Luke 11:5-11

THE SHAMELESS PRAYER

Luke 11:5-11. “ And He said unto them, Which one of you shall have a friend, and he shall come to you at midnight, and say to thee, Friend, lend me three loaves, since my friend has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing which I may place before him; and he within, responding, may say, Give me no trouble; the door is already shut, and my children are in bed with me; I am not able, having risen up, to give unto you. I say unto you, If, having risen up, he will not give unto him because he is his friend, truly, on account of his shamelessness, having risen, he will give him as many as he needs.” You are a little surprised that this traveler does not stop for lodging till midnight. In Palestine and other Oriental countries, especially in the tropical and semitropical climates, it is customary to travel in the night, and lie up during the heat of the day. The English rendering, “ importunity,” is too weak. The Word used by the Savior is anaideia, from a, the strongest negative, and aideia, “shame.” Hence the straight, lexical definition of anaideia is “shamelessness;” so beautifully, naturally, and vividly illustrated by the man corning at midnight, when all are fast asleep, muscles relaxed and nerves unstrung, lying in their beds under the heavy grip of old Somnus. He knocks at the door till he awakens the father of the family, and tells him his business a friend stopped to lodge, hungry and weary, and he has nothing to give him to eat. Hence he appeals to him to loan him three loaves till he can replace them. The man is so tired, lazy, and sleepy that he peremptorily refuses, giving quite a train of excuses, doing his utmost to repulse the man, so he will go away and let him sleep, as rising will wake the babies, which will probably cry the balance of the night. The man persists, importunately pleading, getting worse and worse, till he passes the shame line, and becomes desperate, roaring like a lion, driving away all their sleep, jumping like a kangaroo, and banging at the door as if he would knock it down. Such is the attitude of the man that nothing can be said to him calculated to effect the slightest conciliatory influence. Having passed the boundary of shame, he is simply reckless and intolerable. They are bound to get rid of him or be annoyed all night, every wink of sleep driven away. There is absolutely but one way to rid themselves of the unbearable nuisance, and that is, to get up and give him the bread. Of course, the man does it; gets rid of the disturber, lies down, and enjoys ambrosial slumber the remnant of the night.

Now what is the meaning of this? Our Savior is a plain Preacher, and at the same time the most profound the world ever saw. This is His own illustration of prevailing prayer, whether for yourself or for others. You must reach the point of shamelessness i. e., get to where you care for nothing and nobody; but open your mouth, and plead as a guilty culprit for his life, or a woman for her child. In a ministry of forty-six years, I have seen this constantly verified. When mourners at the altar pass the limit of all shame, and get so they do their own praying, with wide-open mouths, regardless of the learned clergy, royalty, or nobility, something wonderful always happens. Sunbursts from heaven sweep down and light up the scene with superhuman glory; rivers from the heavenly ocean find their way down, and roll over the congregation in billows of love, grace, and glory; hardened sinners sweep triumphantly in, to life, old backsliders are gloriously reclaimed, weak believers powerfully sanctified, saints filled with the Holy Ghost, people on all sides speaking with new tongues, jubilant pilgrims leaping and shouting as if they would fly away to heaven, and the whole community shaken with a wonderful spiritual earthquake. Do not forget this shameless prayer. It is the heavenly fuse, that reaches and fires the celestial dynamite. It forever sweeps away all quibble about public prayer and testimony. As shame is the devil's padlock, with which he locks up the mouth of saint and sinner, closing the draught; so, in the case of the former, the celestial fire will soon go out, and in the case of the latter, will never be able to kindle the heavenly flame in his heart, which alone can consume all sin. If you want a truly Pentecostal Church, you have nothing to do but lead the people beyond the limitude of Satan's shame, so they will all throw their mouths open, and clamor aloud for just what they want. God and His salvation must have the pre-eminence, or hell is wide open and coming to meet us. From the inception of conviction to the altitudes of glorification, you will find it utterly impossible to serve God with reserves. He will have the whole heart or none. The tongue is the exponent of the heart, always going along with it. Hence, dumbness and cowardice are two of the devil's adamantine chains, with which he binds his victims and drags them into the burning pit. O that Churches and preachers could only learn the secret of the shameless prayer, here specified by the Savior!

“ And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given unto you.” Why is there so much asking and so little receiving? It is because they do not ask in a shameless prayer, caring neither for men nor devils, criticism nor persecution, but making their petition an absolute sine qua non. “ Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that seeketh, findeth; and he that asketh, receiveth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.” God is absolutely infallible. The only reason why there is ever a defalcation is because the shameless prayer is delinquent. Half- hearted petitions never rise above your head. Good Lord, inspire that shameless prayer in your heart and mine!