The theme here is, of course, prayer: "Ask…seek…knock…", and the context is confidence. Ask in the full confidence that your Father hears and will answer.

Yet, in this very context Jesus introduces the theme of importunity Ð the neighbor who, because of your insistence, will rise from his bed and give you the bread you need (vss. 5-8).

Often verses 5-8 are understood as a contrast to the manner in which the Father answers prayer: if your friend, who might be disinclined to answer your request because of inconvenience, will yet respond for your insistence, how much more will our Father respond to our requests, when there is in Him no disinclination, no unwillingness to answer? Undoubtedly, this is an accurate evaluation of the text.

But that doesn't change the fact that these verses speak of importunity.

In prayer, it matters to the Lord that it matter to us.

Just as in Proverbs 2, where we read that the one who receives, hides, inclines his to, applies his heart toward, cries after and seeks for wisdom will find it, so here in Luke Jesus tells us that prayer is essentially a matter of the heart, and God is glorified in answering those prayers which are lifted up to Him not as a matter of obligation or formality but as an expression of genuine desire. Proverbs 25:2 states: "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." Again, the principle of God revealing Himself, His purposes, His plan or provision, to those to whom it most matters, to those who hunger and thirst to know. There is little in these verses for the one who is passive toward God and His word.

The essence of friendship is communion, and the key to communion is communication. In an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus, it matters that we are listening, paying attention to what He says, not indifferent to Him but hungrily desirous to hear what He is saying, to learn what He is teaching.

Prayer is set before us in this passage with that kind of desire. David said, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." Essentially, David says here, "I would rather not live, than in go on in a world in which God doesn't answer prayer." Pray mattered to David, and he poured his heart out in a whole book of supplications and praises that are still a blessing and help to us today.

So now we come back to that opening phrase, "Knock and it shall be opened". What are asking the Lord to open? I would like to invite you to ask the Lord for open doors in the Circle of Silence. Ask for and capture God's heart of urgency for this desperately needy region. Here is some information to motivate prayer:

• Atotonilco is 474 years old. The Good News has been preached here for less than 10 years.
• In the city itself, with some 31,000 people, Atotonilco had a percentage of only 0.3% evangelical believers in the census in 2000. Now, based on a rough calculation, the percentage of believers is twice that: 0.6%. The median age is 21 years old and the largest single age group is 10 to 14 years old.
• Arandas, with 76,000 people in the municipality, has two small churches, each with membership of less than 30. A total of 92 people in this county identify themselves as evangelicals. There is not one full time worker in this entire region of 1179 sq. km.
• 36,500 people live in the municipality of Jiquilpan, Michoacan, 271 of whom are believers.
• Of the 40,000 people among the 89 cities, towns and villages of Loreto, Zacatecas, only 73 people claim to be believers, virtually all of them living in the city of Loreto. This is the city where God is using Marcial, a blind man, to raise up a congregation that now has 40 adults.

I know I run the risk of overwhelming you with statistics, some of which may seem discouraging. I'm willing to run that risk to challenge you to make this matter. In 2005, Mexico will again collect national census information. How much different will these statistics be then? Join with a team of intercessors and recruit others to pray for the six states that make up the Circle of Silence.

"It is time for thee, Lord, to work…" Ps. 119:126