For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of
John chapters fourteen to seventeen. Some of it will be what I have already
written and some will be new. Therefore it may sometimes appear that I leave
off in the middle of a topic to be continued, since I have reached my daily
word count limit. We will also return to placing a blog posting daily for the
time being.
In order to follow this you ought to have read from the first
posting in the series – John 14 (One).
In order to keep
the pace right, this message will be shorter.
"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so
that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my
name, and I will do it" (John 14:13, 14).
How often have you blamed the Lord; "Lord, I ask
and ask, and ask, and ask in your name but I do not receive?" What
do we ask and with what motivation? We have just discussed the god that many
Christians actually serve - Mammon. In what context do you think Jesus spoke
the above words? It was written in the context of the previous verse. Earlier we
have proved that Jesus was in the Father as the Father was in Him. He did
nothing out of His own. When He was therefore challenged with a faith situation,
He first asked Father to give Him that which He needed to accomplish the task,
including the faith. I often wondered why Jesus waited four days to attend to
Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Then a thought came to me. This was not an easy miracle
and Jesus needed to spend some more time than the average to consult with
Father and receive what He needed to do this great miracle. When Jesus called
Lazarus forth, as recorded in John 11:43: "the dead man came
out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his
face." Was it possible for Lazarus to walk with his hands and feet bound
to his body and his face covered with a cloth? No. So how did he get out? The
power of God lifted him and brought him out, Hallelujah!
Jesus therefore actually said: "Whatever you need
for the sake of My Kingdom here on earth, just ask it in My name and I will do
it so that the Son may bring glory to the Father". Asking
for all kinds of things to suit our own comfort, to make life easier for us and
rid us of our personal troubles is not what Jesus meant in this invitation.
Once again we can link up with 1 John 5:14 & 15: “This is the confidence we have in
approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what
we asked of him.” Father God desires basically only a few things, namely souls
and truth (1 Timothy 2:4), obedience (1 Samuel 15:22) and faith (Hebrews 11:6).
Therefore before we ask anything of God it will be wise to establish the
Father’s will regarding these basic guidelines first and then ask for anything
we might need in order to establish His Kingdom here on earth.
Father, please
share with me your will regarding your Kingdom for my life, in Jesus name,
amen.
Thank you Lord that
your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not
return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the
purpose for which you sent it.
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