Luke 11:5-13
New International Version (NIV)
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Whoa, whoa, whoa... back. the. truck. up.
For the past... oh, thirty-three years or so, I've thought that verses eleven and twelve talked about how the Lord gives good gifts to those that ask him. In fact, it's a little ironic that I reflected on these verses just today. I was feeding Brennan supper, and Jess was gone to band practice, and I started thinking how fun it would be to see his little face light up if I gave him some orange sherbet. So I did, and it did, and it was great fun, and I thought, "If we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father give good gifts to those who ask Him."
Well, that's not what it says, now, is it? What it says is, "how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him"! It compares the Spirit with those great, beaming-smile-producing gifts you give your kids! In my mind, that's huge. I don't know why I'm only now beginning to see how jam-packed the gospels are with references to the Spirit and His power in our lives.
Also, I think it's interesting that this teaches us to ask for the Spirit. I think we have a tendency to think of the Spirit's entrance into our lives as happening at baptism, per Acts 2:38, and from that point He's just kind of... there. But it seems to me that we can be granted more and more of the Spirit's presence in our lives, and I think too that His presence grows as we get rid of more and more of the sins of our hearts and allow Him more and more room.
I, for one, intend to start praying fervently for more of the good gift of the Spirit in my life. Yay... it's like Christmas morning here!
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Whoa, whoa, whoa... back. the. truck. up.
For the past... oh, thirty-three years or so, I've thought that verses eleven and twelve talked about how the Lord gives good gifts to those that ask him. In fact, it's a little ironic that I reflected on these verses just today. I was feeding Brennan supper, and Jess was gone to band practice, and I started thinking how fun it would be to see his little face light up if I gave him some orange sherbet. So I did, and it did, and it was great fun, and I thought, "If we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father give good gifts to those who ask Him."
Well, that's not what it says, now, is it? What it says is, "how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him"! It compares the Spirit with those great, beaming-smile-producing gifts you give your kids! In my mind, that's huge. I don't know why I'm only now beginning to see how jam-packed the gospels are with references to the Spirit and His power in our lives.
Also, I think it's interesting that this teaches us to ask for the Spirit. I think we have a tendency to think of the Spirit's entrance into our lives as happening at baptism, per Acts 2:38, and from that point He's just kind of... there. But it seems to me that we can be granted more and more of the Spirit's presence in our lives, and I think too that His presence grows as we get rid of more and more of the sins of our hearts and allow Him more and more room.
I, for one, intend to start praying fervently for more of the good gift of the Spirit in my life. Yay... it's like Christmas morning here!
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