Reading: Luke 11: 1-13

Today’s passage begins with the very familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer.  It is the model Jesus offered the disciples for daily use.  Jesus then goes on to describe the relationship we should seek with God through our prayers.

The first uses a story about asking a friend for bread in the middle of the night to teach us to be persistent in prayer.  He says the man did not get up and give his friend bread because he was his friend, but because the friend kept asking.  In our prayer life we too are called to be persistent, not because we can nag God into whatever we ask for but because through prayer He transforms us and aligns us with His will.

Jesus then goes on to illustrate that as human parents we know how to give good things to our children.  We do not give evil or bad things to our children but instead give them the ‘fish’ and the ‘egg’ they need for their daily sustenance.  Jesus then says that if we do this for our children out of our human love for them, then imagine how much more God will give us, His children, from His great love.

Sandwiched between these two stories that encourage us to come to God often in prayer is the ask, search, knock passage.  This is not an invitation to ask God for all the desires of our heart.  It is an invitation to a deeper relationship with God.  Jesus is encouraging us to ask, search, and knock so that we will experience the spiritual desires of our heart.  God’s loving response is the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It is through persistent and consistent asking, searching, and knocking that we come to a deeper and more intimate relationship with God.

God so desires an intimate personal relationship with us.  For our part, may we ever ask, search, and knock so that day by day we come to grow closer and closer to God.