06/07/2025
Jesus said that He would do anything we asked in His name. What do we think that means? Are we the type people who will get an offer for a free dinner and then place an order for the most expensive thing on the menu? Is the offer that Jesus has extended to us an open invitation to ask for the moon, or something quite different? Why is Jesus making us this promise, and do we really understand its terms?
“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 ESV
Jesus is telling us why He will do this for us... it is for the glory of the Father. But are we viewing this as an open tab and an invitation to have whatever our heart desires? Is that the offer here or is He saying that He will do anything the Father desires and not so much for us per se. First and foremost, He is obeying God's will in this promise to us just as He did when He agreed to take the Cup at Gethsemane?
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked the Father to "remove this cup from me". He was on the verge of immense suffering, the shouldering of all man's sin, and facing death. He didn't want to suffer any more than you or I and yet He refused God nothing. Let's explore this more.
“And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?”
Mark 14:36-37 ESV
Now let me put this in a way that will make us think twice... if Jesus is willing to do whatever the Father asks (including doing anything for us that we might ask) then shouldn't we be behaving similarly; shouldn’t we be doing those things that are in God’s will and that He asks of us? This reciprocal blueprint has been presented to us repeatedly throughout scripture....
“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39 ESV
And also...
“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Matthew 6:12 ESV
So, we are to love others as we are loved by God, forgive as we are forgiven by Him. We are meant to feed the hungry as God feeds us... and the list goes on and on. It is in this way that Jesus obeys His Father’s will, and He will receive the power to do for us “through him” or in accord with his divine nature... and we are asked to believe in Him and pray in this way too. It is our part in this agreement.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17 ESV
“"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
John 14:12-13 ESV
If we want to do the works of Jesus, we must believe in Him. I have come to understand that dealing with God is much like Valentine's Day. On that day I give my wife a gift of love; flowers, candy, dinner, jewelry, a sweet card, and on that day, she gives me gifts of love in return. I receive gifts, but my sole focus on that day is not on what I desire to get, but on showing and telling her that I love her. When I enter into this reciprocal promises of God it is much like that... He is giving me a gift, but my focus is on loving and doing for Him. He is the focus of my efforts, and life. As I do this He will lavish Himself in blessings upon me.
When young, my children would receive a Valentine's card and candy from me too, but my focus was always Ann, and I gave those other gifts to please her (and of course because I loved my children). Was this what was happening when Jesus promised to do whatever we asked in His name? Was He focusing on the Father as He made that promise to us? Did Jesus drink from the cup first and foremost for God and then secondarily for us? Was His primary focus to glorify the Father, and was our redemption and reconciliation the way in which He was meant to accomplish that? Even so, He loved us… His brothers and sisters, His heirs and joint heirs, and the children of God.
Think on these things today. Who is the focus of our lives... is it our love for our neighbors or our love for God that leads us to love them? In our earthly lives do we love our spouses, or do we love our spouses like Jesus loves the Church? Are we meant to simply love one another, or do we love one another as the Father has loved Jesus and us? So let’s ask ourselves… In whom do we chose to focus, love, and abide?
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
John 15:9 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your many blessings, but most of all I thank you for allowing me to love and serve you. You are the focus of my life, and all I do, I do everything with you in mind and to please you. Lord, you are the love of my life and the heart in all I do; I do nothing of value that doesn't come from a desire to please, honor, and glorify you. Your gifts to me are in kind... my love for my family, and my affection for friends, they are all of you... founded in the love you have blessed me with. Jesus, I know the love you have for me, and yet I also know that your choice will always be to put the will of the Father before me. I love you enough to realize my place and love you enough to accept it without question. We share a love for the same Father, and we are meant to serve Him the same. Help me Jesus to love and focus on Him just as you do. Give me the faith that will lead me to say the words that you did... "Not my will, but yours be done." Father, Let the blessings that you bestow on me be of lesser importance to me than those that I strive each day to give to you... even though your gifts eclipse those I am able to give... my focus is faithfully on serving and loving you Abba. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who loved the world enough to send your Son Jesus to redeem it. Holy is He who laid down His life for us that you would be glorified. Help us today Father as we lovingly place our lives at your feet and ask for those things that would glorify you most. Hear our earthly desires Abba, but always hear us as we couch our selfish desires in your perfect will by repeatedly saying “Not my will, but yours be done."
Amen!
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
1 John 4:14-15 ESV
Rich Forbes