I have been discovering something new lately in regards to the Holy Spirit and how he works in our lives. Often times we pray for the Holy Spirit to give us things. It could be anything from a car, to a house, to a pure heart to knowing how to pray, and so on. I have realized in my life lately that when we ask for things that are inherently good for us the Holy Spirit is Johnny on the spot! I also think we spend too much time asking for things which are superfluous and will not really aid our journey to heaven. Let me throw out a couple scenarios.
When we ask for things that are external to ourselves, usually a material good (or evil), the Holy Spirit may or may not grant the request. And, Usually the answer will be no. Not because He doesn't want to bestow on us good things, but because He knows that those things are not what is going to lead us closer to Christ. We see this sometimes with parents who buy their kids anything and everything they ask for. The result is a spoiled child and a miserable parent child relationship. There is one thing for sure, the Holy Spirit will not spoil us.
Other times we ask for things internal to ourselves. For example, the ability to love, or forgive, or knowledge of God, or knowledge in how to pray and when. All these things we know through faith are good for us. The Holy Spirit will answer these kinds of prayers for He has been working inside your life to give you the wisdom to ask for these things anyway. He will not waste His time either. When I recently started adopting this type of prayer a realized real fast how quickly the Holy Spirit will begin to work. I remember having a desire a few months back to read the bible more. One night I was sitting on the couch and deciding whether I was going to watch Netflix or read the bible. I knew I wanted to read the bible, but Netflix was calling my name all the harder. Right there I decided I would have a moment of prayer, short and sweet. "Dear Lord, please give me a heart that would rather read the bible than watch Netflix." I most likely went on to watch Netflix, I can't remember, but what I do remember is about a few night later coming down the stairs after putting the kids to sleep and having the same debate in my head: Netflix or Bible. Bible started to win! Not just in my head, but in my heart. My desire was for the word of God! Ever since that night I have read the bible prior to watching Netflix, and in all honesty, Netflix only lasted a couple more weeks. I have since put it aside altogether. I find more enjoyment in read God's word than I ever had numbing my brain in front of the TV.
Since this experience I have asked the Holy Spirit for other similar things, and received similar results. A heart to love everyone I meet, A heart to have zeal for spreading the Gospel, a courageous heart to say the things people need to hear...etc. I have yet to be disappointed! Sometime the answer comes in ways we don't expect. For example, in asking for courage to speak the words that need to be said, I didn't just wake up one day and have a new found courage. The Holy Spirit lead me to a situation where we were going to be helping a local parish with some outreach. The goal was to knock on doors in a neighborhood and see if there were any fallen away Catholics in the home. I was with someone who had done this many times and he lead the way for the first few houses. He had to take a call and said, "you guys go ahead, I'll catch up." Uh Oh! I thought. This is game time. I knocked on the next door, introduced myself and asked, "are there any baptized Catholics in the home?" (we were told to say this, and it really works!) The gentleman admitted that he used to be a Catholic and that his son is a member of the parish we were representing. I briefly explained that we had some information about the Catholic church if he was interested (he was not), and then we talked a little bit about what Andrea and I are doing in regards to foreign missions. We had a nice little discussion and went about our way. I was really nervous, but the fact that I knocked on the door was a miracle. The only thing I wished I would have done is asked, "would you mind sharing why you felt the need to leave the church?" Maybe the Holy Spirit could have led that discussion somewhere of real conversion...we will never know. I suppose there will always be "next times." As a result though, I found a courage in myself I never knew I had....or rather I found what the Holy Spirit can do with a person's heart, but we require faith and trust that He will carry through with his promise. "Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door will be opened" The Holy Spirit will put the words on our lips, but we need to act in faith and get to the point where the words need to be put there. He doesn't come down from on high, give us a script of where to go and what to say, and then say everything is going to be alright. We need to ask, and expect, that if we go forward in His name, He will deliver. The end of the story is that the person I was with had to leave early and he said I could finish the last four houses or just go back to the parish early. I found myself, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, volunteering to do the last four houses without him. Thank you, Jesus! The Holy Spirit still has much work to do with my courage, but that was a start I never saw coming.
Let's all start throwing our anchor to heaven, stop asking for things we really don't need and start asking for things that will give us eternal glory with our heavenly Father! Amen?
In Christ,
Dave
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