Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-098 Pentecost Sunday 19 May 2002

Reading: LUKE 11:5-13 – SPIRIT OR SCORPION?

(From ‘Encounter with God’ Bible Reading Notes)

‘If you pray without serving, your prayers will be in vain. If you serve without praying, your service will be in vain.'(1)

For many Christians the day of Pentecost and its meaning is still a closed book, says Canon Chris Neal. ‘Often, their first experience of the Holy Spirit is when the Christian faith begins to come alive and make sense'(2).

That was certainly true for the disciples. Even though they had proclaimed ‘the kingdom of God is near’ (10:9) they were still unsure about the nature of prayer (11:1) and their work would only begin in earnest after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit.(3) In this vivid story about a midnight-caller, Jesus describes what it means to live a ‘kingdom-lifestyle’.

In the first century it was perfectly acceptable to knock on a door and expect the hospitality still administered so graciously in the Middle East today. Less simple for the householder to get up and unlock the door (his livestock as well as his children would have been inside) but not impossible. We should expect the unexpected.(4) There is a rightness about this request. The householder should not have grumbled about doing his duty (v 7) because God delights to be in relationship with us.

And God wants to respond. Parents don’t, on the whole, set out to make life miserable for their children (vs 11,12), and it is not the Father’s nature to harm or confuse us (v 13). Assuming that our prayer is reasonable and right, and assuming we want to respond to the Father, then he will grant our requests.

Finally, the Father longs to give the gift of his Spirit (v 13b). What a difference it would make if we lived each day in the power of the Spirit and the Spirit working through us. And the only way we can do this is to discover the power and reality of prayer.

‘Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that you long to pour out the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please forgive me for the times I have refused to allow him to rule in my life.’

(1) Mother Teresa. 1910-97 (2) His Spirit is with us, BRF (3) Acts 2:4,14 (4) Eg Gen 18:1-8

– Rev Dr Michael Knowles

Copyright Scripture Union, 2002

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