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Power for Prayer
and Working
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Scripture
“I tell you
the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been
doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am
going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so
that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for
anything in My name and I will do it.” John 14:12-14
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Greater Works than Jesus
The promise
that Jesus gives us in this passage is something that we scarcely
think of and rarer still do we try to lay claim to it. Jesus tells
his disciples that they will do even greater things than he has
done. At the time it must have seemed preposterous to the disciples
that they could do such a thing. We know from history that Jesus
only had a following that could meet together in a large room at the
time of his death. By the time the last of the disciples died, the
entire world had been turned upside down because of the spread of
Christianity.
Jesus was
speaking to the disciples at the time, but He said anyone who has
faith and asks in His name would do greater things than He.
Why isn’t the
church doing greater things than Jesus did today?
What are your
thoughts on this statement by Murray?
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“Alas, today there is little or nothing to be seen of
the power to do anything like Christ’s works, not to
mention anything greater. There can only be one reason
– the belief in Him and the believing prayer in His name
are absent.” |
Whoever Prays Must Work
Many believers
see Jesus words as a blank check to get anything they want from
God. Look at the context of the statement though. He is speaking
about doing greater things than himself. This is a blank check to
have the power to do God’s work! There are other passages that
refer to asking and receiving blessings from God, but this passage
is all about God’s work.
If you ask God
to make your church great, you need to expect God to give you the
ability to work alongside others to make your church great.
If you want to
see a friend come to Christ, you need to ask for the ability to
witness to your friend.
If you want to
ask God to have mercy on the suffering, you need to be willing to
allow God to empower you to aid the hurting.
God is not
limited by us and can certainly accomplish His will in spite of us
and our unwillingness to do His work, but consider what a difference
you will see being made if you ask God to be at the center of His
work.
If we want to
see things change, we need to stop looking at other people who need
changed and instead ask God to change us. Maybe it is spiritual
immaturity that holds us back and repentance that needs to be made.
Or maybe we are mature, but lacking the confidence to go forth with
a dream that God has laid on our hearts.
If we are
going to pray for God to accomplish some great work, we need to ask
that God would involve us in accomplishing it. This is a prayer
that God will certainly answer.
Adapted from
“With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray
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