If you will, take a moment to thank God for what He’s doing in your life. It may not seem as anything substantial, but the Truth is He is working things out for you. Don’t spend the day grouching or complaining.
John 15:
7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
Yesterday we talked about abiding in Christ. So today I want to stress why we need to abide.
From the scripture above, Jesus Himself says, “IF you remain in me and my words in you, you can ask for anything”. “IF” is the condition and it’s also a promise: when you have a relationship with God and you allow His Word to abide in you, He has to fulfill this covenant of answering your prayers.
The purpose of abiding in Christ and allowing Him to abide in you is therefore to:
- Know His will for your life and synchronize His will with yours. When you pray His will (i.e. according to the Word of God), He hears and He answers. As long as you abide in Him and His words in you, then His will for your life is automatically your will. Therefore you can “ask what you (both of you’s) will.
- Activate His covenant relationship with you. God honours His Word above His name. When you ask Him for something in the Name of Jesus Christ (according to the Word), He is compelled to perform it, because He cannot lie. The fact that Jesus himself uttered this condition of answering our prayers, compels God to answer our prayers. Jesus is the Word, and God honours the Word above His name (Psalm 138:2)
- .Build your confidence in what He can do for you. As human beings, we trust those we know, and those we do not know, we cannot trust. Asking a man on the streets to deliver a $1000 to your bank, is unnerving, because you do not know him. But you can ask your sister to do so with confidence, because you know her. Likewise, abiding in Christ, helps us to trust Him for what we want.
Having said that, the same scripture for today says “ you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” Holding on to the 3 reasons why we abide in Christ, here is the promise- You can ask for ANYTHING. Note that Christ himself is talking here, and He says you can ask for ANYTHING. It means that there are no limitations to what you can ask for.
I think it’s important to understand this, because all faith for effective praying rests on this. Think about the smallest thing that you can ask for: a loved one to call, a $12 dollar blouse, someone to help you wash the dishes because you’re tired…He says you can ask for the small things. Now think of the biggest things you can ask for: a car, a home, restoration of a relationship, salvation for a rebellious loved one (nb. these things are big only in our eyes. To God, big and small are the same size). Jesus says, He can do that too.
The promise then sounds something like this
“Have a relationship with me. An intimate connection, so that I know your heart- what you want…. and you know mine -what I want for you….And _______(your name), I promise you that when you ask for anything, I will give it to you”.
Deep eh!!! I think it’s phenomenal. But many of us (including me sometimes), struggle with this. For all of us, we wonder “What’s the catch?” “Why would anybody want to give me anything if I just had a relationship with Him?”
(I’m tempted to think of Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts, here…Oh well).
I can only think of a few reasons why He would do this:
- It shows the world that we are true disciples (in the scripture above), Christ came to earth, and when He prayed, His Father answered. It was pretty straight forward. His mandate was to come to earth to teach us to do the same. When we ‘bear fruit’ by receiving our prayers answered, it shows the world that “the God thing” does really work. We have a Father who answers.
- When our prayers are answered, “This brings great glory to my Father” (in scripture above). Again, answered prayer shows that God is real.
- The truth is that Christ wants intimacy with us. And that’s how He rewards us. It’s not something we need to try to figure out. We ask too many “why’s” and “hows”. God wants us to have faith in Him. End of discussion!
So, in short, when we pray we need to know that we can ask for anything, big or small… and God will give it to us. So now when you are praying…believe with a confidence that He wants to answer your prayers.
