Jesus anticipated our struggles with prayer. In Luke 11, when a disciple asks, “Lord, teach us to pray,” Jesus answers with a sample prayer and a parable—a simple story—showing that prayer should be sustained.
And He said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? (Luke 11:5-7).
You know what that is like. The night is dark, and all is quiet. Suddenly your peace is shattered. You are jerked into a reluctant, disoriented consciousness. A voice that seemed to start in your dreams proves all too real: a ‘friend’ demanding bread! The noise is likely to wake the children. One crying child tends to set off the others. So what would you do? With a touch of humor, the Lord answers,
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs (Luke 11:8).
The word here for “impudence” is also translated as “boldness” and “persistence.” What could not be accomplished on the basis of friendship is accomplished by bold insistence.