Ask
Watch on YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0-WNaXKHO4 (128:55 Mark)
As I was working through today’s message, I was asking the Lord, what extra word He would have for us to take our study today to the next level. Now, I thought in my own mind that it would be about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what a great word and admonition that would be for us with our message today on having a Spirit Filled Heart.
But nothing was resonating within me. Well, around 2 a.m. a couple of days later as I was again praying about this the Lord gave me a word, but not one that I was expecting. It was the simple word, “Ask.”
And it was the last verse we looked at and what I brought forth, not only in today’s conclusion, but also on several other occasions when I’ve quoted this verse, and that is, we’re just one ask away.
“If you then, being evil, 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 NKJV)
But there was more. The Lord started me thinking about when Jesus said, “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.” (Luke 11:9-10 NKJV)
Little did I know, in that early morning hour, that Jesus said that right before He told them to ask for the Holy Spirit. And then He showed me that this was not just a one time ask, but how we are to continue to ask and not give up. And He did so through the story of the persistent friend who wouldn’t stop asking his neighbor for food in the middle of the night.
Again, in my sleepy kind of foggy mind, little did I know that Jesus gave this story right before He told us to ask, seek, and knock.
“Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him;’ and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you?’ I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” (Luke 11:5-8 NKJV)
God was putting together a teaching for us and for our prayers. Why do I say that, because right before the story of the persistent friend, Jesus tells His disciples, and hence us, how we ought to pray.
That’s right look at how Jesus began this whole process.
“Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.’ So He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” (Luke 11:1-4 NKJV)
And so, Jesus was teaching His disciples and us how to pray and not give up, but to continue to ask, seek, and knock, and when we do, we will receive what we are asking for, find what we are seeking, and that the Lord will open up what we are knocking on the door for.
And then Jesus tells us how good our heavenly Father is who will do this for us, by using us as parents, even as evil as we are within our hearts.
“If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” (Luke 11:11-12 NKJV)
And then He ends with our signature verse that I believe is not only for our study but for the whole of our Christian lives, and the Spirit Filled Heart we are told to possess.
“If you then, being evil, 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 NKJV)
I mean, what is up with that. I’ve read these verses before a multitude of times and even studied them, but little did I realize that Jesus is telling us to continue to ask for the one thing that will change our lives and change the church and this world we live in, and that is to continue to ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit, and how much God wants us to continue to ask Him for it.
And know this, this is the will of God.
The Apostle John gives us this word of wisdom concerning our prayers and our need to ask. He said, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-16 NKJV)
We often think that whenever we pray, we need to pray in accordance to God’s will if we expect to receive from God our requests. And yes, that is true. But what could be more in the will of God than to be filled and overflowing with the power of the Holy Spirit.
If Jesus tells us to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit, then that is within the will of God, just as when we are told that if any of us lacks the wisdom we need to “ask” God who gives to all liberally, and without rebuking us for asking. So, asking for wisdom is the will of God.
Now, we’ve all heard that God already knows what we need. Jesus said that our heavenly Father already knows the things that we need before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:8). Therefore, the question becomes, “Why do we need to ask?”
The answer is that He is seeing if we have the faith to continue, which is one of the conditions of a Christian’s heart that we’ll explore later. But God is looking for faith to see if we’ll continue to do what is right and according to His will and not grow weary in the ask.
Let me just conclude by saying that we need to continue by faith to ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit daily so that we can live effective and successful lives for the Kingdom of God. Note again the prayer Jesus taught the disciples.
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Luke 11:2b NKJV)
And so, we are just one ask away of God’s will for our lives, and that is to be filled to overflowing with the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can fulfill the will of God, not only in our own lives, but in the life of the church and in this world.
Therefore, let’s start asking, but always asking in the right way.
Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14 NKJV)
