Jesus on Prayer - "Even You"

Some of my favorite of Jesus' teachings focus on prayer. He taught us to pray to our Heavenly Father (Matt. 6:9), in His name (John 14:13-14) for the things that we need, and also to give thanks to God for what we receive. At least three times Jesus uses examples which I like to call the "even you" passages. In essence, Jesus says even we know what it means to be asked for something and to respond to the request - even if it is not convenient. The moral of these stories is that if even we know how to do this, then how much more so will God do it, who loves us perfectly and has all power? Here are the references:

Matthew 7
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Even we, in our imperfect state, know what it means to give a good gift to our children - how much better can God do than us? The next passage expands the idea:

Luke 11
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

In this passage, the person asked for the favor did not want to help; he was in bed, and it would be a bother to get up and help his friend. The fact that the men are friends is not enough to get him up; however, because of the petitioner's insistence ("importunate" means "troublesomely urgent: overly persistent in request or demand"), the friend eventually gets up and grants the request. Again, the moral of the story is, if even this guy was willing to help his friend when it was inconvenient, how much more willing and able will our Heavenly Father be to answer our petitions, if we have faith and trust in him? And finally, the last passage:

Luke 18
1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;

5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

Here we encounter a character even worse than the friend in bed. Jesus frames the parable to show that the only reason why the judge ended up helping the widow was because she kept asking. The first thing to notice is that the woman she asked was a widow, which (I imagine) in the context already put her in a state of relative disadvantage when making petitions. Second, the judge didn't fear God - apparently this meant that he wasn't afraid that God would punish him for not doing his duty; he lived for himself. Lastly, he didn't "regard man," which I guess means either he wasn't easily persuaded or that he didn't have a powerful enemy who someone could use to get him to do something. In sum, the judge had no personal reason to help the widow. However, "because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." He was just so sick of her coming and asking for help that he was willing to do what she wanted just to get rid of her. Again, the teaching is that if even this lousy judge would respond to a request for help, how much more will our Father in Heaven, who is perfect, respond to our prayers?

I know that God hears our prayers and answers them as we pray in faith.

(For more on prayer, see also: the entry on prayer in the LDS Bible Dictionary and on the LDS website.)