Morning Bible Study: Luke 11:5-13

Ask, Search, Knock

5 He also said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 

6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ 

7 Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 

8 I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 

10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 

12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Commentary

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)

"Christ encourages fervency and constancy in prayer. We must come for what we need, as a man does to his neighbor or friend, who is kind to him. We must come for bread; for that which is needful. If God does not answer our prayers speedily, yet he will in due time, if we continue to pray. 

Observe what to pray for; we must ask for the Holy Spirit, not only as necessary in order to our praying well, but as all spiritual blessings are included in that one. For by the influences of the Holy Spirit we are brought to know God and ourselves, to repent, believe in, and love Christ, and so are made comfortable in this world, and meet for happiness in the next. All these blessings our heavenly Father is more ready to bestow on every one that asks for them, than an indulgent parent is to give food to a hungry child. And this is the advantage of the prayer of faith, that it quiets and establishes the heart in God."