Anchor My Faith

A Greater Gift

Scripture: Matthew 7:9; Luke 11:11-13

In the previous lesson, we tried to establish the context of “ask,” “seek” and “knock.” We are to seek God and knock through persistent prayer and what we ask for is to be tempered by God’s will and the needs of others. With this lesson we will finish this section on “How to Pray” by considering the gift of the Holy Spirit to us who ask.

^{Lk 11:11} “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; ¹² or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ^{Mt 7:9} If his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹³ 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!”

In the last three verses of this section on prayer, we find a “lesser to greater” argument. The argument begins with an earthly example and progresses to the heavenly. In the earthly example we find two requests made by a son to his father: a request for a fish and one for an egg. There is no question in our minds how the father would or should respond. Surely, he would give the requested fish and not a serpent, and he would give the egg and not a scorpion. Surely, if an earthly father would do this then with our Father it would be even more true.

As support for this, consider the following examples. ⁶ “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷ Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6 – 7 ESV); and ¹⁵ “Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”’ (Luke 13:15 – 16 ESV). These two examples express the care of God, so surely, he would respond to our request in a loving way.

In the argument given, fish and eggs were common foods in Palestine, while serpents and scorpions were regular hazards. If we who are evil know how to give good gifts, then Jesus argues that his Father would surely give even better gifts.

As Jesus often does, he now takes the example of meeting physical needs and points out an even greater gift that we need to ask for in the spiritual realm. Clearly our Father will supply for our physical needs, but how much more he wants to give the Holy Spirit to those who will ask him. The Holy Spirit, given at the time of spiritual birth, is a far more important gift because of his powerful anointing and guidance in a believer’s life. ¹³ “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:13 – 14 ESV).

 Conclusion

As we close this section on how to pray, we found the verses included a prayer, known as the Lord’s prayer, that Jesus taught his disciples (verses 1 – 4), a parable about prayer including the word “impudence” (verses 5 – 8), and various encouragements to pray (verses 9 – 13). In view of this section, what is your prayer experience like?