Never Accept ‘no’ For An Answer Series

Luke 11: 5 – 13

Never Accept ‘No’ For An Answer

5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

The apostle Matthew commented on part of what Luke recorded, so let’s take a look at his version.

Matthew 7:7-11, 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

Without looking at your bibles, do you remember what we studied in our last Scripture passages? We went over what many refer to as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. In review, the disciples were moved when they saw our Lord step away to commune in prayer with Adoni Yahweh, our Father God. They wanted to be able to do the same thing. In verses 1 through 4 our Lord taught them the pattern in how they should also communicate with Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High.

Now as the Great Teacher that He Is, He gave them a story. Please note that it is not a Parable, which is a story that has a hidden meaning. Here our Lord gives His disciples a story to drive home the point how Great, Merciful, and Gracious our Precious Holy Father Is.

5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

An important area that I have personally experienced and have counseled many individual’s about is the situation of having a ‘friend’. Have you ever experienced a so called ‘friend’ that has let you down? You know, there have been different occasions where you needed this person in your life, and to a large degree, he or she betrayed you?

Well, hold on to your seats for a moment. If this has happen to you, the problem was not the other person, but was your fault. I know this statement does not have your feeling all warm and fuzzy.

You see our problem is one of ‘expectations.’ What we did incorrectly was to place this person in our minds as being a ‘friend’, when in reality, he or she is just an ‘acquaintance’. Yes, we may even spend a lot of time with these people, weather it be work, church, or in social events. Put the key problem is that we put them in the category of friend when they never in their hearts thought the same about us. So, when some difficulty or unique situation came about, we expected these people to be there for us, and they didn’t. We were hurt for their apparent failure. Do you see my point? If you are able to actually find one or two good real friend’s in your lifetime then you are blessed.