Luke 11:8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your SHAMELESS AUDACITY he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”

I came across this verse in my devotions the other night and the phrase “Shameless Audacity” jumped off the page and hit me between the eyes. For several days, that phrase kept coming back to me as I pondered and prayed into what God was trying to teach me.

Let’s look at a few verses before and after to get a better understanding of what’s going on.

Luke 11:5-10: “Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your SHAMELESS AUDACITY he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

When asked how to pray, Jesus gave the disciples an illustration about a man needing food because of an unexpected guest. When I first read the friend’s response, I thought, “Wow, some friend… sounds kinda rude.” Then I took into account that he would have lived in a one room house which meant his floor was probably littered with sleeping children. In order to get up to get the bread, he would have to awaken the entire household, which would probably disturb the entire neighborhood. The friend wasn’t being lazy or inhospitable, but trying to be considerate of his family and neighbors.

Jesus tells the disciples that you won’t get what you need from your friend because of friendship, but because of your shameless audacity. Other versions translate shameless audacity as: “persistence and boldness” (AMP), “shameless persistence” (NLT), “shamelessness” (DARBY), and “not ashamed to keep on asking” (CEV).

If a person is shameless, they’re not worried about how they will look or what people will think of them. If they’re audacious, they’re doing something boldly, with the expectation of getting the results they anticipate. They live life out loud with unembarrassed boldness.

The man in the story was not ashamed to run over to his friend’s house and express his need. With confidence and boldness, he had the audacity to bang on the door in the middle of the night expecting to get exactly what he needed. What about the woman with the issue of blood? Having lived in constant shame for 12 years, she made the decision to ignore those feelings. She brazenly pushed through the crowd to get to Jesus, confident that she would be healed if she could just touch the hem of His garment.

We can come to God with that same shameless audacity, not because of anything we have done, but because of who He is and what He has done. Our God is approachable, gracious, merciful, compassionate, loving, and kind. We can go into His presence at any time and we won’t be disturbing or interrupting Him (even if it’s the middle of the night 😉 ).

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV): “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence (boldness), so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Need. That’s another word that jumped out at me several times throughout these verses. Jesus didn’t teach the disciples that if they asked, seeked, and knocked for whatever they wanted, they would get it. Look again at our main verse:

Luke 11:8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your SHAMELESS AUDACITY he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”

These passages are not about a genie in a bottle type of God that is sitting around waiting to grant our every wish and demand. They’re about a personable and approachable God that desires us to come to Him with certainty in our heart that He will (and wants to!) meet all of our needs. Why? Because He is a good, good Father.

How about you? Are you praying, praising, and telling others about Jesus with shameless audacity? Are you living life out loud with unembarrassed boldness?

It’s not too late to start…