Keep Asking - The One Year Salt and Light Devotional

Luke 11:9-10

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9)

JESUS EMPHASIZED PERSISTENCE. He told his followers to ask and keep on asking. He gave them illustrations of a pesky neighbor at midnight (Luke 11:5-8) and a tenacious widow playing the squeaky wheel (Luke 18:1-8). He promised the disciples repeatedly that if they were united with him in identity and purpose, they could ask anything, and it would be done for them (John 14:13-14; 15:7, 16; 16:23-24). His repeated promises come across as a plea to pester the Father with requests. Jesus gave them the impression that God’s work in this world hinged on their willingness to requisition his help in fulfilling their mission.

These promises have not expired. Each of us is in partnership with God, standing between heaven and earth to requisition his provision for a world in need. He gave the first human beings dominion over the world, but they lost it (or at least a healthy version of it), and Jesus won it back. He now hands the keys of the Kingdom over to his followers, promising again and again to answer their prayers. For whatever reason, God has arranged his work in this world to be accomplished through human agency. When no worthy human could be found, God clothed himself in flesh to reinstitute the calling (Isaiah 59:16; 63:5). He accomplished the role we were originally designed to fulfill, then handed us the keys to continue fulfilling it. And he insisted that we ask—and ask some more.

Don’t waste this open invitation. Many people pray for a day or two, or even a month or two, and then give up because they have seen no signs of an answer. Meanwhile, those who plant seeds of prayer persistently see them growing up into fruitfulness months, years, even decades down the road. That’s because prayer is a lifestyle, not a drive-thru window or an ATM transaction. It is relational, conversational, and lasting. Those who persist see his Kingdom coming and become agents of God’s provision in this world.

{Father, may I not grow weary in works or in the prayers I present to you. Align my heart with your purposes, and reward my persistence with fruitfulness. May your Kingdom come—today, tomorrow, and always. Amen.