If the Lord's consecrated people could all be brought to the point where the chief aim in life, the burden of all their prayers, would be that they might have a larger measure of the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of the Truth, the Spirit of Christ, the spirit of a sound mind, what a blessing it would mean! If then they should wrestle with the Lord until the breaking of the day, their hold upon Him would be sure to bring the desired blessing. The Lord has revealed Himself to His people for the very purpose of giving them this blessing; nevertheless, He withholds it until they learn to appreciate and earnestly desire it.
When our Lord tells His disciples that they are evil, He does not mean that their intentions are wicked; rather that they are fallen in mind and heart; yet He implies that they still have vestiges of God's image whereby they know how, and are enabled, to give natural good gifts to their children. From the imperfect who can do some good, He reasons that the Absolutely Perfect One can do more good, i.e., can and will give His holy Spirit to His children who ask it at His hand. The gift of the holy Spirit is the highest spiritual gift; in fact, it is the sum of all our present spiritual blessings, and "the earnest" of our eternal inheritance. Therefore, requests for the holy Spirit should be the main burden of all our prayers to our Heavenly Father. God gives it to His own.
Psa. 103:13; Prov. 1:23; 3:12; Joel 2:29; Matt. 7:7-11; 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:16; 15:7; 4:10; Eph. 1:3; Titus 3:4, 5.
