“So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts. So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him for good gifts

In chapter seven, verse 11, Matthew says that God, as our Father, will give us good gifts. But God commanded us to first ask for them and said at the same time: "Pray for one another." Therefore, healing belongs to us. Say loudly, “Healing belongs to me! God wants me to be healthy. "

Our Heavenly Father gives good gifts to everyone who asks of him. And what is good? In the Gospels of John (10:38) we can read that Jesus did good deeds and healed. So healing is good!

Since we are talking about healing, I’ll ask you this question: "Is disease a blessing?" If so, then we would never want to get rid of it: We would gladly continue to be ill. But there is nothing good in lying at home, not going to work, losing it, seeing our children go hungry, then selling all things one after another, a car, a house ... Ask the homeless people on the street, they know how it is going on.

And now another question: is healing a blessing? If you are in pain, do you really feel uncomfortable when the pain goes away? Yes, it is a blessing to be in shape, to work, to provide for a family ... Everyone knows that this is good, no matter how you look at it.

Let's go back to the Bible.

JACOB 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift descends from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change and not a shadow of change.

Heavenly Father never changes. Not a bit! Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from heaven.

Therefore, disease and disease cannot be good. After all, they do not come from above. It is simply impossible - there are no diseases at the top!

In the prayer "Our Father ..." there are the following words: "... Thy will be done on earth as in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Therefore, if there is a will of God for His children to get sick on earth, the same thing awaits them in heaven. And we know that we will not be sick in heaven, because the Bible says that there are no sicknesses. If we pray "... Thy will be done on earth as in heaven", then we also pray that there will be no diseases on earth. This is how simple it is.

If sickness cannot come from heaven, then, according to the Bible, it cannot be a good gift. Yes, sometimes preachers can say this:

We do not know what is good for us - everything is the will of the Lord, therefore sometimes He sends us sickness.

God cannot send us diseases, because He simply does not have them! You cannot give someone a thing that you never had! So where does God get sickness if there were none in heaven? He will need to steal them from the devil, but God is not a thief!

Anything good gift and every perfect gift is from heaven. This means that healing comes from above, because Jesus came down from heaven and Himself took our infirmities upon Himself and bore our illnesses (see Matthew 8:17). Start believing it today!

Self-test questions

1. What is the biggest obstacle to healing?

2. When you pray, you must ………………… that you …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

and then you …………………. healing.

3. According to the Gospel of Matthew (21:22), how much will you receive when you ask in prayer?

4. What kind of people have faith?

5. When do all the promises of the Bible become yours?

6. Why do people sometimes misinterpret the nature of God?

7. What does the Greek word translated "suffer" mean?

8. List all meanings of the word paraclete.

9. What will the Heavenly Father give us, according to the Gospel of Matthew (7:11)?

10. Our Heavenly Father gives good to the one who asks of Him. What is good according to Acts (10:38)?

This Christ said not in rebuke to human nature, or in condemnation of the human race - no, but here He calls fatherly love wickedness to distinguish it from His goodness. His love of man is so great.

Do you see an ineffable thought which, even in the most desperate, is powerful to arouse good hopes? Here the Savior, as a proof of His goodness, points to the example of the fathers, and above He pointed to His greatest gifts - to the soul and body. But nowhere else does He mention the most important of the blessings, nowhere does He indicate His coming. He who was delighted to give his Son for a sacrifice, won't he give us everything? But then this sacrifice has not yet taken place? But Paul already points this out, saying: He did not spare His Son ... as with Him He does not give us everything (Rom. 8:32)? And Christ himself, in conversation with His listeners, offers more ordinary proofs.

Then showing that they should not rely on prayer for those who are careless about themselves, as well as those who are trying for themselves, should not rely only on their own efforts, but should ask for help from above, and use their own efforts - He constantly inspires and both. Indeed, after many instructions, He teaches to pray; taught to pray, teaches again what to do; then He teaches again that one must pray incessantly, saying: ask, seek, knock (cf. Matthew 7: 7), and from here it again turns to the fact that we ourselves must be careful.

Conversations on the Gospel of Matthew.

Do you see what His goodness is, when ours, in comparison, turns out to be guile? If this is our Lord, then we will always resort to Him and call Him alone as our helpers, and we will find Him ready to save us.

Conversations on psalms.

Venerable Isidore Pelusiot

So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him

Great is the goodness of God, great is human cruelty. Whoever asked for a reprieve and received a debt forgiveness, when they asked for a reprieve, not only did not give it, but also imprisoned his comrade in prison, although he did not owe him so much as he owed himself, because he himself had to ten thousand talents, and that one - fifty denarii.

Therefore, the gospel word, comparing human kindness with God's goodness, rightly called it deceit: if you are a deceitful creature, you know how to give good things to your children, if more so your Heavenly Father will give to those who ask Him. Nature is not generally accused of deceit (let this not be done; for it is written: please, Lord, good (Psalm 124: 4), and also: a good man will wear out a good man from his treasure (Matt. 12:35)), but only comparing the goodness of man with God, he calls it deceit. For it is said: kolmi more your Heavenly Father will give blessings to those who ask Him.

Letters. Book II.

Blzh. Jerome of Stridonsky

Art. 11-12 So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him. So in everything, as you want people to do to you, so do you to them; for this is the law and the prophets

It should be noted that He called the apostles evil, unless in the person of the apostles the whole human race is condemned, whose heart from childhood, in comparison with Divine mercy, is disposed towards evil. Read the book of Genesis (Gen. 8:21). And it is not surprising if He calls the people of this age evil, when the Apostle Paul also reminds [of the same saying:] Evaluating [deservedly] time because the days are crafty (Eph. 5:16).

Blzh. Augustine

So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him

Blzh. Theophylact Bulgarian

If you, deceitful creature, know how to give good gifts to your children, if even more so your Heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask Him

He calls people crafty, comparing them with God: our nature, like the creation of God, is good, but we become crafty by our own will.

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Euthymius Zigaben

So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him

He called them evil not to reproach human nature, but to oppose Divine goodness. Human goodness in relation to the Divine seems evil, and the difference between them is as great as the difference between man and God. And see how He sometimes encourages to do good, then exhorts to pray, and now he moves from this to that, then returns from this to that. He does so, teaching us not to rely on any of our efforts alone, or on only one prayer, but to fulfill what applies to us and ask for help from above. Only with mutual assistance will our affairs have proper success.

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Bp. Mikhail (Luzin)

So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him

Being angry... “These things Christ did not say in rebuke to human nature or in condemnation of the human race; no, but here He calls fatherly love malice to distinguish it from his goodness ”(Chrysostom; cf. Theophylact). If people so imperfect in love do not give their children harmful instead of useful, then how can one even think that the Heavenly Father All-good gives people harmful instead of what they ask for useful? So, asking Him for something with faith, hope and constancy, in relation to the fulfillment of the petition, we must completely surrender to His all-good will for us and providence, without which even a hair from our head will not perish (Matt. 10:30).

Explanatory Gospel.

A.P. Lopukhin

So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him

The verse is associated with the previous connecting particle “so,” which shows that he is here a continuation of the previous speech. The particular facts of human life indicated in Article 10 are, as it were, generalized, understood in a broader sense. The Savior speaks like this: you see how you are doing and what is happening. And this happens to you at a time when you are angry. The word πονηροί in connection with πόνος, work, fatigue, and πενία poverty, indicates the actual burden, thinness; in the moral sense πονηρός bad, evil; in both cases the opposite is χρηστός. Further, πονηρός means a specific phenomenon in comparison with the general, expressed through κακός. The latter is more about essence and character, the former is about the activity and value of our actions in relation to others (cf. Matthew 5:45; 22:10; 13:49; 7:11; Luke. 6:35; 11:13, - Kremer).

Augustine completely incorrectly expresses the idea of \u200b\u200bthis verse, according to which people are called evil here because, being lovers of this world and sinners, when they give some kind of blessings, they call them blessings in their own sense, although by nature they are not real goods, but only temporary, related to a real fragile life. But why should bread and fish be considered good only in our own, sinful sense? Does the Savior call these blessings untrue, false? The essence of the matter, obviously, is not in the goods, which are good in every sense, but in the fact that people are evil. Good goods are the opposite of evil people. People are evil, and yet they know how to give good things to their children.

A certain harshness and categorical expression: “if you, being evil,” gave the interpreters a reason to think that here the Savior wanted to point out the original sin inherent in people. In the words of one writer, "This dictum appears to be the strongest dictum probans in all scriptures in defense of original sin." But why did the Savior not say: and so if all of you, being evil? ... Then His words would more likely testify to the presence in people of universal original sin. Therefore, one may think that in the expression under consideration there is no thought of original sin. The doctrine of original sin can, of course, be derived from other scriptures, but not from this. This is just a common characteristic of people who really show more evil and anger in a relationship than good and goodwill. The word “know how” (οϊδατε) is translated differently: you know how to give, you are used to giving. Some say that “you can” or “know” (in translations) is completely unnecessary and that you can simply translate: you give. Finally, still others argue that two thoughts are succinctly presented here: (1) if you, being evil, give gifts to your children and (2) if you know how to give good gifts, it makes sense to give good, not stones instead of bread and not snakes instead of fish…

This interpretation seems, however, somewhat artificial and almost superfluous. In contrast to people, the Heavenly Father is indicated, who, not as people, is good and good by His very nature. When people turn to Him with requests, then He obviously more than people gives “good” to those who ask Him. The former “good gifts” (δόματα άγαϋα) are replaced here, in the second half of the sentence, simply by the word “good” without mentioning the gifts. But it is clear that the meaning is the same. It is remarkable, however, that as in the first case δόματα άγαϋά stands without a term, and in the second the prime άγαϋά, also without a term. This would be difficult to expect if something definite was meant by “gifts” or “good”. In Luke 11:13 we find an attempt to define somewhat closer and more specifically what these "good gifts" are. Instead of “give good” in Luke, “how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”. Meyer thinks that this expression in Luke has a later, more definite embellishment. Luke's reading at this point fluctuates greatly. In some codes “the Holy Spirit”, in others “the good Spirit” (πνεύμα αγαϋόν) or “good gift”; Vulgate and from it 130 Latin translations of the good Spirit (spiritum bonum). Now, of course, we do not need to examine whether this expression in Luke is authentic or not.

Attention should be paid to the expressions: “Father in heaven” (o πατήρ o εν τοις ούρανοΐς), as here, and "Father from heaven" (εξ ούρανοις). The first is used when a request is made to the Heavenly Father; the second - when the Heavenly Father Himself teaches any benefits from heaven (Luke 11:13).

Explanatory Bible.

Trinity sheets

So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him

And sometimes God also hesitates in fulfilling the request so that you do not forget Him, do not leave Him immediately upon receiving the request. Or because you do not receive that you yourself have made yourself unworthy to accept what is asked. The Holy Fathers said: "God hears the one who hears God himself," that is, fulfills the commandments of God. The Heavenly Father is good, but he is also righteous, and therefore he cannot give to the unworthy, and sometimes, by goodness itself, he cannot give evil to those who ask. Sometimes it seems that the prayer has not been heard; but then it turns out that she is heard much better than the prayer could imagine. In such cases, it is better for us if God does not seem to hear us: then from the very non-receipt we already receive benefits. “God loves people so much,” says St. Chrysostom, “that in his love he surpasses earthly fathers as much as goodness surpasses malice,” so that the very kindness of man, in comparison with the infinite goodness of God, can be called deceit, as St. Isidore Pelusiot says. Therefore, the Savior says further: So if you, being angry,, being always inclined, by their sinful nature, to evil, however, know how to give good gifts to your children, i.e. to provide them with earthly goods needed for their earthly life, especially merciful Your Heavenly Fatherwho knows when to give and what to give, will give true spiritual good to those who ask Him to His children! Therefore, give every petition, every prayer entirely to the will of the Heavenly Father; It is pleasing to Him to fulfill - let it be for His glory, it is not pleasing - wake His holy and all-good will for us. Indeed, so our Lord Jesus Christ Himself prayed in the garden of Gethsemane: “My Father! if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I want, but as Thou ... Thy will be done. " (Matt. 26:39, 42). “I do not care about happiness,” said one holy elder, “and I never pray for it to Heavenly Father, who controls everything, and thus I have never been unhappy, like one whose desires are not always fulfilled. Am I hungry? I thank God as Father, "leading everything that we require." Am I cold? Do I suffer from bad weather? I also praise Him. Is everyone laughing at me? Equally I praise Him, because I know that God does or allows all this, and it is impossible that what He does was bad. Thus, I accept everything - pleasant and disgusting, sweet and bitter - joyfully, as from the hand of a good Father, I desire only what God desires, and therefore everything happens according to my desire. Unfortunate is he who seeks happiness in the world, because there is no other happiness here than to rely in everything on the will of God. The will of the Lord is both perfectly good and perfectly just. I try to stick to it perfectly and only care about wanting what God wants and not wanting what He does not want. " And all the saints of God in the will of God put all their happiness in this life and all their bliss in the future. For example, St. Dimitri of Rostov prayed daily: “Save me, my Savior, according to Your goodness, and not according to my work. You want to save me, You weigh, in which way to save me: save me, as you want, as you can, as weigh: weigh with your fates, save me! I trust in You, my Lord, and I entrust myself to Your holy will: do with me, if you want. If you want me in the light: bless you! If you want to have me in the dark: bless the packi! If you open me the doors of Thy mercy: goodness and goodness. If you shut me up the doors of Thy mercy: blessed art Thou, Lord, who shut me up in truth. If you do not destroy me with my iniquity, glory to Thy immeasurable mercy. If you ruin me with my iniquities, glory to Thy righteous judgment: as you want, arrange a thing about me! "

Trinity sheets. No. 801-1050.

Continuing to expound His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, he said: "So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him" \u200b\u200b(). How should these words be understood?

The word “so” indicates that this phrase concludes His previous statements. And in His previous judgments, the Savior said that people should ask from the Heavenly Father and receive what they ask for, seek and find what they are looking for, knock and strive to be revealed to them. In the following words, Jesus Christ, explaining His thought, says that the request of the asking, the search for the seeker and the striving of the knocker will be satisfied as well if the asking, seeking and knocking person, being hungry, would ask for bread, fish, eggs to his to his own father, who would naturally feed a hungry son.

Verse 11 concludes and summarizes the development of the thought begun in verses 7-10. This verse clearly states that if people, being evil, give "Good gifts" to his children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give blessings to people who ask Him. In verse 11, the Heavenly Father, in His Divine love and kindness shown to people, is compared with a caring earthly father feeding a hungry son. Verse 11 is inextricably linked in meaning with verses 7-10, because it completes the statement of the Savior's statements, makes these statements complete and final.

In the 11th verse, which is a continuation and summary of the previous speech of the Savior, there is an opposition. Here the earthly Father and the Heavenly Father are opposed, the malice of people and the Kindness of the Heavenly Father, "gifts" given by the earthly Father and the Heavenly Father. Such opposition emphasizes and makes more evident the difference between the earthly and the Heavenly Father, between the wickedness of people and the Kindness of the Heavenly Father. Such opposition is used in order to strengthen, brighter to highlight the idea that if evil people, with their malice, are able to give good things to their children, then all the more the Heavenly Father will give good things to people whom He created and who turn to God in their prayers with requests.

The word "give" in Greek has two meanings:

know how to give;

give to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

Jesus is saying here, “If your child asks you for bread, will you give him a stone? If your child asks you for a fish, will you give him a snake? If your child asks for an egg, would you offer him a scorpion? " Of course not.

"If you, being 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?" We can be sure that God will not give fakes to His children when they ask Him for the Holy Spirit!

It is a completely different matter when an unsaved person is looking for the Holy Spirit. But if a person is a child of God, he will not accept an evil spirit.

Note that the words "serpent" and "scorpion" are used at Luke 10:19: "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy ..." Jesus used the terms "snakes" and "scorpions" for designations of evil spirits. He said that you will not get a "snake" or "scorpion." If you are a child of God and you come to your Heavenly Father seeking the Holy Spirit, then that is what you will receive.

When I showed these Scriptures to those who were misled by false teachers, they immediately began to speak in tongues. Later they told me: “If I knew this, I would have spoken in tongues long ago and would have known the fullness of the Spirit. But I was afraid to accept the wrong spirit. " The Word of God will help us get rid of our fears.

Step 6: Receive the Holy Spirit and speak the language He gives

Tell the candidate to open their mouth and breathe as deeply as possible. At the same time, he should say to God in his heart, "Right now, I receive the Holy Spirit by faith."

I strongly insist that candidates do not speak a single word in their native language. Then, when the Holy Spirit begins to act on them, I tell them to raise their voices and say all the sounds that will come out, no matter how they sound. Let them speak the words that the Spirit gives them, praising God with these supernatural words until a pure, free language comes. When a person hears himself speaking in tongues, he will be sure that he has received the Holy Spirit.

John 7: 37-39 Jesus said to come and drink: “On the last great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, come to Me and DRINK; whoever believes in Me, as it is said in the Scripture, rivers of living water will flow out of his belly. He said these things about the Spirit, which those who believed in him had to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet upon them, because Jesus was not yet glorified. "

Jesus said that receiving the Spirit is like drinking water; here is the same principle. You cannot drink with your mouth closed!

Also, you cannot drink and speak at the same time.

I saw people with open mouths come for acceptance. I did not see that someone who came with an open mouth did not receive it immediately. I once saw five businessmen walking down the aisle with wide open mouths and how they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "Come and drink." If you follow the Word of God, He will honor His Word, and you will receive.

Luke 11: 9-13

You must also learn not to quench the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not forcefully burden you with prayer. He is very meek and gentle.

If you are receptive and attentive to the influence of the Holy Spirit, you will have a prayer burden from time to time.

But if you quench His influence on your heart, it will become cold and callous, and your prayer life will become very shallow. therefore "Quench not the Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

Avoid procrastinating

Don't put off your fellowship with God until later. Procrastination steals not only time, but blessings as well. When you feel the need to spend time alone with God, do not put it off "until a better time" because that time may never come. Whenever the Holy Spirit prompts you to pray, don't wait for the next good time, which may not be. Respond to the prompting of the Holy Ghost in a timely manner and your prayer life will be rich and fruitful.

Don't boast about tomorrow, because you don't know what that day will give birth to.

Proverbs 27: 1

Whatever your hand can do, do it with your might; because in the grave where you go there is no work, no reflection, no knowledge, no wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 9:10

Chapter 10

What Jesus Said About Prayer

When Jesus Christ was on earth in a physical body. He taught a lot about prayer. What He said concerns almost all the basic aspects of prayer that a Christian needs to know.

As you meditate on what He has said about prayer and act accordingly, your prayer life will become truly rich and bring blessings to many people and great glory to God.

It is impossible to cover everything that Jesus said about prayer in one chapter, but let's choose something that is relevant to our topic - communication with God.

Make peace and forgive

Jesus' first recorded words about prayer are about reconciliation and forgiveness. Jesus said that in order to pray effectively and successfully, you must be reconciled with someone you have a grudge against.

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,

Leave your gift there as an altar, and go first, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 5: 23.24

What is said here about gifts also applies to prayer. Look for the face of the Lord in prayer. If you remember that someone has something against you, go first and solve the problem, and then pray.

I had a similar case when I was at the University of Lagos. Once I sharply corrected one sister on several points. She was the president of the partnership and could not answer me in kind.

She accepted the remarks calmly, but internally she was badly injured.

The next morning I began to pray, worshiping the Lord. Heaven was like copper; no matter how hard I tried, I could not break through. I tried to look inside myself - no unconfessed sin.

And during this struggle, the Spirit of God spoke to me about my sister, with whom I spoke the day before, about how it hurt her badly, and she turned at me. I had to go and meet with this sister and resolve this issue. I didn't even know that after our discussion the day before, she became depressed.

This is exactly what Jesus is talking about. First, deal with grievances, with other problems - and then nothing will interfere with prayer.

But maybe you have something against the other person. Jesus said that if you want your prayers to reach God, you must forgive (Mark 11: 25,26).

This is what Jesus said, which means it is extremely important for us. If you want an answer to your prayer, look into your heart and put things in order. It is imperative that you forgive everyone if you had anything against anyone, and make peace with everyone who might have something against you.

Go to your room

The Lord Jesus taught that we should take time to be alone with God, to have a personal, secret relationship with Him. He taught us not to be like the hypocritical Pharisees who love to pray in a way that attracts attention. Even today, some believers in the general meeting Pray long prayers when they do not spend fifteen minutes a day alone with God.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love in synagogues and on street corners, stopping to pray to appear before people. I tell you the truth, they are already receiving their reward.