Hi Ladies,
When we first started meditating on this passage in January, there were probably at least two sections that caused you to scratch your head. We addressed one of them a few weeks ago… about being cut off and thrown away. This week, I'm praying that the Spirit guides us into a fuller understanding of the other… about prayer. As always, we need the context. So please read our passage again below, noting the bolded portion:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."
"Ask whatever you wish…." Where does your mind go when you read that?? Mine goes to genies in bottles, to power and control. It also goes to the reality that that has not been my experience. Do I just not have enough faith?
Here is another example of where we need to use our principles of interpretation:
1) Context is key
2) Let Scripture interpret Scripture
3) Let clear passages help interpret less clear passages
So, let's do that together.
First, what does Jesus say on either side of this statement? Go back and look. Last week, we saw the centrality of the Word. His words. Asking "whatever we wish" assumes that His words are abiding in us. Further, the context is about bearing fruit - Spiritual fruit that brings Him glory. From looking at this context, we learn that these prayers align with His words and bring Him glory by bringing about Spirit-produced fruit.
Second, if we consider the whole counsel of God, what does He reveal about prayer elsewhere? I've shared much on prayer in these devotionals over the last few years, so we won't rehash all of that now. If you've missed them and want me to send them to you, please just email me! But to summarize briefly, we must acknowledge that the "how" of prayer is largely a mystery. How a sovereign God uses the prayers of His people to bring about what He has already ordained cannot be explained with a formula. But this is the pattern we see over and over in Scripture: God is sovereign. God tells His people to pray. God responds to the prayers of His people. People praise Him for answering.
Third, what other clear passages help us interpret this seemingly all-inclusive statement? Before we get there, I think we can all acknowledge the confusion and damage that has been done by taking a verse like this out of context and out of the whole of Scripture and letting it become the lens through which we pray (or tell others to pray). I don't want to criticize. I believe most people are well-meaning and simply trying to take the Bible for what it says. But you and I are learning how to handle Scripture faithfully. This is a challenging but rewarding and all-important journey - to be equipped, and to help equip others to rightly interpret the whole Word of God. (God, continue to do this in me and in our ladies at ABC!)
Here are a few passages that we can bring to bear on this statement:
- "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." (1 Jn. 5:13-15) Written by the same John who recorded Jesus' words in Jn. 15, he qualifies our asking with it being in line with God's will. Is this really any different than abiding in Christ's words and asking in light of them? I don't think so. So, is that all there is to praying? Just know God's will? Maybe we need to consider more…
- "This is the will of God for you…." (1 Thess. 4:3; 5:18; 1 Pet. 2:15) Three times explicitly, and a multitude of times implicitly, God has revealed much of His will to us. However, Moses also records that "the secret things belong to the LORD our God" (Deut. 29:29). And Paul, echoing the Old Testament saints and prophets says, "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?" (Rom. 11:34) Some scholars refer to this tension as the "two wills of God." I find this distinction slightly unhelpful, as it could lead to the wrong conclusion that God is either inconsistent or whimsical. I prefer to think of it like a small box in the midst of infinite space. Inside this box is me, and you, and all that God has revealed to us. Outside the box is His infinite perfection that we as finite humans don't have the capacity to know or understand. If we did, God would not be God! What we don't know is not because of any sin or selfishness in God. What He has withheld from us is ultimately for our good. And all that we do not (yet) see or understand, we can trust that because of His infinite wisdom, goodness and power, He will handle and accomplish in the best way possible.
Does this require faith and trust? It does.
Is He trustworthy? He is.
He has proven it over and over.
Do you believe it?
So, back to Christ's statement in John - "ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." We must read this in light of all that He has revealed to us: His words of command and His words about Himself.
The result, ladies, is wonderful freedom in our prayers. We can pray boldly for all that He has promised. And we can pray fervently and yet peacefully for all that our finite minds long for, knowing that as we submit ourselves to His infinite perfections, He will work in and through our imperfect prayers to bring about all that is for our good and growth into Christlikeness, and all that brings Him the glory He so wondrously deserves.
Let's pray for each other this week, that the Lord would grow us in knowledge of His will and submission to His ways, so that we might pray faithfully and fervently, for His glory and our good. ❤️🙏🏼
