Asking the Father to give you the Spirit

Luke 11

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 11 Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13 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?”

  1. Jesus is teaching about prayer
  2. Jesus teaches that God answers our persistent prayers: ask, seek, knock
  3. Jesus teaches that God is a good Father who wants to give good gifts to His children
  4. Jesus teaches that the Father’s best gift is the Holy Spirit
  5. Jesus teaches that if we ask the Father for the Holy Spirit, He will give Him to us

This is not teaching about the initial receiving of the Spirit at salvation, but a generic gifting of the Spirit in His ministry to believers

Scriptures describing the ministry of the Spirit

Ephesians 1

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Ephesians 3

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

2 Corinthians 3

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit

 

A Prayer, based on Scripture, asking the Father for the Spirit:

“Father I pray you would give me the Spirit. Fill my life with the Spirit who is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Holy Spirit reveal to me the knowledge of God. Spirit give me wisdom and revelation to know Jesus better. May you strengthen me in my inner man; Holy Spirit fill me with your power from the inside-out. Transform me Spirit into the image of Jesus. May I experience more and more of your glory as I become more Jesus. Holy Spirit fulfill in and through me all that the Father has promised. In Jesus name, amen.”

Craft your own prayer to the Father for the Spirit based upon the following Scripture:

Romans 8:11-13, Galatians 5:16-18, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6, Acts 1:8