Every year, High School seniors in my school were in charge of planning Valentine’s Day. The goal was to raise money for the long-awaited senior trip everyone wanted to be a part of. I never got much involved in the planning process of anything, but I remember I was one of their top salesmen. As a part of the school, you could send roses, cards, chocolates, custom gifts, food, and more. We got permission to interrupt every single class in the school to sell everyone’s last chance at love. It was now or never that you could declare your love, or if you were already in a relationship you had to send something. I remember when I got assigned the task of selling. I was energized. I was one of those annoying salesmen that would not leave you alone until you gave them your money. Introverts, extroverts, shy, bold, it didn’t matter… I was going to sell you at the very least a chocolate. There was no way I would give up.

In today’s scripture, the disciples ask Jesus how they are to pray. Seems like a very straightforward answer right? We would probably say it’s simply communicating with God. Jesus of course gives them an illustration of a man asking for bread. Jesus even goes as far as to describe this man as shamelessly audacious. This man would not give up on anything until he would succeed in his goal of getting bread. This is what God is teaching the disciples that prayer is. It is an unwavering asking. Knock, knock, and keep on knocking.

I believe one of the main things that we can learn about prayer from Jesus’ illustration is that prayer requires consistency. I don’t know if you’ve ever prayed for healing, but it usually doesn’t happen instantaneously. It can, but sometimes it takes time and a lot of prayers. Ask and it will be given to you is not a magic wand that you can shake into the air and whatever you ask for will appear out of nowhere. No, most of the time it looks like constantly striving in the same direction while acknowledging that it’s God’s grace that will open the door and finally give you that awaited bread. So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it immediately, if it is God’s will it is probably closer than it has ever been.