Today, my
husband preached at a local prison facility. He talked about “Our Greatest Need for Today”. Some of
his thoughts were quoted from Helmut Haubeil’s book, Steps to Personal Revival and
the Desire of Ages, by Ellen G.
White. I shall share some of his message
with you, over the next three weeks.
“Ask
yourself, what is your greatest need?” When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach
them how to pray, Jesus gave them an example of how to pray, and followed with
a parable. Luke
11:5-8
In this
parable visitors come to the home of a
man who has nothing, so he goes to his neighbor who he knows has something, and knocks on the door, to
make his request. He explains that he
has nothing and asks for bread, to set before his visitors. The neighbor
doesn’t want to get out of bed, but the man insists and will not leave until he gets what he needs, because he knows the neighbor has it.
Finally the
neighbor gets up and gives him what he is asking for. Why? Did he do it because
they were friends? No, but because the man in the parable refused to leave
without getting what he came to receive. Now, the man who had nothing receives what
he needed and can now share it with others. Amen? Amen!
But Jesus
doesn’t stop there. He goes on to show his disciples what they need and how to
get it. Luke
11:9-11. Yes, the
Holy Spirit is our greatest need! In this passage of scripture, Jesus uses the
verb “ask” six times; then he uses “seek” twice and “knock” twice. Ten times Jesus uses an action verb, to let
us know that we cannot just ask once and that be enough. We’ve got to ask
and keep on asking. Jesus told his disciples before he left that the Holy Spirit
was their greatest need, more than anything else in the world. The Spirit was
their link, to Jesus and the Father.
Next week,
we’ll cover the three natures of mankind.
