Add another one to the “I don’t think I ever noticed it before” column. Reading this morning in the first 13 verse of Luke 11 . . . kind of a mini “sermon on the mount” . . . parallels the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6 . . . and the “ask, seek, knock” passage in Matthew 7. Maybe that’s why I initially skimmed it more than read it this morning (and maybe in the past, as well). Caught myself though . . . or maybe it was the Spirit giving me poke in the ribs saying, “Hey! This is God breathed . . . go back and read it again!” So I did . . . and there it was . . . something I don’t think I’ve ever noticed before.

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!
(Luke 11:13 ESV)

I read that verse and realized that it was different from how Matthew had recorded the conclusion to the same parable in Matthew 7:11. There, Matthew writes that Jesus said, “. . . how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

The Father will give “good things” to His children who ask . . . the Father will give the Holy Spirit to who His children who ask. Hmmm. Conclusion . . . “good things” = Holy Spirit . . . the Spirit encompasses the good gifts given by the Father.

When Jesus spoke these words, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given as an ever-present, indwelling Counselor for those who would believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah. After Jesus was to be glorified then would the Spirit be given to those who recognize Jesus as the Lamb of God come to take away the sin of the world . . . who placed their faith in the crucified Christ whose work on the cross opened the way of redemption for all men and women . . . who waited for the risen Savior coming again to for His own (John 7:39). The Holy Spirit then, is given as an indwelling Person at the time of conversion (Eph. 1:13-14).

But there’s also a sense in which receiving of the Holy Spirit is an on-going dynamic . . . Paul tells the Ephesians to “be being filled” with the Spirit . . . that is, to continually be liberally supplied by the power and presence of the third Person of the Holy Trinity.

And it’s this Holy Spirit . . . this good thing . . . this good gift . . . that I should be asking for . . . and which the Giver of “every good gift and every perfect give” (James 1:17) delights to pour out upon His children.

I can pray that I would be teachable by the Holy Spirit as I open His word . . . I can ask that I might recognize His voice and know what it is to be led by the Spirit, to live by the Spirit, and to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:18, 25) . . . I can ask the Spirit to help when I don’t know how to pray or can’t find the words my heart is looking for during intercession (Rom. 8:26) . . . I can cry out to the Spirit asking that His power be poured out in my service for Christ . . . I can petition that the fruit of His indwelling presence be more and more a reality in my life (Gal. 5:22-23)

He is the Good Gift . . . the One who longs to draw alongside . . . the One who desires to lead into all truth . . . the One who passionately pursues exalting Christ . . .

And I tell 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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10 ESV)

Amen?