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Abiding in God
in Prayer – Part 1
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Scripture
“If you
remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and
it will be given you.” John 15:7
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A conditional answer
We have looked
at numerous passages that tell us that God what give us what we ask
of him. Yet many Christians ask God and do not receive. Therefore
there must be a problem. The problem either lies in our
understanding of scripture, the problem lies in us in general, or
the problem lies with God.
The truth is,
God has placed conditions on having our prayers answered. In John
15:7, the condition of remaining in God is placed.
Consider what
Andrew Murray writes:
| How many prayers
bring no answer? The cause must be either that we do
not fulfill the condition, or God does not fulfill the
promise. Believers are not willing to admit either, and
therefore have devised a way of escape from the
dilemma. They put a qualifying clause into the promise
that our Savior did not put there – if it is God’s
will. This maintains both God’s integrity and their
own. |
Do you agree
with this?
God’s Word Grows
As we mature
as Christians, our understanding of God’s word grows. A passage of
scripture may mean something different to us than it did before.
God’s word does not change, nor does the context of the passage but
as we understand more and more, we gain a deeper insight into the
passage.
Give an
example of how your understanding of a passage has changed over the
years.
We may
currently remain in Christ (KJV uses the word “abide” which I
actually prefer here) but that relationship can be strengthened no
matter how strong it already is. You may have a strong relationship
with your sibling or your spouse but twenty years from now, that
relationship may be even stronger than you ever realized it could
be. Simply put, God doesn’t answer our prayers at times because we
are not ready for it even if we have fully put our faith in Him that
He will. It is not a matter of God’s will, but a matter of our
relationship with Him. We can have a strong relationship but God
wants it to be stronger.
Steps to Abiding
The first step
towards abiding in Christ is that of a new believer. It is the step
of faith. We must believe in what God can do. But just like one
can abide in Christ as a new believer and abide more as a mature
Christian, our faith grows the longer that we abide in Christ.
How has your
faith grown since you became a Christian?
Next lesson
will cover more steps to abiding and will delve deeper into how the
condition of abiding in God affects our prayers.
Adapted from
“With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray
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