I watch on the internet people posting and sharing about the calls for prayer. Usually it goes something like “pray for this…. [insert unpleasant situation] that [unpleasant situation] would go away. Share this prayer request with all your friends.” I wonder if deep inside we believe that God answers prayer based on how many people agree with our desire for the bad situation to disappear.
Jesus made it very clear. The Father loves to give us what we ask for. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ” (John 15:7, NIV84) Jesus repeated himself. “Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ” (John 15:16, NIV84)
The hard question to ask ourselves is this. Do I receive everything I am asking for? When I have asked this question many times in my life, I find myself before God acknowledging that this Word is not yet fully manifest in my life. The second part of the question is even harder. What needs to change in my life in order for God’s promise to work? The answer to that question always requires change in my life. The answer always demands a deeper surrender and a greater transformation. The answer always causes there to be less of me and more of HIM.
Here is what Jesus said about the keys to getting prayer answered. “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other. ” (John 15:3–17, NIV84)
We must remain in Jesus. The word means to abide, to dwell, to wait and to endure. We must also allow the Words of Jesus to remain in us. The Words of God must be allowed to live in us and to endure in us. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Perhaps what seems to be unanswered prayer is a call from the heart of Jesus to draw closer, to remain and to abide. Perhaps, unanswered prayer is a call to allowing God’s Word to more fully change us.
We must obey God’s commands. Jesus said God would give us whatever we ask for. However the promise is centered on the command to love one another. “Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other. ” One of the greatest barriers to receiving anything from God is a heart that harbors malice, anger, bitterness, or unforgiveness towards anyone. Greater love will result in greater power and authority in your life.
God delights in providing His children with all good things. However, God will also allow difficult circumstances to create in us a desperation to once again seek Him. Perhaps as we grow in our surrender to the care of our Loving Father, we will find that truly all things are ours (1 Cor 3:21). The promise of God is certain. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ” (2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV84)
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