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One of the most beautiful words in the human language is the word “yes.” Whenever a young man summons enough courage to ask a young lady to be his bride, there is only one word he wants hear: “yes!” When you apply for a job, you want to hear, “yes, you’re hired.” When you apply for a home mortgage, you want to hear, “yes, you’ve been approved.”
Most of you have probably heard that God answers our prayers in one of three ways: Yes,
No, or Wait. I believe that this is a wise way of looking at prayer but today we’re going to look only at the first answer. Honestly, when you say that God answered your prayers you mean that he said “Yes!” You don’t mean he said “No!” And when Jesus taught about prayer in the Gospels he encouraged his followers to pray expecting a “yes” answer.
2 Corinthians 1:20
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Herbert Lockyer wrote a book entitled, All the Promises in the Bible, in which he there are
7,457 promises of God found in the Bible! And our text tells us that Jesus is the “yes” to every single promise of God. That’s 7,457 times the Bible says, “Yes!” So, how can we get the “Yes” answer to our prayers?
Luke 11:5-13
 1. God says “yes” to bold prayers (5-8)
The way Jesus teaches this is through a parable. A man is visited unexpectedly by a friend at his home in the middle of the night. In the Middle East, a guest in the home is like having God in the home. Lack of provision is unthinkable.
Now he isn’t going to just feed his guest bread. He’s going to place a variety of dishes before him and the guest will use his bread as a utensil. As he eats he will break off bitesized pieces and dip them in the dishes. That’s the way they ate – so bread is essential!
But he doesn’t have bread. Even if he has all the other dishes, how can one eat without bread? It’s like not having utensils to eat with. So he goes over to his neighbor’s house to ask for help. Now as he seeks his neighbor’s help, who is also a friend, but it’s late. His children are in bed. But eventually he will help his neighbor feed his guest. Why? v. 8
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I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
It appears that he will help his friend because of his persistence, but there is actually more to it than that. The neighbor’s reputation is also on the line with his friend.
Boldness = shamelessness or audacity. He is being improper in asking for something so late at night. However, there is an aspect to the culture of that time that we need to understand. A guest in one man’s home is considered a guest of the village. If he is mistreated by one man, he is mistreated by the whole village. And so, the neighbor who complains that it’s late will also be seen as shameless or audacious if he doesn’t help his friend.
So when we pray, we come boldly to the Lord. We don’t need to be afraid of bothering him or thinking that he won’t want to hear about our problems or petitions. There are needs to be met in your family or in our church or in your life and the only one who
 can meet those needs is the Lord. His reputation is on the line along with ours, so he encourages us to come to him boldly.
Hebrews 4:15-16 we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. 16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
 2. God says “yes” to persistent prayers. (9-10)
Notice the growing intensity of these prayers as Jesus presents them. Ask… seek… knock.
Imagine you are looking for someone – let’s say it’s your long lost friend from high school.
The first step is to ask around from people who might know him and where he lives, what he’s doing, how you might locate him. Now that might satisfy your curiosity but if you are really interested in finding that friend, you take the address that you were able to get, look on a map, get in the car and start driving to that town and that street address. You finally find his house and you might be satisfied with that, you might have seen him driving into the garage, and walking into the house after work. But if you want to complete your goal, you walk up to the front door and knock. You hear the TV on. You saw him come home.
No one answers. You keep on knocking. Still no one. Do you go home? Do you leave?
No! You keep on knocking until your friend comes to the door.
The intention of this saying is “keep on asking,” “keep on seeking,” “keep on knocking”
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until you get the answer. You simply are not to give up. Giving up would be like walking away from the friend’s house after knocking three times.
 Luke 18:1 (the persistent widow)
Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
 3. God says “yes” to prayers that are his will.
What should you ask for? What should you seek after? What door should you knock on?
This is absolutely key to our prayers because so many times we might ask, seek, and knock but it’s not according to the thinking of God but according to our own selfishness.
James 4:3
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
 1 John 5:14
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
 Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
As we commit ourselves fully to God we are better positioned to know his will. But also,
God has already revealed a lot of his will in the Scripture! Many of our prayers are completely confirmed in the Bible and so certain prayers we can KNOW are God’s will.
What are some of those prayers?
 Salvation of the lost.
1 Timothy 2:4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Every one of us ought to keep on praying and seeking and knocking for each person we know who is lost. Never give up! God won’t force someone to repent but through your prayers he certainly will cause things to happen that will lead in that direction. To the day you die you should never stop praying for the lost.
 Victory over temptation.
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In the Lord’s Prayer we are to ask for that: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Are you daily seeking God’s deliverance from the temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil? If you don’t you are not taking advantage of one of the key weapons God has given us. It’s essentially saying, “I don’t need God’s help to fight spiritual battles – I’m strong enough on my own.” Nobody on earth can say that! We are all vulnerable.
 Godly living.
1 Peter 2:15-17 it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of
God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
1 Thessalonians 4:3
It is God's will that you should be sanctified
 Daily needs.
Again, let’s go back to the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” It’s God’s will to provide for our daily needs. It doesn’t matter how poor we are, we can know that God somehow will provide. It doesn’t mean that you’ll be eating steaks and sitting by the pool but God gives just what we need.
 Wisdom.
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Pray that God would give us wisdom to make godly decisions – those which are pleasing in his sight, which will bring him glory. Wisdom comes from above and this is a prayer that will always be answered by God.
2 Chronicles 1:7-12 (Solomon asks for wisdom)
That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." 8 Solomon answered God, "You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. 9 Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father
David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?" 11 God said to Solomon, "Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of
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your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have."
 4. God says “yes” to prayers for the Holy Spirit. (11-13)
The boy asks for a fish – this isn’t a fish for your fish tank. This is a fish to eat. The son is hungry and is asking his Daddy for food. The same applies to the egg. It’s nothing unusual.
We’re not talking about Christmas or Birthday gifts but simply providing food on the table.
Now even the worst fathers are going to feed their own kids. And so also, the Lord God our heavenly Father is never going to give to us things that are be bad for us. He only wants our best.
The thing is, we often accuse God of giving us bad things. Sometimes we ask “why” with an accusatory tone. We don’t really want an answer the “why,” we really just want to complain and sometimes even blame God. Instead of blaming him, we ought to seek from him the number one request that is most needed by every one of us, the best gift, and the best thing that God can give us. He tells us in verse 13: the Holy Spirit.
It is through the Holy Spirit that we have faith and trust in God. It is through the Holy
Spirit that we are convicted of our sin and repent, turning to God. It is through the Holy
Spirit that we grow in our faith and produce spiritual fruit. Yes, as believers we have the
Holy Spirit – he dwells in each of us from the moment of our conversion. And yet Jesus tells us to pray for the Holy Spirit. What does that mean?
 Pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18b “ be filled with the Spirit ,” is a repeated action. Be filled over and over and over again so that the Spirit will lead, inspire, strengthen, protect, teach, and bless you. Pray that the Holy Spirit would fill you every day! Start the day off with this request. God’s answer will always be “YES!”
 We should also respond to God with our “YES!” “Fill me with the Holy Spirit; yes, to your will; use me as you see fit.”
There is nothing any one of us need more in life than the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s the number one key in living the life God has called you to. Pray for it. Pray daily!
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