<p>11:9 <i>And I say to you: Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you</i>- Jesus likens requesting things from God to a man asking a favour of his friend at midnight (Lk. 11:5,9). We are to see God as <i>our friend</i> to whom like Abraham, we respectfully and rather awkwardly present ourselves. And He sees us as <i>His</i> friends. There's a wonderful mutuality between a man and his God. As noted above, the guaranteed answer of prayers refers to the requests we make for others when we truly do not have the resources to provide for them. And this is true in spiritual terms; for so often we feel utterly lacking in ability to provide for the spiritual needs of those who come to us at midnight.</p><p>The connections with the Sermon on the Mount surely send us back to Mt. 5:42 &quot;Give to him that asks&quot;. The same Greek words are used. Our responsiveness to others will be reflected in God's responsiveness to us. And yet the Lord's style throughout the sermon is to elevate the natural onto a higher, spiritual plane. This is not a blank cheque promise, as is clear from both personal experience and Bible teaching. What we can be utterly assured of being given is God's grace and salvation. The Lord surely foresaw that the initial mental objection to His words would be 'But that's not true I don't get everything I ask for, and neither did many Bible characters'. But He wanted us to therefore think further as to what He might be really saying- and what He is saying is that forgiveness and salvation will surely be given to whoever asks. These things are summarized in Mt. 7:11 as God for sure giving &quot;good things to them that ask Him&quot;. The parallel here in Lk. 11:13 summarizes those &quot;good things&quot; as &quot;the Holy Spirit&quot;.</p>