The sinful soul is entirely dependent upon the Divine Spirit, and from first to last it is in most intimate communication with Him during the process of salvation.  It is enlightened by His influence; it is enlivened by Him; it is empowered by Him to the act of faith in Christ’s Person and Work; it is supported and assisted by Him, in every step of the Christian race; it is comforted by Him in all trials and tribulations; and, lastly, it is perfected in holiness, and fitted for the immediate presence of God, by Him.  Certainly, then, the believer should have as full faith in the distinct personality, and immediate efficiency, of the third Person, as he has in that of the first and second.  His most affectionate feeling should centre upon that Blessed Agent, through whom he appropriates the blessings that have been provided for sinners by the Father and Son, and without whose influence the Father would have planned the Redemptive scheme, and the Son have executed it, in vain.

2.  In the second place, it is deserving of very careful notice that the influences of the Holy Spirit may be obtained by asking for them.  This is the only condition to be complied with.  And this gift, furthermore, is peculiar, in that it is invariably bestowed whenever it is sincerely implored.  There are other gifts of God which may be asked for with deep and agonizing desire, and it is not certain that they will be granted.  This is the case with temporal blessings.  A sick man may turn his face to the wall, with Hezekiah, and pray in the bitterness of his soul, for the prolongation of his life, and yet not obtain the answer which Hezekiah received.  But no man ever supplicated in the earnestness of his soul for the influences of the Holy Spirit, and was ultimately refused.  For this is a gift which it is always safe to grant.  It involves a spiritual and everlasting good.  It is the gift of righteousness, of the fear and love of God in the heart.  There is no danger in such a bestowment.  It inevitably promotes the glory of God.  Hence our Lord, after bidding his hearers to “ask,” to “seek,” and to “knock,” adds, as the encouraging reason why they should do so:  “For, every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh, [always] findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall [certainly] be opened.”  This is a reason that cannot be assigned in the instance of other prayers.  Our Lord commands his disciples to pray for their daily bread; and we know that the children of God do generally find their wants supplied.  Still, it would not be true that every one who in the sincerity of his soul has asked for daily bread has received it.  The children of God have sometimes died of hunger.  But no soul that has ever hungered for the bread of heaven, and supplicated for it, has been sent empty away.  Nay more:  Whoever finds it in his heart to ask for the Holy Spirit may know, from this very fact, that the Holy Spirit has anticipated him, and has prompted the very prayer itself.  And think you that God will not grant a request which He himself has inspired?  And therefore, again, it is, that every one who asks invariably receives.