A Friend Comes at Midnight / Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking - Bible Study - Is Holy Spirit Your Greatest Wish?

By Tony Joe:

Bible Study for Saint Luke 11:5-13:

Is Holy Spirit your greatest wish today? If God says He will grant you just one wish, will that be to send Holy Spirit upon you?

My greatest wish was not Holy Spirit until recently. Even now I struggle whether my greatest wish should be Holy Spirit.

I invent workarounds during prayers, like asking for Holy Spirit first (to please God!) and then my real greatest wish - financial and life security for life for me and my family.

You too would have such greatest wishes in your heart. Maybe they are more legitimate wishes than mine, like, praying to cure your's or a dear one's illness.

Yet, Jesus has no doubts whatsoever about what should be anyone's greatest wish - the Holy Spirit. Why?

For Christ, among all material and even spiritual blessings, the Spirit of God ranks at the topmost position. The reason is simple - the Holy Spirit can compensate for even everything you lack!

The presence of God's Spirit upon our being explains everything to us, from our blessings to what all we lack, and why we lack them, and why lacking some of them might actually be good for us at this stage.

Holy Spirit shows us gently what we should really be focusing upon. Holy Spirit is truth, and Holy Spirit brings peace to our searching minds.

There is yet another reason why Jesus puts Holy Spirit as the foremost blessing. It is the toughest blessing to come by.

A God who is willing to give even Holy Spirit to those who pray to him, can or will give everything else.

Yet again, God already knows most of our material wants. But when it comes to whether we really desire for Holy Spirit's presence in our lives, God is not sure.

He needs our specific request for that.

Also, we need to work on our impurities, and on our pride, before we can hope to attract the Holy Spirit from Father. That is why Christ speaks about the need for persistence.

To keep seeking, to keep knocking, to keep asking, we need humility before God. 

And it is definitely not about prayers alone, otherwise it would have been just 'asking'. See how 'seeking' and 'knocking' are also requirements.

To practice persistence, by way of prayers as well as works, is to prove our true desire.

Do you think that you already have Holy Spirit upon you? Quite possible.

And that is why Jesus hints that Father can give Holy Spirit 'more' or in abundance to those who ask him in persistence and humility.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11:5-13:

A Friend Comes at Midnight:

And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 

‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, 

‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 

I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking:

“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. 

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? 

Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 

Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 

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!”