Notice that I moved from simple Guidance to Divine Guidance because it is through GODS Grace of Christ that our guidance now comes to our awakened spirits. For it is in the spirits awakening and then its Growth by the food of the Living word. That GOD through Christ begins as the Spirit speaks to our spirit in what has been called Illumination or Light. This had also been spoken of as Revelation of Christ, the kingdom of GOD and Heaven restored within man. Not for Pastor Hoekstra's writing on Grace and the Holy Spirit. And then I will begin to look at Divine Guidance making full use of the ESV translation as found in my e-Sword program and as become my normal pattern I will edit as the LORD leads.
"More on Praying for the Fullness of the Spirit"
"And 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. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened . . . your heavenly Father [will] give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:9-10, 13)
"Here again, the work of the Spirit in our lives is associated with prayer. Prayer is that wonderful God-ordained means of relating through the LORD in humility and faith (the two means by which we access Grace). In praying, we are humbly admitting that we need GOD. In praying, we are exercising faith in GOD that HE Will act on our behalf. We pray; GOD moves by His Spirit, pouring out whatever Grace is necessary for any given situation. This is much similar to the night time hours of pray that the Lord Jesus did away from His disciples and king David during the night time watch that cause him to reveal spiritual things in the Psalms.
We saw this in our previous meditation. "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith . . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of GOD" (Ephesians 3:16-19). Here, prayer is the avenue to being filled with the bountiful work of the Spirit in our lives. We humbly ask; the LORD faithfully works. This is precisely the teaching of Jesus in our present passage.
The end of Jesus' message involves the Spirit being given to those who ask. "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" This is also where our scripture began. "And 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." These are three parallel commands, followed by three parallel Promises. Who receives Holy Spirit fullness? Those who ask GOD for such, without wavering. Who experiences the life-empowering work of the Spirit, that every child of GOD must find? Those who seek GOD for GOD to impart such. Who is flooded with the outpouring of GOD's Spirit? Those who knock prayerfully on heaven's doors.
Then, making these three "command-promise" couplets even more sure, Jesus adds three more statements of certainty. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." These are absolutes. There are no exceptions. Those who genuinely ask, seek, or knock can go on their way by faith, knowing that the LORD Will be doing a thorough work of His Spirit in them. If we have not this Spirit of Christ we are none of HIS! (Romans 8:9)
As with the earlier command to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), these imperatives are also in the present tense. They could be rendered: keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Again, this is a way to live; not a singular event."
Divine Guidance Sought:
Psalm 5:8-10 "Lead me, O LORD, in Your Righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O GOD; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against You."
Psalm 25:4-7 "Make me to know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your Truth and Teach me, for You are the GOD of my Salvation; for You I wait all the day long. Remember Your mercy, O LORD, and Your steadfast Love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your steadfast Love remember me, for the sake of Your goodness, O LORD!"
Psalm 27:11-14 "Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!"
Psalm 143:10-12 and Acts 1:24 "Teach me to do Your Will, for You are my GOD! Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground! For Your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In Your Righteousness bring my soul out of trouble! And in Your steadfast Love You Will cut off my enemies, and You Will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am Your servant."
Acts 1:15-26 "In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry." (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) "For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "'May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it'; and "'Let another take his office.' So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when He was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to His resurrection." And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, "You, LORD, Who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two You have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles."
From this point I will endeavor to cover crying to GOD and Instruction Sought, I have already covered Seekers elsewhere. All in the LORDS timing and as the LORD leads. Seek, Ask, and Knock then we reserve.
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