Encouraging excerpt from David Platt's book, Radical, on God's good gift of Himself.
“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)
Why does Luke 11 refer to the Father giving the Holy Spirit? To be honest with you, I used to think, What if I wasn’t asking for the Holy Spirit? What if I was asking for something else? Why does Jesus say the Father gives the Holy Spirit in response to our prayers?
The answer to this question uncovers the beauty of the Spirit of God in our lives.
Think about it this way. Maybe you are going through a struggle in your life. A tragedy strikes you or someone close to you, and you are hurting. So you go to God in prayer, and you ask him to comfort you. Do you realize what God does? He doesn’t give you comfort. Instead he gives you the Holy Spirit, who is called the Comforter. The Holy Spirit literally comes to dwell in you and puts the very comfort of Christ inside you as you walk through your pain.
Suppose another time you are making a big decision in your life, and you need help. You have a couple of different options before you, and you need guidance to decide which way is best. So you ask God for help. But he doesn’t answer with guidance. Instead he answers by sending the Holy Spirit, who is our Guide. God sends the Helper, who will live in you and not only tell you what decision to make but also enable you to make that decision.
Yet another time you need discernment, and God gives you the Spirit of wisdom. At other times you need strength, and God gives you the Spirit of power. Still other times you ask God for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and he gives you the Spirit, who makes all these things reality in your life.
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the Helper, the Guide, the very presence of God living in you.
This is the great promise of God in prayer. We ask God for gifts in prayer, and he gives us the Giver. We ask God for supply, and he gives us the Source. We ask God for money, and he doesn’t give us cash; instead, so to speak, he gives the bank!”
— David Platt
Radical
(Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2010), 57-58