Asking, Seeking, and Knocking to Receive the Holy Spirit in the “Midnight” Hours

Luke 11:5-13

_{Click for a description of the mark of the beast.}

The scripture in this post refers to the Holy Spirit being given to all who asks. The verse below summarizes what is being symbolized in verses 5-12;

“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

• Jesus Christ is our friend who is willing to give us the Holy Spirit.
• Jesus Christ keeps His Children of the Holy Spirit safe behind a closed door.
• We should persist in calling to Jesus for the Holy Spirit.
• Ask, seek, and knock and Jesus will give the Holy Spirit to whosoever.
• We live in a world that gives to impede the Holy Spirit.
• Evil gives good gifts to their children, much more Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to His.

Jesus Christ is our friend who is willing to give us the Holy Spirit. “And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;” Luke 11:5-6 As a baby boomer, I remember those days of running next door to borrow a cup of flour, some coffee, sugar, etc. Neighbors were always willing to oblige. Especially, if company were coming to visit from a long trip there were always special accommodations made for food. Today, would any of us be willing to open the door at midnight? As followers of Jesus Christ, He wants us to have the Holy Spirit for our life while we are on this earth in the perilous “midnight” hours. The Holy Spirit is part of the package of coming to God through Jesus Christ. The three loaves are symbolic of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ keeps His Children of the Holy Spirit safe behind a closed door. “…and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?” Luke 11:7 I’ve had those moments when whoever is knocking on the door I just stay in bed, ignore the knock, and quietly say within myself, “Go away.” That is especially true for parents with children who are not about to open the door at midnight, especially in these “midnight” hours of current times. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are with Him behind shut doors living in the presence of the Holy Spirit. He does not allow the door to be opened to those who trouble Him and His children. He keeps the door closed to those who govern and live by the mark of the beast and brings turbulence to those living in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We keep our body devoted as the home of the Holy Spirit and shut the door to becoming the seat of government for the mark of the beast.

We should persist in calling to Jesus for the Holy Spirit. “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” Luke 11:8 Although I might stay in bed knowing a friend is at the door, I would get up if the person showed no signs of going away. The persistence would cause me to peek through a slit in the curtain to verify who it is. After acknowledging it’s my safe friend, then I would open the door and invite the person in. Jesus Christ will honor our persistence of continually staying at His door hoping to receive the bread of the Holy Spirit. That includes our perseverance to lift up His name as Lord and Savior, to persist in the reading of the Bible, to endure in being set apart from the ways of the world, and to persevere in sharing His Gospel. The Gospel is this, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John :16

Ask, seek, and knock and Jesus will give the Holy Spirit to whosoever. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9 Jesus wants us to ask Him for the Holy Spirit, to seek Him persistently, and to knock on the door that leads into His presence. This is His promise to us, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Luke 11:10 The process of receiving the Holy Spirit begins with asking Jesus to place our sin in remission, then to seek Him by reading the Bible, and to knock on the door that opens into life in the Holy Spirit. All of that begins by believing God, acknowledging the deity of Jesus Christ, and embracing the Holy Spirit as a person.

We live in a world that gives to impede the Holy Spirit. “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” Luke 11:11-12 Common sense is that parents want to give their children bread to eat. Likewise, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and He gives His children the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, we live in Christless days where parents and children follow the will of those who govern by the mark of the beast. In these “midnight” hours of social turbulence, parents are known for giving their children “stones”, “serpents”, and “scorpions”. The thing that has power over physiology wants to harden us to the Holy Spirit, it gives us the venom of a serpent to poison us to the Holy Spirit and hurts us with the sting of a scorpion to make us suffer in the Holy Spirit. It does that by browbeating the Holiness of our thoughts, imposing feelings to make us feel unworthy of the Spirit of Christ, enflaming emotions contrary to the Holy Spirit, and manipulating our behavior in regrettable actions. It is the mark of the beast who opposes God, Jesus Christ, His people, and the Holy Spirit. Through this “midnight” hour, when the mark of the beast dominates every city around the world, we persist to ask, seek, and to knock.

Evil gives good gifts to their children, much more Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to His. Whatever we feel or think, we can ask forgiveness of Christ 70×7 times and He will forgive, then we must persist in seeking Him through the Word of God, then we persist in knocking at the door which opens into the Holy Spirit. Today, the government and community leaders are seeing themselves as the parents within a community family frame of mind. They embrace humanism, which is empowered by the mark of the beast. They pride themselves in being loving, supportive, inclusive, and givers of good things. Actually, they are evil in their blasphemy against God, evil for discarding the need for Jesus Christ, and evil for trampling on the Holy Spirit. If they, being evil are giving good gifts to their children of the mark of the beast, God is much more able to give the Holy Spirit to us through Jesus Christ. “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

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1