Praying for the Holy Spirit

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!”
- Luke 11:13 NKJV

I grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist home. I grew up with family worship and heavy church involvement. I have known about and loved Jesus from my earliest memories. However, it was not until I was at Andrews University studying for my Master of Divinity degree that discovered Luke 11:13. I was reading about the life of Oswald Chambers and how there is a Bible carved in stone at his grave in Egypt with its pages were tuned to Luke 11:13. I read about how this verse had changed his ministry and even though He did not necessarily feel anything extraordinary when he claimed that promise in prayer his ministry was never the same afterward.

Since that day I have often prayed for the Holy Spirit and claimed the promise made by Jesus that the Father is willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. I then face my day believing that God will fulfill His promise and that I will be used by the Holy Spirit to bless those around me. I do not experience any supernatural emotions when I pray it, but I have been told by others how “by coincidence” I happened to be at the right place at the right time or to call or text at the right time, or to share just the right words at the moment.

I believe Jesus’s words that the Father is more willing to give us the Holy Spirit than we are willing to give good gifts to our children. I believe that God wants to use us to bless those around us. So why not ask Him for the Holy Spirit daily? Give it a try, this prayer might just change your life!