The request that opens this passage is honest and simple. Jesus has been praying in a certain place, and when he finishes a disciple says, 1"Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." What Jesus gives them is short enough to memorize in one sitting and deep enough to shape a lifetime. It begins with a single word: 2"Father." Before the prayer asks for anything, Jesus invites his followers into the relationship he himself has with God.
The order matters. The prayer looks up before it looks in. 2"Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come." God's glory and God's reign come first, ahead of any personal request. Only then does it turn to need, 3"Give us each day our daily bread," provision measured one day at a time and not stockpiled. Forgiveness follows, tied to how the one praying has already treated others, since 4"we ourselves forgive everyone" who owes us. It closes with an honest admission, 4"lead us not into temptation," that we cannot be trusted to walk through every trial alone.
Jesus then tells a story about a man who wakes his friend at midnight to borrow bread for an unexpected guest. The friend refuses, 7"the door is now shut." But Jesus says he will get up anyway, 8"because of his impudence." The Greek word means something close to shamelessness, and it points to honor. In a village, a guest was everyone's responsibility, and a neighbor who refused to help would have been shamed by the whole community. That worry matters to the sleepy friend as much as his rest does.
The point is a contrast. God is not a reluctant neighbor who has to be worn down. If a half-asleep friend can be moved to act in keeping with his own character, how much more will a good Father, who needs no shame and no nagging to move him at all.
That is why the promise follows. 9"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Each of the three verbs is a present command in Greek, which carries the sense of keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. This is a promise about the character of the one being asked.
Jesus closes with a picture every parent in the crowd understood. 11"What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?" No decent parent mocks a hungry child with something dangerous. And if flawed human fathers give good gifts, 13"how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" In a parallel passage Matthew says "good things." Luke names the best one.
See how quickly your own prayers go straight to requests. Begin where Jesus begins, with the Father's name and kingdom, then bring what you need with a child's confidence, and keep asking. The best gift is already promised to you.
Prayer
Father, teach us to pray as your Son taught his first disciples, beginning with your name and your kingdom before our own needs. Give us the persistence of the man at midnight and the confidence of a child who trusts a good father. Give us, above every other gift we could ask, your own Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.