N GOD need. Our receiving closely follows our asking. John does not tell us God will consider it, but that He will answer it. Every petition sent to the throne of God will have its answer from above. When love floods our lives we shall be on such terms of happy fellowship with God that He can deny us nothing. Our assurance comes too from our obedience. “We receive of him because we keep his command ments.” “Keeping” speaks of watch ful care and the word is used of closely guarding money that has been collected. Obedience to the re vealed will of God is a condition precedent to God answering our pe titions. Our Lord requires that our ac ceptance of Calvary be followed by obedience to His will. Our Lord Himself ties together obedience and answered prayer. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). Parents delight to shower benefits on those of their children who are obedient to their wishes; and so God, our Father, delights to bless us as we keep His commandments. If we want God to do as we ask Him, then we must do what He asks of us. Unconfessed acts of disobe dience may hinder our petitions. Coupled with obedience is that extra which John describes as do ing “those things that are pleasing in his sight.” Our Lord said: “. . . The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). Is this constant pleasing of God one of the secrets of our Lord’s successful prayer? One thing is certain, He and He alone could say to God: “And I knew that thou hearest me always . . .” (John 11:42). We are happy if we can echo the words of Hezekiah: “Remember now, O
Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight” (Isa. 38:3). It is possible for us to please God for He can “Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ . . .” (Heb. 13:21). Sometimes we wonder if we should go to a certain place or do a certain thing. We come to the con clusion that there is no harm in it and we go forward. But is that really the way to look at the point? Should we not rather ask: “Will it please the Lord for me to go here or to do this?” If we can give an af firmative answer then we shall suf fer no harm from agreeing to the proposal We must be looking to God always that we may discover His will for every action. Having found it out we must make it our great ambition to carry it out. If we make His will our aim, He will make our needs His care. As the Psalmist says: “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psa. 37:4). This verse is the grand assur ance to all Christians that a God pleasing walk is answered by a heaven-sent response to our prayer. “. . . the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). The basic commandment is obe dience to God in repentance and trust in Christ for salvation. “This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.” Belief is the decisive act at con version, but it is far more than that; it is a continual trust for the whole of the Christian pathway. So we trust in the name of Christ as we trust in everything that the name conveys to us. This belief is
God’s command: “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and be- lieveth on him, may have everlast ing life . . .” (John 6:40). The commandment of God to which John refers, like the law on tables of stone God gave to Israel, has a manward as well as a God- ward aspect. We believe in Christ on the one hand and “love one another, as he gave us command ment” on the other. The two sides of the commandment go together. Our assurance comes also from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. “And hereby we know that he abid- eth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.” After we believed we were sealed “with that holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). We thank God for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for His presence is a vital assistance to our prayer life. We do not know the mind of God, and confidence in prayer is based on our agreement with the Divine will. But “. . . the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God . . . the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have re ceived . . . the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-12). So He guides us in our prayer that we may prevail with God. This gives us confidence as we come in prayer to God, for we know that “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). As we fulfill these conditions we can go to God in prayer with per fect assurance of heart, being con fident that He will do exceeding abundantly. END.
The King's Business/September 1958
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