“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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!” Luke 11:11-13
The second lesson in this final teaching passage on prayer is to ask your loving Father for the Holy Spirit.
As one studies prayer in Luke 11, there is a beauty and a flow as Jesus began with a prayer, and followed it with a parable, which was followed by a promise and concluded with a postulate. But there is a twist in the final statement, which leaves the student in the school of prayer pondering. Why end this teaching on prayer with the specific example of receiving the Holy Spirit when you ask? Why not leave a broader ending similar to Matthew 7:11 where it says “...how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”? Here’s several reasons: (1) The promise to give the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer is presented to contrast and illustrate how our heavenly Father’s giving is far better than any earthly father could ever give his child. The passage begins with fish, snakes, eggs and scorpions and ends with the Holy Spirit. (2) The promise to give the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer is presented because the benefits of having the Holy Spirit are profound. We get comfort, help, encouragement, God’s love poured out in our hearts, boldness, joy and power, instruction and guidance concerning the truth, supernatural gifts to heal and prophesy and speak in tongues. We get God himself! We hit the jackpot!!! (3) Finally, the promise to give the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer is presented to remove any doubt regarding a prayer we can pray that our Father will answer.
Prayer 101 ends with God, our Father in heaven, giving the jackpot to his child who asks. He’s not going to give us a demon or something to hurt us and he’s not going to ignore us. With these things in mind…let us pray!!!!
