Luke 11:9-10 And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.… In the Greek of the New Testament the word rendered "Spirit" is the word constantly employed to denote "wind"; and the idea which it suggests is that of an influence in the realm of souls corresponding to the wind in the material world — subtle, untraceable, yet everywhere felt, all-penetrating, all-powerful — with a diversity of operations, too; now a whispering breeze, then an air-torrent; now breathing in calm contemplation, then inspiring a might before which the powers of evil are scattered and broken. Do you ask in what this Spirit is? Ask rather in what it is not. I. THERE IS A HOLY SPIRIT IN NATURE. Far be from us the theology which relegates creation to the mythical past. God as truly creates, as He created, the heavens and the earth. II. GOD'S SPIRIT IS ALSO IN HIS PROVIDENCE, and in our whole experience of life. III. THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS IN ALL THE PURE LIVES, GOOD EXAMPLES, AND BENEFICENT HUMAN INFLUENCES THAT ARE AROUND US. IV. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS IN JESUS CHRIST. The old liturgical formula, "The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son," is not the "mere dogma of a creed, but the fundamental truth of the Christian life. V. But this is not all. Between human beings presence is COMMUNION. Without word or act, influence, clearly felt and recognized, goes forth from one to the other, especially from the more powerful spirit of the two, if the weaker be confiding and loving, so that a revered and cherished presence is always felt to be a power. Thus must it be of necessity with the Divine presence, and so have all felt it who desire so to feel it. VI. If this Divine influence, this Holy Spirit, be not a mere dogma, but a vital and present reality, IT BELONGS TO US TO SEEK IT, TO PREPARE FOR IT, TO WELCOME IT. (A. P. Peabody, D. D. , LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. |
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