Luke 11:5-8 is a further explanation of the Lord’s Prayer “Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him,  ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’  And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’  But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.”

The obvious emphasis is the persistence in asking, seeking and knocking: not giving up easily on your request before God but against all odds, continously pursuing your desire request before God. More like against hope believing in hope like Abraham is described to have done in Romans 4:18 “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.”. Tenacity is the word but tenacity in what, is the underlining truth in that scripture above.

The man who went to meet his neighbor for three loaves of bread did not do so for himself but for some one else. The prayer was selfless. The request for bread was for a friend who came visiting. It was not the neighbor himself. It was not a me, myself and I request. It was for someone else.

So can we safely say that the neighbor’s persistent request for bread for a visiting friend was what got the other neighbor to respond? Put in another way, is it tenacity at selflessness that ensures answers to prayer? James 4:3 says “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”

So it is not enough to spend hours, days and years praying about a matter but the matter must be selfless; about another/ other people’s needs and problems.

Could we shift the focus of our prayers from ourselves to others for a change? Maybe…just maybe, answers will come .