13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Key Observation:
We have complete access to prayers to Jesus.
Devotion:
If I ask anything in His name, He will do it. In this passage it is Jesus who answers prayer Himself. In John 16:23, Jesus specifically says, “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” In Romans 8: 26, the Scripture says, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with groans that words cannot express.” What a marvel prayer is! Here are three separate passages that tell of the different members of the Triune God, all three separately working to answer our prayers.
There is a growing school today that tries to teach that all that we pray for is ordained already of God. While this may be true from the point of view of God, who cannot be surprised, neither will encounter anything that He has not planned for, yet, in the sense of our responsibility before God, I am convinced there is much that we do not have because we do not ask. Why am I convinced of that?
Well, first off, the Scripture says it, “You have not because you ask not.” (James 4:2) James, the book that marries the idea of faith and works, also counsels me, “Remember this, whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins.” I am convinced that many of the unreached around us could be reached if I were more prayerful and alert to God. You might say to me, “Oh, Pat, that is not so. God saves everyone that He elects.” Well, I would say back, you and I would agree that God foreknows the elect and has predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son. That we agree wholeheartedly on! But the method of reaching the lost is given through the preaching of the cross. What happens, I would ask, when we will not preach?
What I am trying to say is that God has intended all along to use imperfect vessels to carry forth His word. It is a miracle truly to see anyone saved through the preaching of imperfect vessels. What would have happened if D. L. Moody had decided that proclaiming the gospel was not something he should worry about? What would have happened if I had decided not to pray for my own father, and preach the gospel to him many times? The rule, of course, is that neither you nor I can say with any degree of confidence what would have happened. I do not think that we can ever know what would have happened to the path not chosen. We do know because the Scripture says, that it pleased God to “by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”
I do know that Paul asks us a very serious question: “How shall they hear without a preacher?” Where would India be if William Carey was too busy to answer the call? I am well aware that saints use the sovereignty of God as a focus for what happens, and well they should, but I know that God has made us responsible, and that we ought to be doing “our utmost for His highest”. The price the body of Christ pays when we are not striving in the Spirit can only be imagined; fortunately I cannot see the end of what might have been had I chosen a better course.
I am saying all of this to try to impart some sort of urgency to the body of prayerful saints. I am old, and soon will be older, but I have watched my communities come together in prayer, and watched revival happen many times because of that urgency falling on a small group of saints. I do not think that the pat answer of non-thinking saints is enough. I know that prayers are often coming from the leading of God Himself. What I am told in James ought to give me huge pause, “Remember this, whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:20) It is evident from this verse that our choices can and do impact the world around us for Christ. The verse is not saying that I do anything more than preach the cross, and it is indeed God Himself who does the convicting. But the question, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” is meant to be a haunting one, one that pricks my conscience.
So, when I gather with even just a few brothers for the purpose of prayer, let me gather knowing that I have the Triune God listening to me, and that I should be burdened for the lost around me, as God Himself is, and that I ought to be using this most holy weapon of prayer to maximize the advance of the gospel. It is not me, it is never me, yet it has pleased God to work His wonders through the foolishness of my preaching. Oh that I might be wise enough to pray for opportunities for that preaching, that revival of my brothers might include a holy fire burning with zeal to see the message advanced! We should always be vigilant in prayer, that God might send those holy fires of revival beginning in us, and that we might see the message spread into our community. What did Christ promise me in today’s message? “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Christ For the World We Sing
1. Christ for the world we sing;
The world to Christ we bring
With loving zeal
The poor, and them that mourn,
The faint and overborne,
Sinsick and sorrow-worn,
For Christ to heal.
2. Christ for the world we sing;
The world to Christ we bring
With fervent prayer
The wayward and the lost,
By restless passions tossed,
Redeemed at countless cost
From dark despair.
3. Christ for the world we sing;
The world to Christ we bring
With one accord
With us the work to share,
With us reproach to dare,
With us the cross to bear,
For Christ our Lord.
4. Christ for the world we sing;
The world to Christ we bring
With joyful song
The newborn souls whose days,
Reclaimed from error's ways,
Inspired with hope and praise,
To Christ belong.
Lyrics: Samuel Wolcott
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