Revival Times 2018 February 2018 | Page 18

viewpoint Mature Multiply Mobilise – A vision of fruitfulness for all! FEBRUARY PRAYER DIARY The Holy Spirit and p rayer he Holy Spirit is the spirit of all grace and of each grace as well. Purity, power, holiness, faith, love, joy and all grace are brought into being and perfected by him. Would we grow in grace in particular? Would we be perfect in all graces? We must seek the Holy Spirit by prayer. T We urge the seeking of the Holy Spirit. We need him, and we need to stir ourselves up to seek him. The measure we receive of him will be gauged by the fervour of faith and prayer with which we seek him. Our ability to work for God, and to pray to God, and live for God, and affect others for God, will be dependent on the measure of the Holy Spirit received by us, dwelling in us, and working through us. The whole lesson of prayer culminates in asking for the Holy Spirit as the great objective point of all praying. In the direction in the Sermon on the Mount, we have the very plain and definite promise, “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in Heaven give good things to them that ask him?” In Luke we have “good things” substituted by “the Holy Spirit.” All good is comprehended in the Holy Spirit and he is the sum and climax of all good things. How simple and direct is our Lord’s direction – ASK! This is plain and direct. Ask with urgency, ask without fainting. Ask, seek, knock, till he comes. Your Heavenly Father will surely send him if you ask for him. Wait in the Lord for the Holy Spirit. It is the child waiting, asking, urging and praying perseveringly for the Father’s greatest gift and for the child’s greatest need, the Holy Spirit. Taken from the EM Bounds book The Necessity of Prayer. 18 Revival Times February 2018