The Gift

Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from The Book of Luke.

Luke 11:5-13 (KJB)  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The Heavenly Father wants to grant us the precious gift of the Holy Spirit, but it is something that we must seek after diligently. You must have needy hearts when you approach God in prayer, knowing that He desires to give you this incredible treasure. So the question that I have for you today is, how diligently are you doing that? The Lord Jesus would go up somewhere in a mountain to pray in the morning. Even the Old Testament prophets would go out into the deserts or caves of the Earth in order to cry out mightily to God. 

Hebrews 11:6 (KJB)  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Keeping an active relationship up with God will require being wholeheartedly devoted to Him. In order to be filled up with the Holy Spirit, we must seek after God in a committed and a routine manner. Sometimes people can spend many hours searching for something in their home, while others will put in many hours out on the lake fishing, but how committed are you to a close relationship with God? God wants to give us the Holy Spirit, but we must actively seek God, and cry out to Him to obtain it.

Jeremiah 29:13 (KJB)  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJB)  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

These are examples of those who were not actively seeking God, and in order to be filled up with the Holy Spirit, we need to cry out to Him in a sincere manner. Some people actually only pray to be seen by others. 

Matthew 6:5-6 (KJB)  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

To seek means to go in search of, and when we try to find God, He is going to reward us.

Proverbs 8:17 (KJB)  I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

To actively seek God we must thirst after him, longing to be in His presence.

Psalms 63:1 (KJB)  O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

Matthew 6:33 (KJB)  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Many times when people get thirsty, they will take a can of pop from out of the refrigerator, but the best thirst of all, is to seek after the things of God.

Matthew 5:6 (KJB)  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Psalms 42:1-2 (KJB)  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

We must maintain a devoted and close relationship with God, because the sinful things of this world can pull us away from Him. 

1 Peter 2:11 (KJB)  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

1 John 2:15-17 (KJB)  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

How diligently are you seeking after God? Are you ready to receive,…….

……The Good Gift

Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.

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