaking, but also about the one knocking. It actually reads in the Mounce Reverse Interlinear Translation, “because of the prospect of being put to shame he will get up and give him as much as he needs. ” Did you get that? Although the person is being bold and persistent, the friend is getting up because he doesn’t want to embarass himself! We need to remember that.
Dr. Bob Bagley a missionary to Africa lived out this verse. The church he led didn’t have a church building, so they met under a large tree near their village. However a local witch doctor decided he was going to curse it. He did and the tree withered. Bob knew he had to take some drastic measures. This wasn’t just about losing their gathering place, the bigger threat was the undermining of the authority of their message. So he called for a public prayer meeting, and in the fashion of Elijah with the prophets of Baal, Bob confronted the curse by calling down a blessing on the tree. He literally placed his hands on the tree and prayed that God would resurrect it!
Now I don’t know about you, but that is one of those scary stepping out of the boat prayers. Why? Well, what if God didn’t answer his prayer? They would be worse off than they were before. But what if He did? It was a risk Bob was willing to take, especially since he added this tagline; “It’s not my name that’s at stake.” When we pray bold, shameless and audacious prayers we aren’t risking our own reputation, but God’s. But how many times have we stopped ourselves from praying those kind of prayers, because all we could see was our reputation being on the line. The sad truth is God’s reputation will never be established until we’re willing to risk ours. God not only reversed the curse and resurrected the tree; but it yielded fruit not only once but twice a year, which was unheard of and became the only tree of its type to do so. God always restores more than what has been stolen or lost.
God loves it when His children see Him as Almighty God, the One Who makes the impossible possible! In praying those bold, shameless and audacious prayers we honor Him in a way we can’t any other way. Why? Because it reveals our faith and trust in Him (not in what we are asking for) and gives Him the opportunity to show His glory for all to see. Ultimately we are NOT responsible for the answer, God is. Our input in the situation is to pray bold, shameless and audacious prayers in His Name. And then to keep thanking Him, until the prayer becomes sight! Let’s all become more shameless and audacious in our prayers and send 2021 out with a bang and bring 2022 in with celebration!
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