How Much More?

On the first Wednesday of each month, we gather for prayer from 5:30-7:45pm. May these words of Jesus entice us to seek the face of our Father with renewed intensity: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We pray to a Heavenly Father who is never asleep and never annoyed by our requests, unlike the friend at midnight who finally got out of bed just to get his neighbor off his back. Our Heavenly Father is a Friend who is always available. He loves to meet us in the midnight of our lives.

We pray to a Heavenly Father who is always worth seeking. He rewards those who diligently seek him. We never seek him in vain. And we can never come too often. He invites us to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking at the door of sovereign grace and mercy. We pray confidently, knowing that every needed blessing will come just at the right time.

We pray to a Heavenly Father who always gives us his very best. Even his “hard providences” are blessings in disguise. He has never treated his children less than generously. Based on the revelation of his character in the Bible, and in his Son Jesus Christ, we know his heart is full of goodness. Therefore, says Thomas Watson, “God is to be trusted when his providences seem to run contrary to his promises.”

In the gift of the Holy Spirit, God has given us all he has to give — life-giving breath, cleansing water, purifying fire, illuminating light — the Holy Spirit is God’s very presence, dwelling in us and with us forever. Add up all that you could ever need, and the sum of all these desires would add up to this: the Holy Spirit.

So, says Ray Ortlund, “The best prayer to God is a prayer for God.”

This is modeled by Paul the apostle: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (Eph. 1:17).

As we come tonight to prayer, may the Spirit of God make us pregnant with expectancy. How much more might God be willing to do in our midst, if we would but ask?

You are coming to a King
Great petitions with you bring
For his grace and power are such
None can ever ask too much!
—John Newton, “Come, my soul, thy suit prepare”

Learning to pray with you and for you,

David Sunday