“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.”
(Lu. 11:13)
The above statement was made after the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. In response, He taught them the Lord’s prayer, but then went on to tell them a parable about a persistent friend asking for bread for his guests, as a way of explaining that not only do we need to pray the right things, but we need to have the faith to persist in asking for them. This led Him to describe the progression of persistence in prayer that starts with asking, moves to seeking and matures to knocking.
I have a good Nigerian pastor friend, who is a great man of prayer here in the city of Ottawa, who often challenge us to be persistent, insistent, and consistent in praying for revival. He is leading a group of people who meet to pray for revival in our city at 6am, noon hour and midnight!
That brings me to how Jesus rounds off His teaching on prayer in this discourse. He says that just as an earthly father gives good things to his children when they ask, God is even more inclined and able to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Is that not what we are asking for when we pray for revival? Yes, every believer has the Holy Spirit, but not every believer, or church, is full of the Holy Spirit. I believe that we can ask our heavenly Father to fill the Free Methodist Church in Canada with the Holy Spirit so that His kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. And we can expect it.
After one of our daily prayer for revival meetings, a few of us compared notes about what they were hearing from God. One of them said that she kept hearing “expectation and double-minded”. I believe God is challenging us to expect Him to answer our prayers for revival and not be double-minded about it. In James it says,
“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (Jm.1:6-8)
Will you join us in praying for renewal of our movement that will bring revival in our nation?
