The Spirit-Filled Life · Week 2 · Wednesday

Open Hands

For years his prayer life was basically a shrug.

If God wanted him to have more, God would hand it over. He was open to it. Sort of. Open, but not really. The truth is he almost never actually asked God for anything. He just left the door cracked an inch and waited to get hit by something dramatic, and when the lightning never came, he quietly decided this was about as much of God as a regular guy was going to get.

Open, but not really.

The News That Emptied the House

Then the hard thing came. The kind of news that empties a house of its air in a single phone call. He had no plan for this one. No wisdom, no fix, no strong and steady speech ready to go. And standing in the kitchen with his kids watching him, frightened, waiting for their dad to be the rock, he did something he had never once done in front of them.

He told them the truth. “I don’t know what to do here. But I know who does.” And then he prayed out loud, honestly, his voice not quite steady. “God, I am out of my depth. We need you. Fill me with what I do not have, because I cannot carry this on my own.”

He was not performing faith for his children. He was asking, for real, maybe for the first real time in his life. And what his kids saw was not a father who had it all handled. It was something far more useful to them. They saw a father who knew exactly where to turn the moment he ran out of himself.

Biblical Backdrop

Jesus made asking the whole point.

To those who ask. Not to those who wait around hoping. The Spirit is not handed to the passively open. He is given to the ones who hold their hands out and say the words. God is not stingy and he is not playing hard to get. But he made asking the doorway on purpose, because asking is the one thing that forces a proud cup to admit it is empty and hold itself up to be filled.

We teach our kids to ask us for what they need. We never think they might need to see us ask too. A father praying out loud when he does not have the answer leaves a deeper mark than a father who always seems to. You were never the source, and the bravest thing you can do is let them watch you admit it.

Tomorrow · The Thirst Returns