July
15, 2003
ASK
WHAT YOU DESIRE
"If
you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what
you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father
is glorified, that you bear much fruit" (John 15:7, 8,
NKJV).
The promise
here is to those who are spiritually connected with Jesus,
those who abide in Him and His words abide in them. It does
not imply that our requests will be honored for selfish gain.
James said, "You ask and do not receive, because you
ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James
4:3).
John
gives further clarification, "Now this is the confidence
that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever
we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked
of Him" (1 John 5:14, 15). When we ask for what we know
is according to His will, we can be confident that it has
been granted. What a promise! This promise belongs to each
of us personally. If we have a besetting behavior that plagues
us, and we know that it is according to God's will that we
overcome that behavior, Then we can know with confidence that
our prayers to overcome that behavior has been answered affirmatively.
Jesus
had much to say about prayer promises.
"Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in
My name, I will do it" (John 14:13, 14). "Have
faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to
this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and
does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things
he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore
I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe
that you receive them, and you will have them"
(Mark 11:22-24).
These
are powerful promises. Be careful what you ask for. Jesus
added a clarification, "And whenever
you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive
him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your
trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father
in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25,
26).
"You
did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that
you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you"
(John 15:16).
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