She again called on Mr. Ford. "Here's the dime you gave me last year," she said, handing him a coin. Then she told him of the money she had received from his small investment. Mr. Ford was so impressed with her perseverance (that she didn't give up), that in the years that followed, he gave millions of dollars to that school. Today we are going to talk about perseverance like that. We are looking at Luke chapter 11. This whole section is about prayer. Let's look at verse 1. "Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased (stopped), that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."

When you study the life of Christ you see that Jesus was a man of prayer. He talked often with his Father in heaven. We find him praying (1) at his baptism, (2) on the mount of temptation, (3) before his Transfiguration, (4) in the garden the night he was betrayed, and (5) on the cross before he died, to mention but a few occasions.

It was the regular Jewish custom for a Rabbi to teach his disciples a simple prayer which the student might copy or imitate and use habitually. John had done this for his disciples and now Jesus' disciples come asking Him to do the same thing.

(2) "So He said to them, 'When you pray, say: Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. The Jews would call God in a formal way: Ali, my Father, or Abinue, our Father. But Jesus used the ordinary intimate form of the Aramaic word, which children used in addressing their fathers: Abba. Abba is like our English term Daddy or Papa. In Korean it is Appa. As God's child you can come into His presence and address Him personally as Abba, Papa, Appa.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. When we talk with God, it should not just be to tell God what we want, but to ask what God wants for us and then submit ourselves to God's will.

Give us day by day our daily bread, And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one."

(5) "And He said to them,'Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him;'and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give it to you'? I say to you, though he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.' "

Luke  11:9

"So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

In verse 9 there are three levels of prayer: ask, seek and knock. They are easy to remember because they spell the word ASK: a-ask, s-seek, and k-knock.

1. ASK - The simplest and easiest level, of course, is ask. The Scripture is full of things that God will give us immediately and simply for the asking. If we need love, courage, wisdom, forgiveness, power and patience, all we need to do is ask. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally (or generously) and it will be given to him."

2. SEEK- Asking, plus acting - The second level of prayer is to seek. Seeking is not a one time think it is a process. Sometimes my son Benjamin can't find a toy or book he wants. He goes into his room takes one quick glance around the room (it only takes a couple of seconds) and then he runs out and says, "Mom, where's my toy?" But he did not really look for it. He did not really search for it. He did not seek for it. Seeking is more than asking. It is asking plus acting.