March 3, 2021
John 15:7-9, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
Jesus further explains what he means by ‘abide’ here. He says that if “my words abide in you,'“ then we are free to ask for whatever we wish, and it will be done. This is not the only time in the gospels that we are promised to receive whatever we ask for if we would just ask - but this verse has this important caveat - that we are resting in the Word of God while we are asking. It’s never a guarantee that we receive answers to our prayers - but if our hearts were fully in line with the will of God based on what he instructs in His Word, we would ask for exactly what is best for us and what is in line with what God wants. But we are sinful people, we are full of mixed motives, and so our asking is not so pure. But we are to grow in both categories: to trust the Word of God and to make our petitions known to God in prayer. Excelling in both will never reduce our connection to God, but will only increase it.
The Bible is crucial here. We’re to know it, live it, and seek its truth. Remember that if we trust the Word of God as God’s revelation to people, we will conform in one way or another. We will conform our lives to the will of God as revealed in the Word, or we will conform the Bible to our will, to our sensibilities, and to our own understanding of the way the world should be. You are either saying to God, ‘thy will be done, ‘ or looking to your own wisdom and saying, ‘My will be done.’ This is dangerous and all-too common. Trust in God’s Word (Prov. 3:5-6). Seek it out and seek understanding even when it presses against your understanding of the world. When we trust in God’s Word, we come to understand how much God loves his people. Abide in that love.
Prayer: Help me, Lord, to trust Your Word. Help to be in disciplined practices of reading your Word and understanding it. Help me to apply it to my lives and to not be afraid when I come across things I don’t understand. Holy Spirit, challenge me to conform my will to God’s Word, and not the other way around. Convict me of my sin where I have doubted you, God, and sought my own knowledge, trusting myself to be the final word on truth. Amen.
40 Days of Joy: Flowers. I mean, flowers man… they’re just - amazing.
