““So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Luke 11:9-10 NIV
Chances are that when we read the above scripture verses we get excited and start thinking that all I have to do is name it and claim it. This would be in line with the prosperity gospel that some people believe in. While I do believe that there are elements to this in the scriptures, the simple name it and claim it idea does not pan out in the entirety of the Scriptures. In fact it does not pan out even in the coming verses.
If we see this as just being about getting what I want or what you want then all we have done is read two verses out of context of the rest of the section let alone the rest of the Scriptures. This section is about God’s relationship with His people and yes providing for His people but it is about blessing and relationship, not about selfish ambition and accumulation. This relationship is blessed through the giving of the Holy Spirit.
When we look closer at the section of scripture that we read yesterday from Luke 11:5-13 we see at the end of the section that Jesus gives us the question that we are to ask.
“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 11:13 NIV
What we are to ask for is the Holy Spirit. This might seem trite but when we realize that the gift of the Holy Spirit leads God’s people into a deeper relationship with God, He empowers us, He helps us to understand, brings us together as the body of Christ, He even helps us to understand God’s will and to ask the real questions that we need to ask.
God wants to bless His people, not with stuff that we will either idolize or forget about, but with His eternal love that leads us in life to Himself. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not God cheating us out of what we are asking for, it is God helping us to live mature lives, with spiritual maturity and then we can start to ask, not out of selfishness, but out of love.