"I tell you, 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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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
This is a hard passage. This is a really hard passage, because I know I have prayed for things that have not come to pass exactly the way that I asked for. I assume that probably the same is true for you. Jesus is making a bold claim here that what we ask for will be given to us. Again, like yesterday, he's creating a relationship between us and God that is the type of relationship between a father and a son or daughter. "How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
I think that we have to understand the context of what Jesus is proposing here. The context is that God wants nothing but the best for us, right? I think that at times, we think that we know what is best for us, but we really have no idea sometimes. God as a good and as a perfect father hears our prayers, hears our supplications, and he wants to give us nothing but the best. Sometimes we ask for is not that. Sometimes it is. I think that we need to trust his fatherhood in that.
I think the other thing is that as we grow closer and closer to having a heart like his, our desires, our requests of him will become more and more like the desires that he has for us. I think our first prayer always needs to be for the Holy Spirit to be upon us, right? I love how Jesus ends it with that, that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for it.
Are we inviting the Holy Spirit to guide our hearts on a day to day basis, on a moment to moment basis? If we do, if we're willing to take that leap, we will find that the things we want, the things that we realize we need start to shift. Then we will find that our heart's desires are fulfilled. Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your fatherhood, and thank you for loving us without limit. Help us to be more like you. We ask you to anoint us with the Holy Spirit, Lord. We pray all of this in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
All right, everybody. Get out there and make it the best day ever.
Your brother on the journey,
Nick De La Torre