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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it.”
John 14:13-14
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Jesus had always been there for the twelve men He asked to follow Him and be part of His inner circle. He met their needs after they abandoned everything in order to answer His calling. There had been good and bad times over the three years they were together but the worst was soon to come. For as Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples, He did so knowing the next time He would see them would be after His miraculous resurrection but this wouldn’t happen before He would suffer deeply and lose His life in order to pay the sin penalty all mankind owed God for atonement.
With Jesus gone, how would the disciples be able to go on? Who would care for them now in His absence?
In John chapter 14, we see Jesus addressing these concerns and more as He addresses His specially hand-selected men one final time. Here’s part of what He told them:
“And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it.” John 14:13-14
How would the disciples carry on after Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and then ascended into heaven?
Jesus assured them that He would continue to take care of them, even though He was no longer going to be in their company. All they had to do is call on His name, the name of Jesus, and tell Him what He needed and Jesus promised it would be done, not to bring glory on Himself but rather to honor His Father God. In closing His promise, Jesus reiterated that His disciples could ask for anything in His name and He would make sure it was done.
On the surface it appears this would be a risky proposition for Jesus to make. For anytime you use the words “whatever” and “anything”, you use language that isn’t exclusionary. Jesus didn’t offer up any exception clauses, no caveats that would water down His assurance that He would do everything the disciples asked Him to do. Wouldn’t this open the door for the disciples to potentially get Jesus to give them things that would be sinful or things that could be used to commit sin?
There are three points in the scriptures that make sure this wouldn’t happen, two contained in this passage and one outside of the gospels in the New Testament in a letter penned by none other than John, the same author of this book of the bible and so there is a sense of continuity knowing that all points are coming from the same source.
First, Jesus said the requests needed to be made in His name, the name above all names, the name by which every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). No disciple who is truly in Christ and led by the Holy Spirit would ever bring a sinful request forward in the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit would never permit to happen.
The second point from this passage takes this point and expounds on it. For Jesus makes sure His followers know that His actions happen with the intent to glorify God, His Father and ours. No sinful action would ever bring honor to God and again, the Holy Spirit would never allow this to happen so the disciples could rest assured that the only petitions that would be granted would be ones that would lead to God being glorified.
Finally, we need to go to the fifth chapter of John’s first letter to find these words that round out how things really work when we bring our requests to the Lord. Look at his words here:
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. 1 John 5:14-15
When Jesus addressed His disciples after the Passover meal, His words were meant to invoke confidence. Whatever the disciples asked for, anything they desired, He would provide those things if they requested them in His name.
As we move to John’s letter, we find that there is an additional layer added to Jesus’ assurance, one that builds in an added layer of protection against someone trying to take advantage of Jesus’ generosity. This extra layer makes sense because it requires the petitioner to make sure their petition is in accordance with God’s will first. Jesus gave us a glimpse of what part of this prayer might look like when He taught us how to pray.
Do you remember these words that He spoke?
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10
Here Jesus teaches us that we are to pray for the Father’s will to be done because that’s what really matters as we live this thing called life. It’s not about our will as we go through each day the Lord blesses us with. No, we are purposed every day to do things in the name of our God with the express intent of bringing Him glory and honor. And so we need to be in constant prayer, asking for the Lord to reveal His will for our lives and everything we do should be centered on this goal. When we do, then truly our Father’s will is going to be done here on earth.
So if our entire focus needs to be on God’s will, centered on being about our Father’s business just as Jesus was, then this means we should only be asking God for what we need to make sure His will is accomplished. And when we do this, when our requests are grounded in using what we’re given to carry out what God calls us to do, then we can expect to receive those things.
John’s words in his first letter were just another way of saying what Jesus was trying to convey to His disciples (and to us) in our two verses from the gospel. Yes, Jesus is an on demand Lord, one who is one with His Father God, but when someone asks for anything in His name, they had better first make sure it is in harmony with the will of God for then and only then will He grant the petition and be glorified because He knows that what He is giving will achieve His purposes.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please
share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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