God's children need Him more and more, need His life, His more abundant life, His super-abundant life. 15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. . It is to be noted that in John 14:16, where Jesus engages to pray the Father to send another Comforter, who would dwell with His disciples and be in them, that this is not a prayer that the Holy Spirit might do His work in making us children of God by regeneration, but it was for that fuller grace and power and Person of the Holy Spirit which we can claim by virtue of our relation as children of God. St. Augustine’s Prayer to the Holy Spirit. His testimony was to a life-long experience of delving deeper and deeper into the marvels of a Book that understood him, because it was revealed by the Spirit of God who is the One who understands us. His gifts are the dispensations of His presence. This is the actuality of an exchanged life. Nothing can be stronger than this declaration assuring us of the answer unless it be the promise upon which it is based, "And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you. It comes from the wordfortis, that is, "to make strong," andcom means "with." Much of his teaching on prayer is found in this rich and fragrant passage, which is called The Upper Room Discourse, found in John, Chapters 13 through 17. In this word, Jesus is saying that he who comes will be the One who has within him the fullness of power, all the strength that we could possibly need, that is the first thing. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit … Amen. Now, in Verse 12, the promise is tremendously plain. The Holy Spirit helps to guide us and leads us towards living a more Christ-filled life. Though we have the potential he does not have, we are not getting into it. Prayer. But what he is saying now is, that as the Risen Christ, ascended to the throne or the Father, he himself will do through us, in terms of our personalities, and by the activity of our lives, greater works today than he did in the days of his flesh. We do this because: it is traditionally acceptable, and we do not understand what "in his name" means. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought …” (Romans 8:26) Praying in the Spirit is prayer with divine help. I simply tried to call attention to the moral revolt that is widespread in the United States today and the fact that it is eating away at our national life and destroying the very foundation of our government, things that you read and are hearing today on every side. There is no passage that does it more effectively than the passage before us. It is not our relationship with Jesus Christ which counts before the world, it is our resemblance to him. In the time of his need they left him. One can desire a more intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit for the wrong reasons. If it lies in the direction of the moving of Christ in the affairs of men today, whatever you need, ask. He dwelt with them before but he was to be in them on the Day of Pentecost. To know the ministry of the Holy Spirit and how to have a relationship with Him, we must know His functions. I know as well as you do that every believer, when he receives Jesus Christ, receives the indwelling Spirit of God, that He is in us from the beginning. See who the Holy Spirit is. Do you see the difference? Man reasons continually in a vicious circle of unbelief that prevents him from discovering ultimate reality. Though we have the Spirit available to us, we are as deluded and as blinded as any worldling living next door. Which one wins? Scripture talks about the Holy Spirit being poured out and the believer being filled up. There must be, we say, for is Jesus really saying that Christians living today, in this 20th century, do not only the works which he did but greater works than these? Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. That is the value of the works that he did. He is called there because of some murderous activity that is going on, and he comes up to the address that has been given him, and knocks at the door, and says, "Open in the name of the law." These 9 prayers for the Holy Spirit’s power will help you to reach out for the Lord’s guidance and strength. As Jesus did not begin His work on earth till He was anointed by the Holy Spirit, so the same Holy Spirit is necessary to carry forward and make effective the atoning work of the Son of God. Your Heavenly Father will surely send Him if you ask for Him. I don't rebel against him." It is a passage that is filled with astonishing concepts. Wait, press, and persevere with all the calmness and with all the ardour of a faith which knows no fear, which allows no doubt, a faith which staggers not at the promise through unbelief, a faith which in its darkest and most depressed hours against hope believes in hope, which is brightened by hope and strengthened by hope, and which is saved by hope. That is what he is saying. Again, we must never forget our dependence on the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Gal. There is a condition to this, however. We may be Bible-taught, but we are not Spirit-taught. Now let us come quickly to this last passage, the fact that the secret of the Christian's life is borrowed deity. I record what pops into my head in brackets ( ), so I can look back and see how the Spirit may have spoken. Someone who stands with you and makes you strong; that is a Comforter, one who gives strength. Purity, power, holiness, faith, love, joy and all grace are brought into being and perfected by Him. The secret of prayerlessness is the absence of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Now, we will say, at ten o'clock that night, that same policeman is drunk. We wonder if there is not a catch somewhere. That is why it is so important to have a close relationship with the Holy Spirit. Until you have grasped that as the mystery and key of Christian living you have not graduated from the kindergarten level of the Christian life. It is the child waiting, asking, urging and praying perseveringly for the Father's greatest gift and for the child's greatest need, the Holy Spirit. Why did Jesus, the Creator of the World, and our Savior, need to rely on the Holy Spirit in His ministry on earth?Or did He? Is that what he is saying? Our ability to work for God, and to pray to God, and live for God, and affect others for God, will be dependent on the measure of the Holy Spirit received by us, dwelling in us, and working through us. Why, I'm a Christian. The measure we receive of Him will be gauged by the fervour of faith and prayer with which we seek Him. Thus, a conditioning statement is always the road to fulfillment. That is our program for this study, So let us take it in detail. That means, so many months or years ago I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and now I am a believer. Peter and John had been chastised by the chief priests and elders. That certainly means a great deal more than a magical formula to tack on to the end of our prayers. In the direction in the Sermon on the Mount, we have the very plain and definite promise, "If ye, being evil,[]know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in Heaven give good things to them that ask him?" It was a challenging meeting, an opportunity to speak in the name of God to men who would otherwise never give an ear, and I felt it. All good is comprehended in the Holy Spirit and He is the sum and climax of all good things. After he had finished singingHow Great Thou Art, I saw one of the mayors wiping the tears from his eyes. In other words, he is not contrasting our labors now with his labors then. Now, supposing a policeman goes into a cheap slum area of the city at three o'clock in the afternoon. Remember, I warned you of that. Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is the law, a condition brightened by a promise and sweetened by a relationship. The projecting power of praying outwardly was the projecting power of God in us. He is not saying, he who holds the truth, but he who acts upon it, is the one who will do these works. Rain on Us Prayer Holy Spirit, our Comforter, and our Friend, as … Little by little, gradually, we begin to understand who we are, and what we are, and why we are what we are, and why others are what they are, and what this world is and where it is going and what its end is going to be. We urge the seeking of the Holy Spirit. He is there right from the start. "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?" This is a magnificent promise of vast scope, of tremendous encompassment, but what he says is "if you ask in my name." "Filled unto the goodness of God" Ephesians 3:19), is Paul's prayer for us, that in the possession of the Holy Spirit we may understand and realize that the One who comes is God himself indwelling us. You say, I am a believer. So, before the meeting began, I simply asked. To His disconsolate disciples, He said, "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter." It will be given. "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it." And they were all filled with the Holy … The feeble operation of God in us brings feeble praying. Intimacy with the Holy Spirit Relationship with the Holy Spirit How to know the Holy Spirit. That was all the Incarnate Christ had to show for the marvelous ministry in the power of the Spirit which he had manifested among men. Here we have the initial lesson in prayer for the Holy Spirit which was to enlarge to its full fruitage in Pentecost. I welcome it now, because I know it is designed to lead me to ask for what I need. He is the enabling agent in God's new dispensation of doing. The prayer inwrought in the heart by the almighty energy of the Holy Spirit works mightily in its results just as Elijah's prayer did. In previous teaching, we studied who is the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit: to give us strength and help in our fight against sin. 1. The projecting power of praying is the measure of the Holy Spirit in us. "), and the others should reply with the response ("And You shall renew . Notice what he links with this: "because I go to the Father." This is the first time we have ever heard anything that seems to suggest an answer. Whatever he is interested in having done on earth, then we, as the instruments of his activity, are involved in accomplishing it. For in it Jesus plainly says, "He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.". And even these, in the hour of his capture and appearance before Pilate, forsook him and fled. In the execution of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, in its general and more comprehensive operation, or in its minute and personal application, the Holy Spirit is the one efficient Agent, absolute and indispensable. Don't you hunger after truth sometimes? Our Lord means exactly what he says but we must understand what he says. God’s Promise to You. He keeps us in that body by His Presence and Person. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Would we be perfect in all graces? He is the Father's greatest gift for the child's greatest need. It is rather startling to realize that the work of the Incarnate Christ, that is, Jesus Christ of Nazareth working and walking among men, was, at its end, apparently a total and complete failure. In Verses 12 through 17, three revelations are given of the life of Jesus Christ at work within us: In Verse 12 we learn that the character of a Christian's work is "borrowed activity"; in Verses 13-14 we shall find that the basis of a Christian's prayer is "borrowed authority"; and in Verses 15-17 it is revealed that the secret of a Christian's living is "borrowed deity.". And of many others it might be said, "Ye have Him in faint measure because ye pray for Him in faint measure.". With Him, it is, it ever has been, and ever will be, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." In this bewildering world, this perplexing age in which we live, don't you sometimes almost physically hunger for someone, somewhere, somehow, who can tell us the truth? We were asking ourselves this question, "Why is it that though truth seems to be poured out continually in this place, through our teachers, in the pulpit and in so many ways, yet in many of our peoples' lives there is such a superficial shallowness? Should it comfort us to study the close relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit? 1. . One was truly done in the name of the law, the other was done outside the law, even though the same words were used. I like the old translation better, the word is "Comforter," but we should understand it in its original meaning. We marvel as we read the story or the beginning of his ministry. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Norman Nelson was there and sang beautifully. One was authorized activity, the other was unauthorized. 2. "Many went back and walked no more with him" John 6:66 KJV), the writers of the gospel tell us. Paul's praying was God's proof to Ananias that Paul was in a state which conditioned him to receive the Holy Spirit. Now, please don't nail me to the mast for heresy. No one opens the door, so after he knocks again and requests that it be opened in the name of the law and there still is no answer, he breaks it down and goes in and makes his arrest. They will never understand them because man is both the specimen to be examined and the examiner, and the problem is that the error that is in the examiner affects the examination! Policemen do their business "in the name of the law.". After all, I am not Jesus Christ, and, therefore, I cannot be expected to do what he did." Those within hear the thick voice and recognize that it is a drunken policeman and refuse to open. Expectation is the condition by which this becomes realized. He uses here a verb in the present tense which means "he who is continually believing in me." So the statement of James in the fifth chapter of his Epistle is to this effect: "The fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much." But now we come to the condition, for the brutal fact is that, though every true Christian has the Spirit of Truth, thousands walk in darkness and understand no more about themselves than the most blind pagan around. What he is saying is, as the Risen Christ, he will do through us greater works than he did as the Incarnate Christ living among men. Then he is called the Spirit of Truth, and that is a wonderful statement. Christ lays down the clear and explicit law of prayer in this regard for all of God's children. Message transcript and recording © 1964 by Ray Stedman Ministries, owner of sole copyright by assignment from the author. It was a great temptation to be there. The Holy Spirit and Salvation. Would we grow in grace in particular? A Christian's true work is borrowed activity, it is never his own, and when he begins to think it is, he defeats every possibility of success. Is it to please yourself that your activities are done and your desires aimed?" (John 14:15-17 RSV). Before He returned to heaven, Jesus said, “… you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit … But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Acts 1:5-8. They had been told not to “speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). To express thanks for the guidance and spiritual nourishment the Holy Spirit provides. The Holy Spirit is the only member of the Trinity who is still here on earth helping us remain on the righteous path. Intellect cannot execute it, neither can learning, nor eloquence, nor truth, not even the revealed truth can execute the gospel. As long as men remain worldlings they are blinded to the ultimate nature of things. "Whatever you need," he says, "ask for it and it shall be done." When we speak of the relationship between prayer and the Lord’s word, it includes these two aspects: the words of the Spirit and the words of the Scripture; or the Lord’s word in the Scripture and the Lord’s word in the Spirit… The names that he uses here suggest the richness of this promise. But it is necessary that we take very seriously both aspects of what our Lord has said. Present at the meeting, I knew, would be scores of men who were not in any way outwardly identified with Christian faith and many of them would be typically shallow, rootless, unconcerned modern pagans. When I simply give up arguing back, and start obeying the Lord, I discover all these things begin to work. The world needs the Holy Spirit to convict it of sin and of righteousness and judgment to come and to make it feel its guiltiness in God's sight. Holy Spirit, we ask thee to search our own hearts on this day, and save us from this damnable perfidy of talking truth and not living it, of echoing orthodoxy but refusing to submit in practical ways, or shepherding our resources and protecting our lives and refusing to fling them into thy cause and abandon ourselves to thy purposes. No, this promise cannot be limitless. Anything! The gift of the Holy Spirit was vital to the work of Jesus Christ in the atonement. What a staggering promise this is! Those who came, attracted by the things they saw, faded back into the shadows when persecution began to grow. Holy Spirit, we ask thee to search our own hearts on this day, and save us from this damnable perfidy of talking truth and not living it, of echoing orthodoxy but refusing to submit in practical ways, or shepherding our resources and protecting our lives and refusing to fling them into thy cause and abandon ourselves to thy purposes. 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