July 19 I Monday

Psalms 23-25

Acts 21:18-40

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”   —2 Corinthians 13:14

When it comes to prayer, some of us may have a deep fear that if we say to God, “Lord, have Your way with my life,” He will probably respond with, “I am going to make the last thing that you want to be the thing that happens in your life. I am going to give you something that is bad!” Hence, when it comes to surrendering our lives and asking God to have His way with us, we may pray with fear that He will give us something vile.

      When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He told them, “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!” (Luke 11:13). We can find comfort when we pray, because God not only knows how to give good gifts to us, but He will not hold back from giving us even His Holy Spirit.

      Jesus said the Father will always give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, because the Holy Spirit is God’s agent in our lives for our sanctification and growth in Christ-likeness. The Holy Spirit enables God’s work in our lives and will always be the means of bringing about things that we intercede for. When we pray for people’s salvation, we are asking for the Holy Spirit to do something that only the Holy Spirit can do, which is to reveal Christ and to convict of sin. All of that is the work of the Holy Spirit and never the work of the person witnessing or even the preacher—it is supernatural. When we pray, we are essentially saying, “God, intervene in this person’s life. Make this a divine event in their experience.”

      If we take a read through Paul’s 13 epistles, we will notice that when he prayed for people, he almost always prayed for the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Paul prayed in that manner because God’s answer to us—through our prayers—is to send His Holy Spirit to enable and equip us to become better people.

      The fullness of the Holy Spirit is not some experience somebody had one day. It is also not only something we need if we are going to be a missionary, or if we are going to be involved in Christian ministry. We need to live every day in the fullness of the Holy Spirit by surrendering to the Holy Spirit, and giving Him the freedom to implement His will and purpose in our lives when we pray.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Holy Spirit. I surrender my all to You. Lord, have Your way with my life. Amen!