15. Postgraduate Work of the Holy Spirit
15
Postgraduate Work of the Holy Spirit
Graduate School Level: “We Must Pray for the Good Gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 11:13)
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!
Matthew’s version of this passage reads, “give good gifts” (7:11), so if we combine the two statements, we have “Give the good gifts of the Holy Spirit.” It’s the will of God that we ask the Father to meet our material and physical needs and the needs of others, but we must not stop there. When the Prodigal Son repented of his sins and came home to his father, he didn’t plan to pray, “Father, give me,” but “Father, make me” (see Luke 15:19). He was concerned about character and service, not possessions and enjoyment.
I recommend that you invest some quality time in pondering the prison prayers of the apostle Paul recorded in Ephesians 1:15–23; 3:14–21; Philippians 1:9–11; and Colossians 1:9–12. Notice that the requests he makes for the people in these churches focus on the character gifts of the Holy Spirit. God wants His children to mature in character and become more like Jesus Christ—in other words, to receive the good gifts of the Spirit. Most, if not all, of the problems in families and churches would be solved if Christians were asking God to fulfill these prayers in their own experiences. God’s goal for us is that we be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29; see 2 Cor. 3:18), and the requests voiced by Paul lead to that very goal.
While we’re at it, we ought to turn the ninefold “fruit of the Spirit” into prayer requests (Gal. 5:22–23), asking God to produce these wonderful qualities in our own lives by His Holy Spirit. As we read the gospel records of the earthly life and ministry of Jesus Christ, we should be praying that His beautiful character and conduct would be reproduced in us. The purpose of the spiritual life is not for us to become great Christians, whatever that may mean, but to glorify a great Savior by revealing Him in our character and conduct. The Father longs for all of His children to become like His beloved Son. That’s why we must matriculate into the graduate level of the school of prayer and ask the Father for the good gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When you review this important passage in Luke 11:13 on prayer, you will discover that Jesus has corrected a number of misconceptions that many people have about prayer.
So, have you enrolled in the school of prayer, and are you making progress?