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First Things First # 6 – Praying for the Fullness of the Spirit

The daily devotional “Day By Day By Grace by Bob Hoekstra [DBD]” for March 9th had a very encouraging message, which you can read by installing the Xiphos Bible program and install the KJV, or UKJV Bible along with the [DBD] Day By Day By Grace by Bob Hoekstra and the free non-commercial Kingcomments to start your spiritual growth, today. You can read the other parts of this series via the blog section of this website.

* Since the daily devotion [DBD] Day By Day By Grace is copyrighted and permission to distribute is granted to CrossWire exclusively, it can not be displayed here, but you can install it into the Xiphos Bible program via Edit > Module Manager and the CrossWire repository on your computer. Simply input “sudo apt-get install xiphos” on the command line (CLI) of the Debian based Linux distro of your choice and follow the steps described above, once you started the Xiphos Bible program after installation.

After you read the [DBD] for [March 9] about “More on Praying for the Fullness of the Spirit” let’s have a look at the Bible passage in the “Updated King James Version” UKJV.

Luke 11: 9-10, 13

[5] 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;
[6] For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
[7] 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 you.
[8] 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 needs.
[9] And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and all of you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
[10] For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
[11] 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?
[12] Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
[13] If all of you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit (o. pneuma) to them that ask him?

After you reflected on the bible passage above in context, let’s have a look at what the free non-commercial Kingcomments contains, for the understanding of the bible passage in context.

Ask, Seek, Knock, the Holy Spirit

Following on from this example, the Lord Jesus says that His disciples – and this also applies to us – can count on being given when they pray. When we ask in complete confidence, shamelessly, we will receive what we ask for.
The Lord does not say that we always get what we ask for directly. Sometimes we have to seek for the will of the Father, we have to get to know that will, that what we ask is in accordance with His will. There may be unknown reasons for the delay of the answer, but our prayer is heard from the first time we say a certain prayer. We see that with Daniel. He prays for three weeks, but receives no answer (Dan 10:2-3). When he then receives an answer after three weeks, he hears the reason of the delay, but also that his prayer from the beginning had come before God (Dan 10:12-14).

If we seek God’s will, we will find it. That is why it is important to keep knocking on the door, to continue to seek Him. We must not let ourselves be discouraged in case of a delay, for it will be opened to us.

After the encouragement to pray, seek and knock, the Lord gives the unequivocal promise that whoever asks, receives; and who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Praying is trusting in the goodness of the Father. How does that work with earthly fathers? If a son asks for a fish, his father does not give him something as dangerous as a snake, does he? Or if he asks for an egg, his father will not give him something as deadly as a scorpion, will he?
If earthly fathers act like this with their children by not giving them anything that is dangerous or deadly, will the heavenly Father act differently? No, He will certainly not be inferior to this, but will only give good gifts to His children.
The Lord Jesus gives them another prayer to pray. They may ask for the Holy Spirit. It shall be given to them by the heavenly Father. It is not about the place where the Father is, but about the characteristic of that place. The Father is in the sphere of heaven and from that sphere He gives the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will come from heaven to form a heavenly people on earth. This prayer is answered on Pentecost. Believers should not pray whether the Holy Spirit will come to them. As soon as someone believes the gospel of his salvation (1Cor 15:1-4), he receives the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13). The believer may ask the Father whether his life may really be led and filled by the Holy Spirit. Note that it does not say that the Holy Spirit is being prayed to. That is nowhere mentioned in God’s Word.

Since the [DBD] daily devotional mentioned Ephesians 3:16-19 let’s have a look into the UKJV Bible passage in context.

Ephesians 3:16-19

[16] That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit (o. pneuma) in the inner man;
[17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that all of you, being rooted and grounded in love, (o. agape)
[18] May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
[19] And to know the love (o. agape) of Christ, which passes knowledge, that all of you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Note: Please don’t forget to read the Kingcomment for the Bible passage above on your own, after you installed it on your computer and listen to “Reading Ephesians 3” below, afterwards.

Original link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWASUk-Qlgs Channel link for your RSS feed reader: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UClW5Qzh27Zx7HO2fKkCcR5g

Since the [DBD] daily devotional mentioned Ephesians 5:18, as well, let’s have a look into the UKJV Bible passage in context.

Ephesians 5:18

[17] Wherefore be all of you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
[18] And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; (o. pneuma)
[19] Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
[20] Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
[21] Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Note: Please don’t forget to read the Kingcomment for the Bible passage above on your own, after you installed it on your computer and listen to “Reading Ephesians 5” below, afterwards.

Original link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m39b-2ogwFM Channel link for your RSS feed reader: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UClW5Qzh27Zx7HO2fKkCcR5g

Let’s conclude this article with the following important personal invitation here by John MacArthur from Grace to You….

Don’t forget to bookmark and check the section https://open-fab.org/spiritual/ on this website, if you want to see more sermons, fresh on a daily basis….

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