Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “Perseverance in Prayer” and is found in Luke 11:5-13. This lesson text continues the theme of prayer from last week’s lesson.
Prayer usually involves a request of God to act on a petition. Immediately after Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, He added an additional request that they should make. The request that is referred to is for the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit in salvation is not the topic of this lesson.
Just how important is His role to salvation is reflective of the fact that Jesus makes a point for His followers to make a request of the Father for the Spirit. Additionally, Jesus wants His disciples to know that the Holy Spirit is a gift the Father wants to give to His children.
He dramatizes this my pointing out how people can act favorably to others when they are asked of others for things that they need even if it is not always convenient. Jesus makes the point that people are not naturally good, but evil. Yet, being evil, they still are capable of doing good things to and for one another.
He then asks us to reason how much more will God, who is not evil, do more than men who are evil, for those who love Him. Receiving the Holy Spirit is arguably the single most important gift God can give to mankind and we can receive. Yet, God will not force this gift upon us.
Furthermore, He knows when we are ready to receive such a gift. Jesus said we should request it. Like all petitions of prayer, we must wait on God to answer our prayers in the matter and time He chooses. God knows best what we need and desire. He knows how things will change and influence us.
We may petition God for this or that and think such and such will be the result if the petition is answered the way we want it to be answered. However, God is in a better position to know the results of granting a particular request than we are. Perseverance, consistently asking for the same thing, can demonstrate how much something means to us.
People sometimes go through stages when we think we want or need this or that. This is why if we really are serious about any request in prayer, God will know it and our perseverance will demonstrate it. Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
