Thursday, 25 July, 2019
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
What an amazing promise! These words are part of what’s called the “Farewell Discourse” in John chapters 14 to 17. It is Jesus’ final great teaching session with the disciples. In this passage Jesus repeatedly comes back to the issue of prayer and the overwhelming expectation in his teaching is that if we are praying in the right way, we should expect answered prayer to be our normal experience.
Reread today’s passage in your Bible, then look at the previous verse (v. 12). You’ll see that this praying is in relation to the ministry that we are doing. Imagine applying this promise to the ministry you are involved in—whatever you ask! Imagine praying about your ministry and knowing for certain that God would respond to your prayer.
God is challenging you today to recognize that your ministry (whether it is a public ministry or simply your personal ministry to people you encounter) is hugely affected by your prayer life, or lack of it.
As S.D. Gordon once said, “The real victory in all ministry is won beforehand in prayer. Ministry is merely gathering up the results.”
If we do not pray, we are choosing to minister out of our own strength and ability instead of God’s.
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