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Asking God For More Of His SpiritOne of the marks of the great men and women in both the Bible and the history of the church was that they all wanted to experience more of God – more of God’s love, more of God’s power, more of God’s holiness, joy and comfort. The psalmist wrote in Ps 42:1-2:…As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? One wonders if the fact that so many of us Christians find ourselves drawn into trivial pursuits and illicit pleasures indicates that we are satisfying our thirst with what is not God. Jesus certainly thought that it was possible for a Christian believer to gain more of God. Indeed, the gospel of Luke commands us to “ask, seek, and knock” that we might experience a greater filling with the Holy Spirit in Luke 11.9-13: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” For those who object and say, “I have received all that I need of God in salvation,” I would respond and say, “Fantastic!” But has all that you received of God become real in your experience? Can you honestly say that in your experience you are currently “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Pt. 1.8)? Would you say that you go through your days filled with “the peace of God which transcends all understanding” (Phil. 4.7)? Are you presently experiencing “God’s love poured out in your heart through the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5.5)? These scriptures (and dozens more the like them) are not just creedal statements for us to believe. They point to the promised experiences that every Christian may enjoy! Certainly the Apostle Paul believed it was possible to gain more of God. So he cried out: I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, (Phil. 3.10). Consider this: Here is the Apostle Paul, who saw the risen Christ on the road to Damascus; who was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things; who had the privilege of being used by God to raise the dead and see thousands come to know Christ, yet, this same Paul confesses, “I have barely scratched the surface concerning this infinitely beautiful, extraordinarily wonderful person named Jesus – oh, that I might know him better!” One of the great Bible teachers of the 20th century, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, once thundered at Christians who claim to have it all, who claim there is nothing more of God to receive and experience, “Got it all? I simply ask in the name of God, why then are you as you are? If you have got it all, why are you unlike the New Testament Christians? Got it all? Got it all at your conversion? Well where is it, I ask?” Second Blessing or One Hundred and Second Blessing? Many people who have taught that it was possible to have more of God’s presence and power in our experience have taught that Christians need to ask for a second blessing – an experience of God following salvation that will result in greater holiness or greater power, or the release of spiritual gifts, or some other greater manifestation of God in one’s life. I love Anglican Bishop David Pytches’ response to whether he believed in second blessings. “Yes,” he said, “I believe in the second blessing – it comes after the first and before the third.” In other words, God has many, many experiences of himself to share with us. My first kiss with my wife, Marlene, was not my last (praise God!). We have had multiple experiences of love. The same disciples who were filled on Pentecost (Acts 2.14) were filled and refilled again and again (Acts 4.8, 31) (See also the experience of Paul in Acts 9.17, 13.9). Ask for More of the Holy Spirit It is impossible to be the woman or man that God intends us to be without more of God in our lives! It is impossible to fulfill Jesus’ call to heal the sick, cast out demons, preach the gospel , or do justice without more of the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to feel God’s love, to know that we are daughters and sons of the living God and to live in that reality without more of the Holy Spirit. Ask God for more. Be grateful, but don’t ever be satisfied with what you have experienced of God. Let’s imitate the Apostle Paul, who after a quarter century of walking intimately with God, cried out saying: I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, More love! More power! More of you, Lord, in our lives! |
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