Ask, Seek and Knock – the Power of the Holy Spirit in a Man’s Life (Luke 11.9-13)
Preacher: Rolands Zeltiņš
Livestream: youtu.be/YFIGrUIRq6k
Introduction: Father’s Day and the call to be honest
Take your seats. The children can go to Sunday school. I congratulate you on Father’s Day. I am glad to see all the fathers, husbands, brothers, and also the sisters.
Thank you for quickly picking things up and rocking the hall. Men, let us set an example. I hope that next year you will improve. Amen.
Thank you, men’s technical team. Where was I?
I am glad to see all of you. Today is a great day. Father’s Day.
This morning I walked into the hall and thought that Tom would turn on some sound like that, a roaring one. V8, V16?
To ignite the blood of men?
Maybe the sound of a hunt?
Or when a fisherman has caught a fish and is pulling it in?
Well, never mind, next year.
On Mother’s Day the services are usually very pleasant, very heartfelt. Kind words are spoken: you are so loved, you are valuable, you are wonderful. And thank you for everything that you do. We give you flowers. And, honestly, men sometimes want that too.
So on a Father’s Day like this, when we come, sit down, and when someone says to you: “Brother, you are loved, you are loved, we love you, everything will work out for you.”
Brothers, today will not be that kind of day. Or maybe it will.
The wall of heroes of faith: why God accepts imperfect men (Hebrews 11)
And during the prayer Olga read the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and afterwards I read that whole chapter. And some of you know that it is like a wall of heroes. And theologians call this chapter “the wall of heroes”.
Hebrews 11:1-2 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. (NKJV)
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Samson and David – they all fell
And as I read this chapter, I thought about how some biblical heroes, men of God, got in there. I read it and also looked inside myself. Noah was a man of faith.
Genesis 9:20-21 20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. (NKJV)
But after the flood he got drunk on the wine that he himself had made, and became a stumbling block for one of his sons.
Genesis 16:1-4 1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. (NKJV)
Abraham agreed to Sarah’s idea and slept with one of the maidservants to help God’s promise come to pass faster.
Exodus 2:11-12 11 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (NKJV)
And Moses even killed an Egyptian and tried to hide it by burying him in the sand. Gideon was many times disobedient to God.
Judges 6:36-40 36 So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said- 37 look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground. (NKJV)
Think about Samson. With his bare hands he could tear a lion in pieces, but he could not hold on to his own trousers.
Judges 14:5-6 5 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. 6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. (NKJV)
Judges 16:17-21 17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. (NKJV)
David used his authority to take another man’s wife.
2 Samuel 11:2-4 2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. (NKJV)
And then, in order to hide all of it, he sent that woman’s husband into battle, to his death. And I am mentioning all this not in order to judge. But I want to remind you, and for me it is like a reminder, of how merciful our God is. These husbands were not perfect.
They made mistakes, and sometimes very serious ones. They had their weaknesses, they had their own battles, for which they were most likely ashamed in front of themselves.
And when I look at myself, it feels strange to stand before you, because I know myself, I know my weaknesses, my weak spots. I know where I have failed and made mistakes, and I know how greatly I need God’s mercy. And I also need mercy from your side, your patience, your forgiveness.
Maybe the beauty of this chapter is hidden exactly in this. These were righteous men who fell seven times and got up again. These were men who doubted, but still kept trusting in the Lord.
And they got into this wall of heroes of faith not because they were perfect. But despite their mistakes and falls, they kept trusting in God and obeying what God told them to do.
God’s mercy is not an excuse for sin, but a reason to become like Christ
We must remember that God’s mercy is not permission and not an excuse for us to live in sin, but the opposite. Understanding and realising what Christ did for you on the cross, although you did not deserve it, a desire is born in us to become like Him and to live for Him. To become more patient at home, to keep the word we have given, to be quick to forgive and slow to anger, to love your wife, to take responsibility for yourself and for your church, to be the one who serves himself instead of waiting to be served. And, as I often say, in simple words: every day more and more to become like Christ.
Our family tree: addictions, anger, unforgiveness, broken families
And we need to truly see how great God’s mercy is. In order for us to be able to see this, it makes sense to look at our family tree. To look at where we came from.
Let each one of us now personally think about their ancestors, about their family tree, about where you came from. When I look at my lineage, at my past, at my fathers and grandfathers, I see addictions there, I see anger, I see unforgiveness, broken families, adultery. I see men who were not there for their family. I see the things that are not talked about at all.
Look at your family tree. But imagine: despite all this, somehow the Gospel of the Kingdom reached me and my family. Brothers and sisters, the Gospel has reached some of you too. Think honestly about this, about God’s mercy.
The Gospel reached us not by merit
And those who prayed and interceded for you. How often God protected us and preserved our lives, even though we tried to run away from Him.
And I hope that this will help you understand: this is not our merit, but God’s mercy and grace. God did not choose people who were so good and innocent.
Matthew 5:48 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (NKJV)
As Jesus says, only My Heavenly Father is perfect. By His mercy God called us, those whom the world would have rejected.
Those whom the world would have considered useless, God finds and makes worthy.
Something is missing: why our efforts do not change our life
But if we are honest, still something is missing. Something is missing. I like that our pastor, our apostle, has lately been calling us to be honest.
If we are honest towards ourselves and towards one another, we feel that something is missing, that everything is somehow not the way we would like it to be. Yes, I believe it.
Places that do not change for years
Yes, I know the Word of God, I serve. I have a personal testimony about Christ, about what God has done in my life. And, despite this, in my life there are places, there are things that have not changed for a long time, that do not change for years. I try to pull myself together. I promise that this will be the last time. Now everything will be different. But time passes.
And I believe that we all come to the conclusion that we are in the same place where we were. Your wife said some word to you – you simply exploded. You close up in yourself.
You again begin to react the way you would not want to react. I do not know about you, but I personally am tired of all this. I am not tired of work. I can work a lot.
But I am tired of trying to change something by my own strength. I care, I worry. I love Jesus. I also believe that you are not indifferent either, brothers and sisters, otherwise you would not be here.
Tiredness from trying to change yourself by your own strength
And sometimes our problem is not that we lack effort, because we do try, we fight, we put in effort, but it is not enough – to do it by our own strength.
And this does not mean that we simply need to grit our teeth and endure it, just to cross this line.
To become a better husband, a better brother, a better servant.
The disciples in Ephesus: believers who lacked the Holy Spirit (Acts 19.1-6)
What we need is the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us open the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 19.
Acts 19:1-6 1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (NKJV)
And there is this story there: Paul came to Ephesus.
And there he met some disciples. I am putting the emphasis exactly on disciples. They believed, but something was missing for them. The Acts of the Apostles, 19:1.
In the sixth verse we read the following. And also in the third. We will read it all.
The Holy Spirit in us and the Holy Spirit upon us
Brothers, men, raise your hands, I cannot see you. Robert.
I want to put the emphasis exactly on this, so that we not only see it, but also hear it. The reality is this: if we want, we men, husbands, brothers, sisters, to be faithful, strong, firm and humble, men who live with courage, who endure these difficulties, who endure these trials.
If we want to be men, husbands, like Christ, who loved the church, and to lead our families.
If we want to build such a family, in whose foundation there is peace, in which children want to come back home.
Then we need to understand that it is not enough that the Holy Spirit lives inside us.
But we must understand and simply grasp this: what it means when the Holy Spirit comes down upon us. Because we will not be able to become the men that God has called us to be only by our own willpower, by our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit so that we can live the way God has called us to live. We can see this difference: the Holy Spirit in us and the Holy Spirit upon us.
John 14: the Father’s house and a dwelling place inside us
So let us start with the foundation. The Gospel of John, chapter 14. This is the last evening, these are the last hours.
Before Jesus will be nailed to the cross.
And the disciples do not understand at all what is about to happen. Jesus again began to explain to the disciples what the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life means.
John 14:1-3 1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (NKJV)
How we understood this passage of Scripture: Jesus the carpenter builds houses
Long ago, many years ago, I know that many of us understood this passage of Scripture like this. Jesus was the son of a carpenter. Was it not so?
A carpenter. And therefore it is logical: when He goes to heaven, He will take His tools – a hammer, a measuring tool – and set off to heaven. And there He will build houses for us.
Maybe He will build someone a villa, someone else a more modest one. But the most important thing is that He will build each one his own place. And for a long time we thought that Jesus, when He builds houses for all of us, will come back here.
Because we multiply so quickly, He does not manage to build so many houses up there. Did anyone think like that before?
Thank you. I am not the only one who thought that.
Heaven inside us: God is preparing a dwelling place for Himself
And in fact Jesus promises that there will be a place for us together with Him. And in this is our hope. He will prepare a place for us near the Father. But this is not all that Jesus would like to say here.
Jesus did not come so that after our death we would have insurance that we will get to heaven. He came so that heaven could dwell inside us already now.
He will build this temple, this building inside you. And then God will be able to dwell in you personally.
Heaven is the place where God’s throne is, His presence, His fullness. Jesus through the cross not only opened for us the way to the Father, Jesus cleanses us.
He justifies us and makes us holy, so that God by His Spirit could dwell inside us.
Therefore Jesus did not come so that you would simply submit to God, but so that you would become this dwelling, the place where God dwells.
And in the fifteenth verse Jesus explains to His disciples:
John 14:15-17 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. (NKJV)
Brothers, mark these words.
He constantly abides in you and will be with you. Jesus says these words to His disciples before the crucifixion, before He died, before He rose again.
God always dwelt in a holy place, and now – inside you
The Old Testament: the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies and the temple
He says that in a few days all this will be fulfilled after His death. When we look at the Old Testament, God in the Old Testament dwelt in temples.
And He dwelt in the Holy of Holies – first in the Tabernacle of the Covenant, then in the Holy of Holies, then in the temple.
And God very clearly defined everything, what that place where He would dwell should be like, down to the details, down to the smallest things. Because God is holy, and He dwells in a holy place. Therefore the priests could not come to Him at any moment.
Christ cleanses and sanctifies those in whom He wishes to dwell
They had to be cleansed, they had to be sanctified. And Jesus points to this. Jesus lived a life that we cannot live.
He died for our sins and rose again. And through Christ God Himself prepared a dwelling place for Himself inside us.
He cleanses and sanctifies those inside whom He wishes to dwell. And when Jesus rose again, this promise began to be fulfilled.
John 20: Jesus breathed and gave the disciples the Holy Spirit
The disciples sit in fear behind closed doors, they are confused, they do not know what to do. And suddenly Jesus appears among them. And further – John 20:21-22.
John 20:21-22 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (NKJV)
Did you notice the connection with the book of Genesis?
Genesis 2:7 7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (NKJV)
He breathed on them the spirit of life. When God created Adam, He breathed into him the breath of life.
Then God breathed life into the man created from the dust. And now Jesus, who has risen…
He breathed and gave the disciples His Holy Spirit. Then the man became a living soul, and now the one who is in Christ becomes a new creation, a temple, a place where God dwells.
2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)
And Paul in his epistles speaks very clearly about this: “You are not carnal, but spiritual, in the spirit, when the Spirit of God dwells in you. But the one in whom the Spirit of Christ is not, that one does not belong to Him.”
Romans 8:9 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (NKJV)
You are God’s temple, but that is not enough
And all of this is about the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells inside us. If you have acknowledged Jesus as your Lord, then the Spirit of God dwells inside you. You are a new creation in Christ.
You are God’s temple, the place where God dwells. But the story does not end there, because this is not enough. Let us open the Gospel of Luke 24:49.
1 Corinthians 6:19 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (NKJV)
Ephesians 2:21-22 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (NKJV)
Luke 24:49 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (NKJV)
And let us now look at the Acts of the Apostles 1:8.
Acts 1:8 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV)
Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8: be endued with power from on high
As if we had just read in the Gospel of Luke that the disciples received the Holy Spirit. Or did they not receive?
They received, they received the Holy Spirit. But Jesus came to them after His resurrection and says: wait, do not go anywhere yet. If they already had the Holy Spirit, why did Jesus not say to them: go?
But He says: wait, wait. Stay in the city until you receive power from on high. Because there is a difference between when the Holy Spirit dwells in us and when the Spirit of God is upon you.
This is when He gives you power to do what you cannot do by your own strength.
Look at this difference in the words of Jesus. Jesus did not say: you will receive the Holy Spirit in order to become My witnesses. First He says: you will receive power. And then He says what will happen when this power is upon us. Exactly at that time you will become His witnesses.
God gives power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, to do what we must do. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, His power from on high makes possible what we are not able to do by our own strength. And to be His witnesses is the most obvious thing that we can do for Him.
When the Holy Spirit is upon us, we do it with courage, with confidence. And when the Holy Spirit is in us, He makes inside us a dwelling place for God. And the Holy Spirit upon us gives us the ability to live the way God desires.
Much effort, but little power
And again, if we are honest with ourselves, an uncomfortable question arises. We put in so much effort, so much striving, but in all of it there is little of the Spirit’s power.
Men who walk in power, and not only in discipline
So many men attend the gatherings of the saints. So many husbands have awakened at this time. There are many men who attend conferences, listen to lectures, read books, write down their goals, learn good practices. All of this is good, and all of this is needed. I do this too.
But there are so few men who walk in power. For years you fight with some temptations and try to overcome it by your willpower. You strictly say to yourself: “I will not get angry anymore.”
But sooner or later you cannot hold yourself back. You want to be a husband who leads his family. But when the time comes to pray, to intercede for your wife, for your children, you do not do it, you would rather work.
You know that you need to forgive. But for years you carry inside yourself some unforgiveness, some burden. You know what is right. You know how Jesus would act.
But when the moment comes when you need to stand up and take your place, courage is lacking, confidence is lacking.
And the problem is not that we do not know what we need to do. We know what we need to do, but we do not have the power to do it all. A good practice, a good habit – that is good. Discipline – that is good.
We want to be like oaks, but we turn out different
But your willpower was never meant to overcome what can only be overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit. We all want to be like oaks. We want to be like the man spoken about in the first psalm.
Psalm 1:1-3 1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. (NKJV)
A tree planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth fruit in its season. We all want that. But if we are honest, we turn out different.
Wherever the wind blows, there we are. We boil over quickly, we flare up. It is hard for us to take criticism. We try to control others, because we are not sure of ourselves.
We run away into work, because there we feel needed. And we are too… too… You can insert any word you want here.
We are too fearful, too unsure. It is even hard for us during worship to raise our hands to the Lord, to raise our voice. I am saying this about myself too.
And I believe that this concerns you as well.
Why is this not working: spiritual battle with fleshly resources
Why is this not working?
Why are men silent?
Paul himself knew this battle personally. In the Epistle to the Romans, in the seventh chapter, he writes.
Romans 7:19 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. (NKJV)
And in the Epistle to the Galatians he explains why this happens.
Galatians 5:17 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (NKJV)
You cannot negotiate with the flesh: it never says “enough”
About a man’s flesh we must understand one thing – you cannot negotiate with it. It is like fire, like a bonfire.
It will never say to you “enough”. You can keep throwing and throwing wood in – it will never be enough. It devours everything. The same is true with the flesh. It never says “enough”.
Do you know when it is satisfied?
When it has laid itself in the grave. Sometimes young people say to me: “I am tired, I want to rest.”
I say to them: you can rest in the grave, now is the time to work. This is what the flesh desires. It never says: “Enough”. Just give it a little finger – it will grab the whole hand.
One click on the internet requires the next one and the next. One small untruth or lie leads to a sea of lies.
“Well, alright, as an exception, I will do this only once”. And in the end it becomes a habit. The flesh is like an abyss that cannot be filled. No matter how much you throw in there, no matter how much you fill it.
No matter how much you discuss with it and try to come to an agreement, it is never enough for it and it constantly needs more. It is enough to just try a little, to take a little into yourself, to smoke something.
To inject something into yourself. And this abyss begins. Therefore it is better not to try. Better not to taste. Because this abyss… Amen.
Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (NKJV)
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.
What does it mean: “I have followed Jesus for a year”?
How can this be?
I have followed Him for a year, two, three, five, ten, and my life becomes more and more like a fleshly life.
Why is my life of the flesh, and not of the Spirit?
The answer is very simple. I fight the flesh with the flesh. I try to win.
We men try to win victory in this spiritual battle by the strength of the flesh. That is why I am tired. That is why you are tired.
It does not work. It does not work not because you try too little, but because you try with the wrong tool. We try to overcome our flesh with the flesh.
We apply more willpower, a stricter regime, higher self-discipline, new promises: “But this time it is definitely the last time”.
Today is the last time I will drink. This time is the last time I will smoke a cigarette. And in a month we are in the same place. Not because discipline is something bad.
Discipline simply cannot replace walking in the Spirit.
Put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, not by your own strength
Galatians 5:16 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (NKJV)
As Paul says in Galatians 5:16: walk in the Spirit, and then you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
Romans 8:13 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. (NKJV)
And in Romans 8:13 he continues: for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit, if by the power of the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.
Do not negotiate, do not conspire, but put to death. And with what can we put to death the deeds of the flesh?
With power. This is not a fleshly battle. So often we do the opposite.
We negotiate with our sin, with our bad habits, we discuss: “Well, just a little, I will drink just a little.
So that my friends do not mock me. I will do it only for your health. Only out of respect. I can stop at any moment”. My classmates still cannot stop.
So many years have passed already, they still cannot stop in this. And for them it has become the norm, a daily norm. Can you not meet a person when he is sober, talk with him as a man with a man?
You are called to put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit.
You are called to put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, and not the deeds you have invented yourself. And then we are surprised. Why does our marriage look the way it looks?
Why do our children, after school, after their clubs, not want to come back home?
Why am I so empty?
But I do attend the gatherings of the saints. During the praise I even stand on my feet.
It does not matter that I stand like this all the time with my arms folded. And then we are so tired. For years we try to win victory in this spiritual battle with fleshly resources.
But then the next question arises.
Do you have the next question, or is it only me?
Rolands, how is this done?
God, how is this done?
Jesus, how is this done?
How is this done: ask, seek, knock
There is good news. Jesus did not leave us with a riddle. He told us very directly and clearly, concretely. There is nothing there that needs to be read between the lines. Maybe I will still read a little between the lines.
Let us open Luke, chapter eleven. And with this we will finish. It does not matter that I am only halfway through my conspectus.
The disciples asked: “Lord, teach us to pray”
The disciples saw that Jesus was different. I think they guessed that it was because of Jesus’ prayer life. How He prayed, what He prayed about, to whom He prayed. And in the eleventh chapter of Luke we read what Jesus revealed to His disciples.
Did the disciples wait until Jesus finished praying?
The disciples waited. They waited until Jesus finished praying. And then one of them dared to ask. He dared to ask what, probably, all the disciples were thinking about.
Luke 11:1 1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” (NKJV)
These men, the disciples, had been next to Jesus for many years in a row. They saw how Jesus healed the sick, how He fed thousands of people, how He calmed the wind, the storm. But despite all this, what interested the disciples most was that He would teach them to pray. We see that in the Bible the disciples asked Jesus about many things, for Him to explain the parables to them.
Why do the evil spirits not listen to them?
But this is the only place in the Gospel of Luke where the disciples say: teach us to pray. Not teach us to preach. Not teach us to perform miracles. Not teach us to lead people. But, Lord, teach us to pray. When we read, and I am sure you know what we will read, look at what Jesus answered to this.
The prayer “Our Father”: a pattern of prayer and Jesus stopping
Luke 11:2-4 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.” (NKJV)
And then Jesus stopped.
The parable of the friend at midnight and persistence
There was still something else to pray about. But Jesus simply stopped. And then Jesus began to tell them parables.
Luke 11:5-8 5 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; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 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’? 8 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. (NKJV)
Let us suppose that one of you has a friend. And if he comes to him at midnight and says: 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. And the one inside will answer: do not trouble me, the door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give to you. Jesus, up to this moment I agree with You. We are on the same wavelength. If you came to me at night…
At three in the morning and knocked on my window?
Only because some friend came to you after a party, and you have nothing to feed him with?
And you came to me and say: hey, Rolands, lend me some bread. No, I will not lend you bread, because at night one needs to sleep. Jesus wants to provoke some reaction in us. Imagine: at night someone comes, you have already fallen asleep. The children are already put to bed. The wife is also put to bed. And you yourself have already fallen asleep. And if we are honest, parents, do not show this passage of Scripture to your children.
Otherwise they will ask to sleep in the same bed with you. And they will say that it is biblical. Rikards, when you do the editing, cut this out. And suddenly in the middle of the night you hear someone knocking. And you are scared?
You woke up?
Usually the wife wakes up first: “Darling, someone is knocking at the window there”. And you: “Darling, go and have a look”. Do not do that. I speak from experience: a wife does not take jokes at night so well.
Let us look further. The eighth verse. I say to you: if he does not rise and give to him because he is his friend, then because of this friend’s persistence he will rise and give him as much as he asks.
Luke 11:9-13 9 “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. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 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? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 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!” (NKJV)
Therefore I say to you: pray, and it will be given to you. Seek – and you will find, knock – and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Which of you fathers, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
Or when he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent instead of a fish?
So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father, listen carefully, give the Holy Spirit to the one who asks Him. I want us to hear this.
Prayer that does not give up
What Jesus has just revealed to His disciples: ask, knock, seek. This requires persistence. This is not simply a one-time matter. I prayed – I am saved.
The Holy Spirit lives inside me, how nice. Oh, I have power. No, you do not have power. If you desire to have power, you ask, you seek, you knock. And here is the challenge.
We prayed once – and we give up. Men give up. I know, we do not like to repeat the same thing several times. But Jesus says: pray. We go to church and think: “Ah, let the pastor pray instead of me”. Someone comes to church and thinks: “Oh, all the problems will be solved, after all I have come to the gathering of the saints. Maybe I will be given some holiness from someone else”.
No, it will not pass over to you. You will go home as empty as you came. And not because God does not give, but because you did not ask for it and did not desire it. What should we hear?
The Holy Spirit dwells inside you from the day you believed. This is given to you. You do not need to ask for this, you do not need to worry about it. But the power that comes down from on high upon you – for this we must ask.
Jesus says that for this we must ask. And this is exactly what this chapter is about. How much more will the Heavenly Father grant His Spirit to those who ask Him for it. And no one can do this instead of you. The pastor cannot, the wife cannot, your father cannot.
You yourself must knock on these doors. My question to you is – will you pray?
Will you ask?
Will you persistently ask God?
Will you be that man who does not back down?
Or will you be such a lukewarm person in your prayers, without tears, who never stands on his knees before God?
Who does not raise his hands, who does not seek, does not pray, does not knock. What kind of man will you be?
This is a very serious question for each one. God desires that you pray and ask. God wants you to seek and knock. That you fall to the ground, on your knees before God, face to the ground.
Be ready to be such a man who falls on his face, falls on his knees before God. Be a man who is not afraid to raise his hands. Stop expecting that someone else will do it instead of you.
It is not my duty to pray for you. You yourself must pray, knock yourself, seek yourself, if you want the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon you and upon your life.
Upon your studies, upon your marriage, upon your family, your children. In order for your ministry to change, you must ask, you must seek, you must knock. We must be men who ask, knock and seek.
Matthew 7:7 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (NKJV)
Three simple things: ask, seek, knock
Jesus tells us three simple things: pray, ask, seek, knock.
To ask means to admit that you lack something
To ask means to admit that you lack something, that you yourself cannot do it. You yourself cannot give yourself everything that you need.
Real prayer begins with admitting your own inability
Such real prayer comes when you admit to yourself that you cannot accomplish all this by your own strength. Father, I need You. Give me what only You can give me.
Therefore, men, seek, do not be passive. Open the Bible. Go to prayer. Check your heart.
Ask God the question: God, what do You desire to reveal to me?
What do I need to change?
What must I be obedient in?
To seek God means to desire God Himself
To seek God does not mean to desire only His help, but it means to desire God Himself. God says in His word, in the proverbs of Solomon.
Proverbs 25:2 2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (NKJV)
The honour of God is to cover, to conceal some matter. The honour of a king is to open it, to reveal it.
Knock: when your strength ends, the Father opens the doors
When Jesus says: knock – there are things, there are places where, when your strength ends, you cannot open these doors yourself.
Bring your sins, fears and tiredness to the Father
Maybe outwardly it seems as if you hold everything in your hands, but you are tired. Maybe at work all the responsibility is placed on you. There are some burdens, difficulties, heaviness.
You do not tell anyone about it, you have closed yourself off. Maybe in the evening you want to stay alone with yourself, so that no one disturbs you.
Maybe for years you have already got used to it and learned to answer: everything is fine. Although everything is not fine. You do not go deeper into yourself.
And you do not need to dig even deeper into yourself, but go to the Father. Go to the Heavenly Father. You do not need to always pretend to be strong. Bring before God your sins and your experiences.
Your fears. Tell Him that I do not know how to fix my marriage, my relationships. Tell Him that you are tired. Tell Him that you need freedom from what secretly keeps you in slavery.
There will be discomfort: God’s will is not always convenient
But there is a very important condition that we need, men, to know. There will be discomfort – it will not be comfortable.
We are used to thinking that comfort is what we are entitled to.
What do you think, Paul, when he was in prison, was it comfortable for him there?
In the lions’ den, was David comfortable there?
When Jesus was on the cross, was He comfortable?
God’s will for your life will not always be convenient for you.
Obedience will not be convenient. Forgiveness will not be convenient. Admitting your mistake will not be convenient. Telling the truth will not be convenient. Taking a step of faith for the Lord will not be convenient.
Therefore the question is, will it be convenient for me?
The time has come to feel comfortable when it is uncomfortable. The time must come to an end when men build their life around comfort, and we must learn to be faithful to God when it is uncomfortable. And there is only one question.
Hearers or doers: there is a place on the wall of faith for you too
Will we be only hearers of the word or doers?
I began with the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 11, verses 32-34.
Hebrews 11:32-34 32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. (NKJV)
They overcame their weakness and were strong in time of war. Here it does not say that they were strong by themselves. They were made strong out of weakness and were strong in battle. On this wall of faith there is not one who got there because of his good qualities. There is no one there who got in because of his strength. But you know what?
There is a place there for you too.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done with love. (NKJV)
The call and prayer: raise your voices
Come before God as you are. Pray, seek, knock, and He will strengthen you.
Brothers, pray for one another
I want to ask Laura. Brothers, find some other brother next to you and stand next to him. The older with the younger. Let no one remain alone. David. The second David. There are not so many of you, sit together. Go forward, go all together. Lay your hands on each other’s shoulders.
Lord, we invite You to this place. We thank You that You are here. We thank You for our brothers, for our men, for our men with power. Not according to the flesh, but in the spirit. We thank You, Lord.
Maybe some of the brothers need today to get on their knees, to be honest and say: brother, pray for me. And maybe someone needs exactly you, your voice, the voice of a father, your maturity, your authority, so that you would pray for him. Therefore, brothers, lay your hands on each other’s shoulders and raise your voices before the Lord. Just receive the prayer and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you.
If He says nothing, then just receive. Brothers, your place is very important. Your posture is very important. Bow down before the Lord.
Because it speaks about your heart, about your attitude.
God comes where He is thirsted for
What happened in the Acts of the Apostles in the nineteenth chapter?
Acts 19:1-6 1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (NKJV)
Paul laid hands on these men. And the Holy Spirit came down upon them, because these men desired, thirsted for the Holy Spirit, because God comes where He is thirsted for.
God is always where He is thirsted for. Brothers, do you desire God?
Do you desire to ask God?
Do you admit that you lack your own strength, that for years you have not managed, that for years we are in the same place?
Therefore Jesus says: ask, ask, and the Father will give you. He will give the Holy Spirit upon you, and you will receive power to do what you must do.
Do not carry your burdens alone
Brothers, what you carry, you carry alone. No one knows what is happening in your marriage, in your relationships. No one knows what you are fighting with. No one knows how very tired you are.
You do not need to carry this alone. Pray together. And do not be those who seek only someone who would pray for them. But receive prayer, learn, listen, and then become those who will pray for others.
Therefore, brothers, I pray for you, I pray for myself, that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18-19 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, (NKJV)
Be filled with the Spirit: worship and praise
And as Paul writes to the Ephesians: do not be drunk with wine, from which comes a corrupt life, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. And there it says: speak to one another with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, glorifying the Lord.
When we raise our voices, brothers, we sing to God, when we are obedient to the Word of God and raise our voices. Then this begins to be fulfilled. God begins to act in accordance with His Word.
If you want to know how the Holy Spirit comes, then open your mouth and cry out to God, cry out to the Lord. Maybe you can sing some melody.
Worship unites us and leaves no time for grumbling
We must understand that we are not singing to the pastor or to the worship leaders, because through worship, through praise, through giving with our voice, we rise, we are united.
When we come together and glorify God, it unites us. Then we will have no time to grumble. When we will worship and glorify, we will have no time to gossip. When we worship and glorify God, we will have no time to be angry.
Because the life-giving Spirit of God comes upon us, and He fills this place, because we need the Spirit of God. Brothers, raise your voices, lift up your voices.
This will not happen if you are closed in your heart. Open up, open up your voices. Proclaim God’s truth.
2 Samuel 6:14-16 14 Then David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 Now as the ark of the LORD came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. (NKJV)
King David, the richest king in the country, a man of all men. With his own hands he killed more people than you and I have in a whole lifetime. He put on the ephod and began to dance before God. And he danced so that even his wife became ashamed for him. He danced so that his wife began to be ashamed of him, brothers.
When men lift up their voices – it is not weakness, it is courage. It gives confidence. When you put the Lord in front. Glory to You, dear Heavenly Father.
Conclusion: do this every day
Brothers, I want you to hear: this needs to be done every day, every day.
And at this time I was getting up from the bed, waking up, and the first thing I asked for was – Holy Spirit, I need You. I do not know how to accomplish all this without You. You entrusted me to share the word. For me it is not easy. It is uncomfortable for me to share, but You give me strength.
