Jesus' teachings today are the need for persistence and discernment. To highlight his point, He uses imagery based upon our own human experience of relationships - whether as neighbours or a parent to a child. God relates in a similar fashion but treats us more deservingly. Attention should be paid when our persistence in prayer is leaning to our own needs. It is then that we must consider whether what we ask of God is truly what God actually desires for us! It is not as if God has to be begged, cajoled and flattered in order for him to hear our prayer, although, there are some devotions in the Church that might lead one to think so!

The need for persistence has more to do with our need to discern whether we are aligning our will with God's will. It is for this reason that Jesus ends our passage today by saying that our heavenly Father will ultimately give to those who pray to him the gift of His Holy Spirit - the Spirit that unites our will to that of the Father. While we may have many personal requests to make to God, including the healing of the sick, or for finding our way out of a difficult situation, the gift we ultimately should seek for is the spirit of wisdom which will enable us to discern God's will for us and to embrace it.