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NASB | Luke 11:8 "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 11:8 "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence and boldness he will get up and give him whatever he needs. |
Subject: Is it by works or by grace? |
Bible Note: Hello McGracer I agree with Kango. You only have to pray once asking for what you want. You should, however, constantly pray in thanksgiving, thanking the Lord for all the blessings in your life. Gal 6:7 says " Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." So in order to reap a harvest, we should sow seeds, a lot of them. Mark 4:3-9 says Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Not all our seeds bear fruit, as you can see from above. Which is why it takes persistence while sowing and tending to continue in the face of obstacles. The above scripture strictly refers to sowing the gospel, but I believe is equally valid for any sowing of seeds. If I am off in my interpretation, please let me know. Tending involves setting the right environment for your seeds to grow. Maybe by pulling out weeds. What we can NOT do is to grow the seeds. God grows the seeds. Only He can grow the seeds. With all the knowledge in the world, we can not grow any seed. Mark 4:26-27 says 26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. So we don't know how anything grows. Only God does. We then reap the harvest. My understanding is as follows: 1. We sow the seeds 2. We tend the seeds. 3. God grows the seeds 4. We reap the harvest. I believe the persistence mentioned in your reference was the persistence of action and not giving up, not the persistence of asking. I guess what is confusing is that in this case the persistence of action involved asking again and again. Hope that helps. GeeVee |