Luke 11:13 (NIV) – “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!”
“[…] Miracles are like warning flags. They signal the presence of a different order of reality that is present in the midst of our everyday world. David Hume thought of miracles as violations of the laws of nature. But there is another way of thinking about them. It is to see them not so much as violations of an existing order but as indications of the presence of a different order. On this view, miracles are not bizarre, random events. They are tokens of a higher order that is ultimately more real than our world of change and decay…
“To open the door to the possibility of miracles is not to open the door to every myth and legend. But how do we know the difference between the genuine and the fake? Once more we are back with the question of analogy… ‘Does the miracle story bear any analogy to my understanding of God and his creation?’ …It does not mean that in order to believe in miracles we have to abandon all our scientific understanding… scientific credibility is not the only kind of credibility at issue. There is also the matter of theological credibility. It is no less important to ask, ‘Does the miracle story fit with what we know of the character of God?’ …truth demands that we look for analogies not only with our understanding of nature but with God’s revelation of himself. The Christian operates with two frames of reference. One is our understanding of the natural world. The other is our understanding of God.” [C. Brown, That You May Believe: Miracles and Faith Then and Now]
“Here is how to receive. First, present your body to Him (Rom. 12: 1, 2). God can’t fill what He can’t have. Now I ask you: Are you ready to present your body with all of its functions and all that it contains—your mind, your personality, your spirit, your love, your ambitions, your all? That is the first thing. That is a simple, easy act—presenting the body. Are you willing to do it? Now the second thing is to ask (Luke 11: 9-11), and I set aside all theological objections to this text. They say that is not for today. Well, why did the Lord leave it in the Bible then? Why didn’t He put it somewhere else; why did He put it where I could see it if He didn’t want me to believe it? It is all for us, and if the Lord wanted to do it, He could give it without our asking, but He chooses to have us ask. ‘Ask of me, and I will give thee’ is always God’s order; so why not ask?” [Tozer, A. W.. How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit, Kindle Locations 424-428.]
Application: As a response to the Father in Heaven who gives the Holy Spirit, let ask. Just ask. Why not ask for the miracles in our lives?
– MK
