Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Only Good Gifts

Photo Credit: Picdream / Pixabay
“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!” (Luke 11:9-13 NKJV)


God’s desire is that we come to Him boldly, asking, seeking and knocking for God’s good gifts. When we call upon the Lord and He delays His answer, we should not give up, but be persistent in our prayers.  One might not know why the Lord has yet to answer, but we must continue asking, seeking and knocking. If a reluctant parent will meet the needs of his or her children, how much more would our Heavenly Father meet the needs of His children? The beautiful thing is, the more we continue in prayer, the more our prayers will align up with the will of God. As we pray in agreement with God, that is when we will receive an answer to prayer. Because we continue looking, we will find and the door will be opened to us. He will not give any of His children something which will deceive or harm them, but only good gifts. The best of gifts is the Holy Spirit, which He gave to believers at Pentecost. Today all believers are indwelled by the Holy Spirit at salvation, so let us be led by Him. (See Eph. 1:13, and Romans 8:9, 14) When we are led by the Holy Spirit, we will abide in Jesus. We must remember what Jesus said, “… He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit...” (John 15:5b) Oh how precious this fruit is.

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. (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV)

I do not know about you, my friend, but I want to bear much more of these fruits in my life.

20 comments:

  1. God gives good gifts. in fact, all we receive from Him are good gifts if we look at them through His eyes. Thanks, Ken, for writing about Jesus and encouraging us With the Word.

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  2. The more we know WHO we are in Christ.
    The bolder we become.
    Thank you for these encouraging words, Ken, I sooo needed this reminder today.

    God's rich blessings to you and your household.

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    1. Carole,
      It is good to hear form you and I am blessed to know that you were encouraged by this post. I pray that the Lord bless you and your household also.

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  3. Hi Ken,

    So many times when we are hoping, praying, and waiting for something it's easy to stray from our faith and trust in Him. However, God uses these opportunities to stretch our faith, and when we accept and acknowledge that He has His own agenda, we actually grow during these times of waiting. He has a perfect timing for everything in our life, and He knows all the answers! :)

    Wonderful post Ken; you are always such a blessing!
    Denise

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    1. Thank you Denise for your kind words, which I appreciate greatly. Likewise I am always blessed in reading what you have written. You are so right, God does use these opportunities to stretch our faith and He always knows what is best. I pray that the Lord bless you,

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  4. Amen Ken,
    to bear much fruit is my desire too, and everything we need to be able to do this is contained in the scriptures. Praise His lovely name, it is what Jesus wants for us too.
    God bless you.

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    1. Hi Brenda, I hope and pray all is well with your booklet writing and I am blessed that you stopped by my blog and left a comment. Thank God for giving us His words in scripture so that we know Him and His ways so we can follow Him. God bless you too.

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  5. He is our Abba - our Father - our Daddy. And He has our best at heart. What a timely reminder Ken! Thank you for sharing this just when I needed it!
    Blessings and God's love to you,
    Deb

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    1. Hi Deb, nice to hear from you. I am glad you stopped by my blog and left your kind comment. I am blessed to hear that through this post, the Lord brought you a timely reminder. Blessings and God's love to you likewise.

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  6. Hi Ken,
    Looking from the eyes of a parent and knowing that Father looks to us in a very similar way, I know that sometimes I will give gifts to my kids that I don't really want to give because they have been very persistent in asking for them. Sometimes my husband and I don't give right away because of many reasons. It could be because they don't deserve it, or there is a danger involved or they are not mature enough for it or I am waiting for a certain characteristic to develop in them, etc. But I do know that if they bug me a lot about it, sometimes I will cave in to their request because the desire they have for this thing is bigger than my reasons for with holding it from them.

    I believe Father is like this too. If we are persistent in asking for something He might just say yes. :) Often, I believe, He is looking for qualities to grow in us or in the people that we are praying for. Like you said, the fruit of the Spirit will grow in us as we live in Him and I too desire much of this fruit in me.

    Blessings brother, thanks so much for sharing.
    <><

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    1. Child of God, oh yes I can relate exactly to what you said with kids being persistent and all. While sometimes I have given in when I should not have, God never makes mistakes. Which is a good thing. Thank you for your wonderful comment and may God bless you and your family.

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  7. Karen has left a new comment on your post "Only Good Gifts":

    Ken, I needed this today. I have several prayers that I have prayed for many years. Ask and keep on asking! Bless you.

    http://lilyvalley-karen.blogspot.com/

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  8. Karen, I must apologize. I published your comment then went to delete a bunch of spam comments. But instead of deleting them, I pushed the wrong button and published them. Then when I went to delete them again, I accidentally deleted your comment.

    Me too, I have prayers that I have prayed for years. Mainly the salvation of family members. Keep praying and God bless

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  9. Well, my friend, I absolutely want to bear more of those fruits! Especially the fruit of longsuffering. I have been so challenged by my move to the mountains this year - every little problem seems huge because I'm having such a time of adjusting after 29 years living *off the hill*.

    Yes, Lord, I'm asking for longsuffering - for the ability to walk this new walk with a better spirit - patient and enduring.

    GOD BLESS!

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    1. Sharon, I tend to not be patient at times too. Many times I jump before thinking or praying because when I decide I want something, I want it now. I am sure moving to the mountains has its challenges. Change can be trying. It is good to know the Lord is with us and working in and through us while we go through things. Thank you for your comment and God bless,

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  10. You know Ken, I am finding this out. About the boldness. God is not put off from our boldness. Especially when it has to deal with faith! He wants that from us. Thank you for sharing. Blessings.

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  11. JBR, you are right. We must be bold in our faith. I have people in my life I have prayed for their salvation for many years. Sometimes it is tempting to give up, but must not. There are different battles we face in life we must keep coming to the Lord praying about. Thank you for your comment and God bless,

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