Let Jesus’ Words Shape Your Asking

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:7 (ESV)

A pressing need can fill our prayers. We ask for work, healing, provision, or a difficult situation to change. Jesus invites us to bring real needs to God. As we remain with him, his words also reach into what we desire and how we ask.

The promise in John 15:7 begins with two connected conditions: remaining in Jesus and his words remaining in us. The asking belongs within that relationship. We should not detach the promise from his teaching and present it as a guarantee that every wish will happen exactly as we imagine.

Listening to Jesus gives us more to pray about than circumstances alone. His teaching may lead us to ask for courage to tell the truth, willingness to forgive, or patience with someone we find difficult. Those requests concern the kind of people we are becoming while we wait.

Bring one current request before him today. Then ask what his word says about your response within that situation. Is there something to confess? Someone to love? A faithful action you have been delaying? Allow the prayer to include those things too.

You do not have to solve the whole situation before you pray. Keep bringing your need to Jesus, with openness to his wisdom and care. Prayer grows as we listen as well as speak, trusting the Saviour whose love has already reached us through the cross.

Prayer: Jesus, let your words shape my desires, my requests, and my response while I wait.

Keep reading: Take Jesus’ Warning to Heart · Obedience That Answers Love · Study with us: Bible Study