This passage of scripture teaches us a very important principle of successful prayer and also reveals more about the nature of God as well. Jesus taught His disciples to pray by giving them a model of prayer which today we know as the Lord's Prayer. After sharing with them the model of effective prayer, Jesus addressed the issue of how to pray. Jesus told a story of how a man overcame his friend's initial reluctance to get as much bread he needed.
Jesus started by asking his disciples the question "How many of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight...?" Jesus asked this question to emphasize the point that not many people would, and to show how determined the man was. It was the most inconvenient time to ask anyone for anything. The man continued to show persistence, even when his friend said no - and gave a valid reason too - that he was in bed! If we were to really stop and think this story a little, we could appreciate how persistent this man was. He firstly had go overcome the initial thought in his own mind of whether or not to disturb his friend at midnight. After this he had to overcome the initial denial to his request.
God wants us to be this persistent in prayer to Him as the man was with his friend. He wants us to overcome any doubts or fears we have about coming to Him, and even if His answer is delayed, we must still believe that He will come through for us. Jesus said "Ask, seek, knock..." Furthermore he said  we should keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking, for we will receive what we ask, seek and knock for if we don't give up. At times when praying, it seems to us as if God is not hearing, but He is. The beautiful thing is that the continuous asking/seeking/knocking that God allows us to go through is a process that He uses to mould our character and build our faith. Let me put it like this. Firstly do you think the man would have gone through all that trouble if he thought his friend couldn't help him? No! He knew that his friend was the only person who was able and willing to provide that bread. That's why he didn't give up. If he had any doubts he wouldn't have made such a great effort. In the same way, if we have doubt, fear or unbelief, then we cannot and will not persevere in prayer. We will ask once or twice or for a certain period of time, and then stop if nothing happens. However if we really believe and know that God will answer, then we must not stop until we receive from Him. I must make a quick point here. I don't want to give the impression that God is reluctant to answer prayer, so that we have to keep on asking him. Jesus told this story rather, to show that He is even more willing to give good things to us if we demonstrate the faith that pleases Him.
As I read through this passage of scripture, I was impressed by how much trouble this man went through for his friend who had come to visit him. It says a lot about the man's heart and shows us that we too can love and care for others to the point that we would go out of our way to pray for them and help them in a practical way too. God doesn't just want us to pray for our own needs and desires. We must pray for and assist others also.