The Sermon on the MountSample

Prayer

We must be constantly in prayer. The verbs are in the present continuous tense: "Keep on asking, and it will be given to you" etc. Prayer is a vital part of our daily Christian lives, and we must present our requests to God every day.

However, we must not think that we are dealing with a God who is reluctant and ill-disposed towards us. Insisting in prayer does not serve to overcome the Lord's resistance. Our heavenly Father doesn't respond with some substitute for what we need - He knows how to give good things that are for our good.

Perseverance in prayer reveals what we hold dear (Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Luke 18:1-8). It's not an impulse or a sudden whim, just like a child who asks for something and immediately forgets it and moves on to another request. Jesus has already given important teachings about prayer in Matthew chapter 6, so we already know what the Lord's priorities are, and we take them into account in our prayers.

The parallel passage in Luke 11:13 speaks of the Holy Spirit as God's greatest good gift. In Ephesians 5:18 (NIV) we read that we are to be "filled with the Spirit." The meaning of this expression is that the believer must always be filled with the Spirit. For this reason, it is important to pray constantly that the Spirit fill us every day, so that we can worship the Lord and testify about Him with authority.

• Are you persistent in prayer (Colossians 4:2)?
• When you pray, even for requests that have already been made for some time, do you do it with gratitude?