The Holy Spirit is a gift that has been sent to us to help us in prayer.
Look at Matthew 7:9-11 (NLT): “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”
My kids look to me to provide for them, it is a gift to them. When I come back from a trip, my kids look for gifts from dad. Recently, before leaving on a trip to Ireland, my youngest daughter asked me to bring her back a snow globe – she loves to collect them. Of course I returned to Iowa with a snow globe! I searched most of Northern Ireland to find it.
I am their dad, and they love it when I give gifts to them, and provide for them. And they know how much I love them by the ways that I provide for them. The more they look to me for that love, and find it, the more they trust in me as their dad. This relationship with my kids helps me to understand this verse - let’s read it from Luke’s Gospel.
Luke 11:11-13 (NLT): “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
The context of Luke 11 is Jesus teaching on prayer. He is saying that when we pray for the Father’s provision, that His provision is good, and the more that He provides for us, the more that we will trust Him as our Father.
Did you notice the difference between the wording in these two passages? In Luke it says that our Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. In Matthew it says that our Father will give good gifts to them that ask Him. To me, Matthew’s version makes more sense because he is initially talking about giving good gifts.
With Luke’s gospel we could ask…What if we weren’t asking for the Holy Spirit, what if we were asking God the Father for something else? The answer to this question unfolds the reason why God sent the Holy Spirit to us.
For example, what if something tragic happened to someone close to you, and you asked God for comfort. God the Father doesn’t just give you comfort, He sends the Holy Spirit who is the comforter. What if you were asking for help? Our Father doesn’t just send help, He sends the Holy Spirit who is the helper.
Maybe you ask for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control. The Father doesn’t just give you these things; He gives you the Holy Spirit who makes all of these things a reality in your life.
This is the great promise to us in prayer; we ask God for gifts in prayer, and He gives us the gift giver, we ask God for supply, and He gives us the source.
With the Holy Spirit you don’t just get the snow globe; you get the snow globe manufacturer – wouldn’t my daughter love that!
Daniel Winn
Cedar Rapids Family Church
No comments:
Post a Comment