“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” (Luke 11:13 NLT).
Does God give good gifts when we ask? Can we trust His response to our prayers? If we give ourselves fully to Him in prayer, will He test us with things we don’t want and take away things that we do?
Jesus answered these implied questions by asking His own: “If a son asks any father among you for bread, or fish, or eggs, will he give a rock for bread, a serpent for fish, or a scorpion for an egg?” (Luke 11:11-12).
I’m sure His hearers must’ve responded with laughter at the ridiculous imagery of His rhetorical questions. “Certainly not!” They no doubt replied.
Jesus taught us to ask, seek, and knock in prayer expecting the Father to answer. We need not worry whether such persistence might cause the Father to give us hurtful or undesirable gifts. For if a sinful, mortal father knows how to give good gifts, certainly the righteous God will give not only give good gifts, but even the gift of the “Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” In other words, God will give Himself to those who ask!
Never doubt the Father’s love and care for you. You can depend on Him to meet your needs when you ask. More than that, He knows your deepest need, namely, the Holy Spirit. For God has sent His Son to reconcile us to Himself, so that we might be adopted into His family by the Spirit of adoption, that we might truly be called children of God (cf. Rom. 8:15).
PRAYER: Dear Father, we are Your children and we are not afraid to come to You with our requests. For we are confident that You will always give us that which is not only good, but best for us. We therefore come to You today asking for healing for our nation, for a great revival to sweep our land, and for our daily needs, especially for the poor. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, knowing that You have already answered. Amen.