Jesus wants us to ask earnestly, repeatedly, and desperately for things that are truly good for us, things we truly need. He tells us God is an extravagantly generous Father who loves to give those things. Here’s Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount teaching on prayer:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus adds a twist:
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)
So Jesus invites us to ask for the Holy Spirit? Ask if you dare!
I used to think this was awkward, or possibly mistaken. I preferred the generic “good things” in Matthew. To ask for the Holy Spirit seemed out of keeping with my doctrinal understanding and foreign to my experience. As a child of God, I have the Spirit. How can I get more of him than I have?
Scripture tells me I do have the Holy Spirit (all of Him) and can’t lose him. He doesn’t come and go or wax and wane in me. But Ephesians 5:18 tells me to be filled with the Spirit, in preference to getting drunk with wine. The Spirit is like alcohol in this way: His effect in me can be more or less, depending on how much I “drink.” God wants me to drink deeply of the Spirit, because the Spirit is all about life in God and life with God.
I’m not sure I know how to drink of the Spirit, but I sure want to. If it’s O.K. to be drunk on the Spirit, I want that.
Here’s my prayer: I want to be filled and led and controlled by the Spirit. I want to be convicted, corrected and sanctified by him. I want to be taught and trained by him. I want to be empowered by him for love and ministry. I want my heart to be set on fire by the Spirit. I want to drink deeply of the Spirit. Father, give me the Holy Spirit!
I’m asking something like this every day now – earnestly, repeatedly, desperately. It’s truly a good gift I’m asking for – the greates
t of gifts! It’s a gift I truly need. I know my Father would love to give this to me. Something’s going to happen, though I don’t know what it will look like. I’m just waiting for the living waters inside me to flow like a flood.