Give Up Worry Wednesdays: Day 15
Ask Your Father
Day 15: Wednesday—Second Week of Lent
(On February 27, in Introducing Give Up Worry Wednesdays we announced our Lenten series, which takes a weekly reflection from a transforming new book by Gary Zimak, Give Up Worry for Lent: 40 Days to Finding Peace in Christ .)
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! —Luke 11:13
Yesterday, we discussed the Holy Spirit and how he can assist us in many ways. Looking at the words of Jesus in today’s Bible verse, we find that a few points emerge. First, it appears that we need to do something if we expect the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. Second, Jesus indicates that our heavenly Father will not deny our requests for the Holy Spirit, provided that we ask.
It sounds simple; doesn’t it? In fact, it almost sounds too simple. We just can’t wrap our brains around the fact that all we have to do is ask and we will receive. We think that it must be more complicated and forget to ask the Father for this great gift.
At this point, you may be questioning why you need to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit. Isn’t the Spirit received at Baptism and strengthened in Confirmation? Yes, but just like Jesus, the Holy Spirit will not force his way into your life. Unless you invite him to become active, he will generally stand by, waiting patiently.
You may also wonder just how active he needs to be in your life. To answer that, I recommend you look at the previously mentioned list of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (It’s pretty eye-opening; isn’t it?) Wouldn’t you like to have more of these virtues in your life? I sure would!
Most of us will take one look at that list and realize that we need to take Jesus up on the offer and start asking the Father for an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And since we already know what his answer will be, we can take another look at that list of fruits and begin to see what we’ll look like in the future. It’s a very nice picture!
Gary Zimak is a Catholic evangelist and author of seven books, including A Worrier’s Guide to the Bible, Listen to Your Blessed Mother, From Fear to Faith and Stop Worrying and Start Living. He is a radio host and frequent speaker at parishes, retreats and conferences and is known across the country as the leading Catholic speaker on overcoming anxiety. Gary serves as director of parish services at Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Catholic Church in North Wales, Pennsylvania.
