Book: With Christ in the School of Prayer
Chapter 7: How much more the Holy Spirit OR The All Comprehensive Gift

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him! Luke 11:13

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord had already given utterance to His wonderful How much more? Here in Luke, where He repeats the question, there is a difference. Instead of speaking, as then, of giving good gifts, He says, ‘How much more shall the heavenly Father give THE HOLY SPIRIT?’ He thus teaches us that the chief and the best of these gifts is the Holy Spirit, or rather, that in this gift all others are comprised. The Holy Spirit is the first of the Father’s gifts, and the one He delights most to bestow. The Holy Spirit is therefore the gift we ought first and chiefly to seek.

When Andrew Murray pointed out the subtle difference between Matthew and Luke account of the same story, it was like a light bulb going off in my head. See for yourself:

Matthew 7.11 NRSV
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Luke 11:13 NRSV
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

At times, I think we get caught up in desiring to have more spiritual gifts manifest in our meetings. We eagerly expect a healing or a prophecy or a miracle. These things are good, actually very good! However, Murray squarely points out that it’s our Father’s desire to give us – first and foremost – The Gift of His Spirit. It is from this Gift that all of the other gifts flow.

As the Spirit of the Father, and the Son, the whole life and love of the Father and the Son are in Him; and coming down into us, He lifts us up into their fellowship. … The Father can bestow no higher or more wonderful gift than this: His own Holy Spirit, the Spirit of sonship.

Let me ask you some probing hypothetical questions: Let’s say for a moment that the Spiritual gifts never existed (administration, preaching, teaching, knowledge, leadership, wisdom, healing, prophecy, mercy, miracles, tongues, service, etc). Let’s say that the only gift we ever received, at the time of becoming of a Christian, was only the Holy Spirit. 1. What would you do with that gift for the rest of your life? 2. Would you find yourself getting bored with that gift? 3. Will that gift be destined to become abandoned and forgotten like almost every other Christmas gift?

I believe that all of us, in some sense, can loose sight of why the Holy Spirit is the first and greatest of all the gifts. Through the Spirit the very presence of God is dwelling inside of us. It is through the Spirit we can now enjoy intimate fellowship with our Creator and Lord.

If we but yield ourselves entirely to the disposal of the Spirit, and let Him have His way with us, He will manifest the life of Christ within us.

When we have fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit, we cannot help but become more like Jesus: the person who exemplified what it meant to have intimate fellowship with the Father. I believe this intimate fellowship is the essence of kingdom living.

This devotional was recently featured in the Summer 2008 issue of “The Gift”, a quarterly journal published by TwoShirts.org.

Confessions of a Tightwad
By Brian Stevenson

Some people have said that admitting your problem is the first step to recovery. I’m desperate, so let’s give it a shot, “Hello, my name is Brian, and I’m a tightwad.” Here are some telltale signs of a tightwad:

1. We will agonize over the idea of buying something, then agonize a second time after the money has been spent.
2. When we go to a restaurant with friends we breakdown the cost of every appetizer and divvy up the cost down to the penny.
3. If we find one small thing wrong with a product or service, we will insist they waive all or part of the bill rather than give an opportunity to correct what’s wrong.

We tightwads might outwardly claim noble titles such as “frugal” or “thrifty”. However, we pass up purchases not because we enjoy saving money but because we hate to part with our cash. We will often abstain from buying material things not because we are striving to live a simple life, but because we find security when we hoard our money. In other words, tightwads are dominated by a sense of fear.

I believe that God has spoken words of encouragement for us in Psalms 112. When you read this passage, look for three things: 1. How do we relate to the LORD? 2. What do we receive from the LORD? 3. What is our response to the provision of the LORD?

Psalms 112:1-10
1 Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.

2 His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.

4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.

5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.

6 Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.

7 He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be lifted high in honor.

10 The wicked man will see and be vexed,
he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

The author of this Psalm draws our attention to a righteous person. This righteous person relates to the Lord with praise, reverence, and delighting in His commands. In other words, the righteous have a relationship with God that is full of life. In Psalm 119 we read how the words of the Lord are sweeter than honey! Our relationship with God is not supposed to be bland or boring; it is supposed to be enjoyed.

The righteous receive several things from their relationship with God; blessings, provision for our needs, and sense of security. God does not promise a smooth-sailing life; he promises to be with us in all of our circumstances. The righteous still go through darkness (v. 4) and get bad news (v. 7). The difference is that when a righteous person places their trust in the Lord, they will have no fear during their circumstances. In other words, our foundation should be built on the Lord, not our wealth.

The righteous respond to their relationship with the Lord in several ways. They are generous, compassionate, and do what is right. The righteous simply do what they see their Father doing. Since they have placed their trust in the Lord, they are now free to respond generously with all of the resources they are stewarding.

Take some time to meditate on your relationship with God. If it has been a little dry lately, consider a reading one Psalm each day for the next eight days (Psalm 92, 103, 104, 106, 111, 146, 147, 148). Ask yourself, “Where am I finding security; in my money or in the Lord?” Remind yourself that your greatest treasure and source of security is not your money, but rather God Himself. When we begin to embrace the immeasurable treasures of our Lord, our natural response is to give freely and generously.

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Brian Stevenson is a Twoshirts.org member and student at Vineyard Leadership Institute. He is married to his wife Tanya and together they live in Columbus, Ohio.

I recently sent this article to some of my co-workers and family and it has caused quite storm! I enjoy a little controversy, so I’m going to unleash this article on my blog. The article was written by Liz Pulliam Weston, a personal finance columnist. Her article can be found on MSN Money: Gift cards are not gifts.

I considered this article to be very thought provoking. The two main thrusts of the article are: 1) The art of gift-giving is quickly devolving into an entirely commercial exchange. 2) A gift card says nothing about the personality of the recipient — but it says lots about the giver. She closes with some practical advice to follow if you are going to buy a gift card.

One of my co-workers (I’ll call him Reggie) read the FIRST FEW paragraphs of the article and then shot back saying,

“This lady sounds like an idealist!!!! Who in the World has time to know that much about everybody???? I can’t answer all of those question about my wife??!!?!!!?!!!! I’ve only known her for 40 years but she has changed over time (numerous times) and so has her interests. So you see, these items this lady has pointed out are dynamic, always changing…….In conclusion, she is obviously out of touch or only knows 2 people. Ahahahahahahahah Thanks for sharing.”

For those of you who don’t know Reggie, he’s very opinionated! I also know that he’s a strong Christian too. So I didn’t have any problem bringing religion into the mix. My reply was:

“She is far from being an idealist. The point that she’s making is that people have lost the art of gift giving. The gift that is given often speaks more about the giver than the recipient. Not to make this a religious thing (but I am), but what does the gift of Jesus Christ speak about the nature of God? It’s speaks of God’s love, his desire to redeem the earth, he desire to dwell among us, his desire to heal, his desire to conquer sin and death, his desire right every wrong, and his desire to establish his rule and reign on earth as it is in heaven. Thank God He didn’t give us a gift card.”

So what do YOU think?