‘Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.’ John 14:10-15
Continuing on from the last post. Praying in faith. If we do not believe What the word says; what Jesus says. We saw a Canaanite woman like a dog with a bone, reasoning with the Lord. That shows that even if something is not a part of God’s will at the time that we ask, we can reason with Him and get the will of God brought forward in time. Jesus said, “I was sent the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Though ultimately the good news was going to be for the gentiles too. The woman by reasoning with the Lord managed to secure healing ahead of the appointed time.
One thing that sometimes we forget is that Jesus was primarily teaching and preaching to His own nation, His own race. He was the promised Messiah of Israel. But the promise is for them and for the whole world. The promise was made to Eve in the garden of eden. (your seed will crush the serpent head). There was no nation of Israel, Adam is the father of us all. This was the promise of redemption for all mankind.
Today’s verse in the picture is one of two times in this passage that Jesus says that whatever we ask in His Name He will do. The passage of teaching actually covers several chapters of John’s Gospel. And the promises of answered prayer are repeated in chapter 16. Saying that we do not need to ask Jesus, but we can go to the Father directly and ask in Jesus name, and God will give.
‘ In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.’ John 16:23-24
I honestly believe that when Jesus said that we can ask anything in His name, He means it. There are some rules though. I have heard it taught many times that we have to ask according to the will of God. That if we don’t we will not get what we ask for. This dismisses the real rules. We have to remember that as born again believers, God is willing to give what is good to us. As born again Children of God we are supposed to be being led by the Spirit. We are to love one another, that the world will Know that we are His disciples.
There is a little something in the verse above. ‘Ask and receive, so that your joy may be made full.’ I was thinking about this, we are supposed to be joyful because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Is this saying that God will make our joy full by giving us what we ask of Him? I put a note of selfishness beside the verse, because we are allowed to be selfish for what God wants for us, that our joy would be made full. That is God’s will for us. Seek first the Kingdom of God; like a dog with a bone, and He will make our Joy full by giving what we ask Him for. There is another rule to abide by, that is to give thanks for what we ask for before we get it.
A step back, if we are being led by the Spirit, then the spirit ought to be directing our hearts and minds to ask according to the will of God. Jesus never taught us to add ‘if it be your will’ to our prayers. Even so Jesus says many times ask and you will receive. In Mark 11 Jesus said if we tell the mountain to be removed to the sea, and do not doubt it will happen, The only condition that Jesus put in there was do not doubt. Jesus told Jairus, ‘do not doubt, only believe.’ Jesus tells us in Mark 11, have faith in God when we pray.
Jesus talked about being one with the Father as being why the works of the Father were being done through Jesus. Guess what we are one with the Father, through the Holy Spirit being a part of our being, Jesus and the Father have come and taken up residence within us. We are one with the Father. The same Spirit that worked through Jesus is in us and it is God’s will that The works that Jesus did we will do and even greater works.
If We have the Holy Spirit in us and are led by the Spirit, we should be praying according to the will of God. Any other way of thinking can be classed as doubt! Doubting is the opposite to faith. We don’t have to say over and over, “I believe I receive, I believe I receive. Trying to convince our mind that we are in faith, because that is not faith. Jesus said Have faith. He did not say that we have to build our faith. “Have faith in God.
Jesus often spoke to sickness, situations, and demons directly. We have been given by the same authority over all of creation through the work of the cross. We have dominion, the same that God gave to Adam and Eve. We can speak to anything and get results. We should be speaking to sickness, and pains, to our bodies to restore them in healing. We should be talking to our situations to bring God’s blessing into our lives everyday.
God does not turn on and off His blessings towards us depending on what we do or think. We can hinder the flow of God’s blessing towards us, by what we do and think. Grace and favour are always flowing out towards us. Health and healing, well being, and prosperity are all a part of God’s blessings that flow towards us. If things are not how they should be as a Child of the most high God, we are told to speak, talk to those things and take authority over them.
Our words have power, like God’s words have power
If we give heed to God’s word, we should live in divine health, until the day we die. That takes faith in the knowledge of the Lord. and His word. It was never God’s plan for man to get sick, It was never God’s will for us to die, we should not be getting sick and dying from sickness. On the cross we were forgiven, we were healed, Jesus became poor so that we might become rich. We have to take authority and have confidence in all of these things.
‘My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them And health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.’ Proverbs 4:20-23
Jesus taught us to command the will of God in our lives as in the so-called Lord’s prayer, there is not one request in that prayer. Jesus never told us to ask for God’s forgiveness, when He said, ‘pray like this,’ He said, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive……” This was before Jesus died and paid for our forgiveness. We were already forgiven even before we Knew the about it. It is a question of faith.
Jesus taught us to speak to the mountain, speak to the Mulberry tree, take authority over sickness through our faith. God knows us, knows His plans for us, only for good. He tells us to command His will here on the earth. In the Lord’s prayer He tells us, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Whatever His will is we are told to speak it into being. Jesus healed all that came to Him, many with dogged faith. Jesus told people that it was their faith that had healed them. Jesus just spoke many times, that faith in substance.
Jesus spoke the will of God, as it was in heaven into being on the earth. That is what we should be doing. “The works that I do, you will do, and greater works than these.” God did His works through Jesus, and wants to continue His works through us.
‘Thus says the Lord, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: ‘Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.’ Isaiah 45:11
‘For the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker says this, “Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, And give Me orders concerning the work of My hands.’ Isaiah 45:11
We have to be like a dog with a bone regarding our faith, believing What God says in His word and what the Spirit tells us. Ask in faith, Ask that your Joy may be made full. Go on we are allowed to!
Charlie
FREEDOM IN CHRIST 