Persistence in prayer

In today’s Gospel (Luke 11:5-13), our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ encourages his disciples to be persistent and confident in prayer.

And I tell you,
ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

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

What father among you
would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion
when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?

God knows what is good for us without our asking, of course: better than we know ourselves.

Persistence in prayer is necessary, however, not because it changes God’s mind, but because through our honest prayer God changes US.

Also, God gives us what is good, even when we ask for what is bad. To extend our Lord’s metaphor, if a child asks for a scorpion, the father will not give it to him, but rather things that will really benefit him.

Ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.