Skip to main content

Why Must we Ask of Jesus in Prayer? Part II

Image
By
In John 15:7-8, Jesus promised, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (emphasis mine). Last week we saw that this promise assumes something very basic but extremely important, namely, that we must ask of Christ in prayer or our prayers cannot be answered. I see at least eight reasons why Jesus commands us to ask of him, three of which I shared last week. 

Specifically, I said that we must ask of Jesus in prayer (1) because he commanded us to do so, (2) because we’re in a relationship with him and communication is key to the health of any relationship, and (3) because it teaches us childlike dependence upon him. This week I will add two more reasons. 

Fourth, we must ask of Jesus in prayer because having to form specific requests teaches us how to think, feel, and ask like him. As good and necessary as it is to read, study, and even memorize the Bible, it’s even better to press on from the reception of truth to the articulation of it. We know that we’ve come to understand something when we’re able to accurately repeat it in our own words. For the Christian, this journey from reception to articulation begins in prayer when we speak God’s truth back to him from our hearts. As we do this, our Father further refines our prayers until they more perfectly align with his truth, and when they align with his truth he grants an answer for his glory and our joy. But even when the answer comes, the deeper work of God in us is that he’s using this process to transform into the image of his Beloved Son until we think, feel, and ask like him. 

Fifth, we must ask of Jesus in prayer because learning to speak to God teaches us how to counsel and bless others. When the Word of Christ dwells in us richly—when it teaches us and guides our thoughts, feelings, and actions; when it molds the words we speak to God in prayer—then we come to a true understanding of it and an ability to teach and admonish one another, to instruct and correct one another according to the will and ways of our Father. As we learn to speak to God, we learn to speak to one another in such a way that he is exalted and we are helped by his wise counsel and our mutual love. 

Prayer Focus: Pray that Jesus will persuade us that we must ask of him in prayer, and that he will teach us to actually do so day by day. Pray that he will teach us how to form and articulate our thoughts and affections in such a way that he will be glorified, that he will be pleased to answer our prayers, that others will be blessed, and that our joy in him will be increased.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflective Glory: How the Moon Displays the Mercy of God

By
Our sun is a fitting metaphor for the glory of God. In the context of our solar system, it is massive, bright, beautiful, powerful, self-sufficient, heat-producing, life-giving, and dangerous. It is, by far, the dominant feature of our solar system and without it the system would fling apart and all living things therein would die.  On the other hand, our moon is a fitting metaphor for human beings, especially for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First, compared to the sun, the moon is tiny and dim. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, its mass is 27 million times greater than the mass of the moon, and from our perspective its light shines 450,000 times brighter than that of the moon. The sun is so much greater than the moon that it’s difficult to quantify and express the difference. Likewise, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is so much great than each and all of us that it’s impossible to quantify or express the difference. Indeed, the Lord is very great and greatly...
Post a Comment
Read more

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

By Anonymous
To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rejoicing in the Wrath of God: Part 1 by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous
This Sunday we resume our study of the book of Revelation and within the first eight verses of chapter 6 we will encounter the wrath of God being poured out upon the world. In one sense, being confronted with the reality of God’s wrath is uncomfortable at best, but in another sense, it fills the believing heart with joy.  One of the first essays I wrote in college was on the wrath and love of God, and probably the main effect it has had on my life is to cause joy to rise up in my heart whenever I contemplate God’s wrath. Sometime ago I shared this with a pastor friend of mine and though he said nothing in response, he looked at me as if to say, “If you knew anything about the wrath of God, you would not rejoice in it.” At the time, I wasn't sure how to respond, but I knew that the joy in my heart was not stemming from a belittling of the horror of the wrath of God. Then several years ago, as I was reading through Revelation, I came across a couple of passages in chapters 15 and 16 ...
Post a Comment
Read more