12/19/2024
People like to hear that whatever they ask for in prayer they will receive; but having stipulations placed on those desires? Well, not so much. So when Jesus tells us that if we abide in Him He will give us what we ask for many who pray tend to gloss over what abiding in Him actually means. This concept of abiding is one that is often misunderstood, you see, we are not meant to be spoiled little children who will ask for extravagant things and throw fits when we don’t get them, or who test our parents by asking them for things that go against everything they stand for, or that they know will ultimately be harmful. Many believers believe they can behave this way and do this as if their desires outweigh all of God’s wisdom, and even His will. Today let’s look at abiding in Jesus, and the importance of the will of God. Our opening scripture verse is from John 15, and one that people quote quite often as if trying to corner Jesus in legality.
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
John 15:7 KJV
Abiding in Christ and having Him abide in us isn't an easy thing for us to understand, or do... But it should be our greatest desire and joy... Regardless of what He withholds from us in prayer as a result. Pastor Andrew Murray describes abiding in Christ in these words:
"It needs time to grow into Jesus the Vine: do not expect to abide in Him unless you will give Him that time.... Come, my brethren, and let us day by day set ourselves by His feet, and meditate on this word of His, with an eye fixed on Him alone. Let us set ourselves in quiet trust before Him, waiting to hear His holy voice—the voice that is mightier than the storm that rends the rocks—breathing its quickening spirit within us, as He speaks: ‘Abide in Me.'" – Andrew Murray
Abiding in Jesus is a powerful thing indeed. Abiding in Him means we take on all the authority and extensions of Him, and He of us. We do this as if we are messengers or emissaries who carry His word, desires, and authority abroad. To do this we must exercise His beliefs and desires faithfully. If we do this as we should then we are more than legally observant of God’s commandments, we are living them. Thus, abiding in Jesus brings more power to us than His alone; it extends His abiding relationship with God the Father to us as well. Listen…
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
1 John 4:15-16
I have listened to sermons and Sunday school lessons teach today’s verse as if it were being read from a legal contract, but it isn't. In this, the Christmas season, we have a wonderful comparison in God’s act of giving to draw from. When my wife Ann and I give gifts to one another and to our children at Christmas, and we take great joy in it. A great deal of care goes into finding just the right gift for each person... Not because we are obligated to give, but because we love each other dearly. This is what Jesus is saying, share in my love for you and I won't be able to give you enough.
So we obey His commandments out of love and he lives in us and we in Him... Using scripture as a means of obligating Jesus to uphold some kind of legal spiritual contract activates its most basic exclusion clause... Absence of Love.
Prayer lifts us out of a sense of legalism, and from living under the law, into a relationship of love. E.M. Bounds speaks of this change when he says "As the Word of Christ dwells richly in us, we become transformed." Prayer takes Jesus from merely being our acquaintance to being a friend and brother who we love dearly. If we are not in such a relationship with Him then He is just another source of legality, and we continue to live under the law. Jesus speaks of this as well...
“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
John 15:14-15 KJV
We do not choose to be born into a particular family, but becoming friends with someone requires that we make a choice and enter into a mutual relationship. That is what Jesus speaks to us about in John 15, and we reflect it in our friendships with one another. Who do you call friend, and why? God calls us His friend. And isn’t there love present in our relationship with Him? Do you see that your prayers have certain limitations in that we must pray them lovingly in the will of God, and as if we were Jesus Christ Himself… or is your view of praying simply limited to an extension of your desires that you believe Jesus is obligated to fulfill?
Prayer:
Thank you, Father, for teaching me to pray in full compliance with your will. Thank you for your Son Jesus who is immersed totally in your will, and obedient to it always. Thank you for the realization that if I abide in Him that I am like him… believing as He believes and doing as He does. Lord Jesus, I ask that you abide in me and allow me to abide in you. I realize that when I pray rightly in this way, with a full friendship and relationship with you... that all things are possible and what I ask of you will be granted. Lord, in our abiding love I pray that I will ask nothing that would be outside our Father's will or damage our friendship in any way. In my prayers, I pray that you find me to be a branch of your vine and bring forth in me much fruit for the kingdom of God, our Father. Hear me now as I pray expectantly to our Father by saying Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who is merciful, good, and full of grace. Holy are you who hears these my prayers and answers them by giving to me according to your will, and the name of Jesus in whom I abide; I reside. Abba, let all I do, say, and pray, be pleasing to you, and always in accordance with your will. Let my mind, heart, and soul rest with Christ’s in your bosom, and find eternal joy and peace there forevermore.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
John 15:5 KJV
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”
John 14:10-11
Rich Forbes