Nougat 3

Everybody loves gifts, well most people anyways. That’s probably related to the sense of well-being which accompany a gift; as well as the thought of someone making the effort to select an item and offer it free of cost. Of course, many of us have a list of what qualifies as a good gift; both for giving (from us) or receiving (by us). And that list changes from time to time. God also offers us gifts, and we get a foretaste in Today’s Holy Nougat

“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 ‭NIV‬‬

It is so easy to zero in on the giving of good gifts and forget that the promise is actually surrounding The Gift – of God’s Spirit. Yet, according to Jesus, God’s Spirit IS the Gift available to each of us for the asking. Do we agree? Have we asked for The Gift?

I recall some time ago reflecting on the key features of God’s Spirit: Comforter (accompanies us in distress); Advocate (is ready to defend us and represent us before God), Teacher (providing the information we need to recall about God, Jesus and God’s Word), Intercessor (yup, when we are in distress or have become the point of distress, God’s Spirit has us covered; speaking directly with God for us) or GPS (navigational support as we figure our way to remain in God’s presence); and I realize that I haven’t even begun to unpack My Gift from God Who keeps on giving.

Yes God’s Spirit keeps giving us gifts to enhance our character, our witness and also our relationship with Jesus. So we have ‘spiritual gifts’ AND the ‘Fruit of The Spirit’ that are made manifest in our lives by God’s Spirit. Considering that the Fruit has Nine Facets and that spiritual gifts operate in different ways at different moments of our lives; we definitely are getting a great gift when we ask for God’s Spirit.

I know, it seems odd that we ask for God’s Spirit when God’s Spirit is with us the moment we accept Jesus in our lives; we will chew on that soon. For now, we revert to our questions: Do we honestly believe that God’s Spirit is a Good Gift worth asking for? (Hopefully our time together has whet our appetite for more understanding of God’s Spirit) Have we actually asked God to gift us with God’s Spirit?

Selah

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May all we seek be found in Christ