"How Much More?"

"How Much More?"

Good morning!
I know the last thing that I said yesterday was that we would be learning about how God addresses our troubles and how He never leaves us without help if we trust in Him, but I have been hearing that for years and it didn't seem to really make my trouble any easier!

I have heard people say that we must suffer through and be
L-O-N-G-S-U-F-F-E-R-I-N-G and I have been told that my difficulty is between me and God so I just needed to pray about it.

When I had come home from out of town and found my wife had moved most of our things out while I was gone and as she drove off that day while my I held my crying girls in the driveway I knew that I needed more help than knowing I was going to have to be long suffering.......
The very next day I went to our new pastor and he told me that he would pray with me but he couldn't counsel me because of his longstanding association with her father. Yes, this was quite a shock to me! I almost fell out of my chair! I just sat there and looked at this man while he was praying and wondered who he was even talking to. The God I had begun to know at this point in my life was not about favoring the high and mighty; He was about compassion and healing the poor, sick and hurting!
That was my wake up call! I realized that I had been putting my confidence in men for many years just like the rest of the crowd, making our way down that wide path that leads to destruction! It was time for a long journey to find the truths that would make a person real in their faith and real in their relationship with God!
That was in May 0f 2002 and it took me about a year and a half of seeking and reading whenever I could, to find the truth that set me free of the burdens of this world! I found on Feb. 2, 2004 the precious truth that says that Jesus did it all to redeem us; He did it all to give us endless mercy and endless grace! I had to do nothing to deserve it and I couldn't do anything that any man required of me to ever come close to obtaining this gift of God!

The only thing that we can do as a part of receiving it is to believe in our Lord and Savior, Jesus! That's it! There is no need to live in the oppression of Satan! God wants us to live a VICTORIOUS life!!!

That's what I want you to do today! Start today by doing what the scriptures say! God wants to be your heavenly Father and he wants to give you the Holy Spirit that will change the way you think; the way you talk; the way people treat you and MOST importantly, the way we treat others! Ready to find out how?

When I found this out in my studying one morning I couldn't really understand the difference it would make in my life! That's why I'm so excited right now about sharing it with you!

Remember our scripture from yesterday? I titled it "Just Ask!". Well, that is going to fall right into place with finding out how the Lord takes care of ALL of our troubles! You thought I had forgotten that we were going to address this trouble issue, didn't you?
You see, it all ties in together! The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us that dwells in us and goes with us throughout our day. Let's read the next verses in Luke 11 starting with verse 11,

Luke 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he shall ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luke 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

Can you even imagine a father or mother ever giving their child something that would harm them? I believe it would be pretty harmful for my daughter to try to eat a rock and I would never give her a rock to eat! I certainly wouldn't ever offer her alligator or carp if she asked me for fish to eat! I would try to pick out the best tasting fish I could find at the store and I would prepare it so that she would delight in the taste of it when she put it into her mouth. We delight in our children's happiness! Why? Because we are made in the likeness of our heavenly Father! That's right! We think like He does and we are called evil in verse 13 because we have all sinned against God due to the sinful nature of our flesh and bodies!

When my daughter Cassidy was about six years old she just wasn't interested in eating eggs. I tried omelets, scrambled, with cheese, even a Russian version I had learned where you cut the center out of a piece of bread with a small cup, butter the bread and lay it in the pan. then you put the egg in the center of the bread, cook and flip and you have a popular Russian breakfast. Oh, they also butter and lay the center of the bread into the pan for a minute or two to make a nice little round piece of toast. My girls loved those but they grew tired of them so it was good once ever couple of weeks.
One Saturday morning Cassidy decided to help me and she suggested we put some of the garlic Parmesan cheese on the eggs before we flipped them and it smelled as good as it tasted. Instantly my little girl became a fan of eggs. The reason I told you all of this is to make a point!

Looking at verse 12, it says "Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ". I never even thought anything close to that before! Why not? Because we are made in the likeness of God! We love our children more than anything else in this world!

Do you get it? Jesus wants us to understand how much our heavenly Father loves us! Our children kind of forget that sometimes when they are away from us for a long while. They need reminding and they call us or want to get together and talk about the past. Isn't that how it is with our time with the Lord in prayer and spending time in the Word? Doesn't it feel good when you open the pages and start reading after a week of rushing here and there or maybe even a long day at work? We come back to our Father to remind us of His love and care for us.
If we stay away too long we begin to feel all alone and start getting desperate! Sometimes we even start looking for help in other places and people. Let's read on,

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

How much more? How much more? Think about that for a minute! How much more do you think God will give us than we can give to our children? How much does God want to give to us if we want to give to our children all that their little hearts desire? God's love is unconditional. God's sources are unlimited. God has the ability to change anything at any time if we believe! God wants to do that for us and He went so far as to say, "how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? "

All you have to do is ask! Just Ask! Your father is waiting for you today! He wants to give you the best He can give to you, the Holy Spirit! Don't be afraid, don't continue in depression, don't let others oppress you; don't feel you are undeserving; don't let sickness drag you down; don't miss out on the joy that comes when we ask for the Holy Spirit!

I can tell you that I didn't read this and fully understand until about 9 months ago but when I did, I knew it was something that God really wanted me to have and I needed to simply asked for it.
On my way to work that morning about 6:30am I was riding along and I said," God, I don't entirely understand what the Holy Spirit does and all but I want the best that you have to give me! I ask you to give me the Holy Spirit right now to go with me through this day and every day!"
I cannot tell you right now everything that happened following this but I will say that God has dealt with every single trouble I have had in a way that I had not seen before in my life! I also have prayed this prayer every morning since then! Why? Because we are created in His likeness and our children ask us for things over and over and we just keep giving, don't we? Yes, our Father loves for us to ask! Some people would say that you only need to ask once but I look at them and tell them that I love asking for this because my Father loves to hear me ask and it is just fine with Him for me to do this! It's what's in the heart that will proceed from the mouth every day, so ask Him all you want! Our God and heavenly Father is an INFINITE God! The Spirit goes before us, with us and even behind us when we ask. Just ask today!