The Bethany Bullet - Week of May 1, 2016

Unrestrained Giving or WWJP

Text: John 16:22-33

Jesus, as recorded in John 16:23 promises that “whatever we ask” “ask for anything” (depending on your translation) and you shall receive.  Of course, throughout the history of the church there have been many who have falsely claimed that a prayer not answered as requested was one not offered in faith; or worse yet not offered by a person of true faith.

While our God is an Unconditional Giver, and invites us to ask anything, in our text He also tells His own to “ask in His name.”  Whether you want to use the term “condition” or not is up to you, however, one thing is clear; we do not ask heaven of our own accord.  We do not merit the things for which we ask, and there is no worth in us that prompts the Father’s response.  God gives because He is an Unconditional Giver.  We enter His presence however because of the grace, mercy, and righteousness that is ours in Jesus!  When Jesus tells us to ask in His name we might naturally ponder, “What Would Jesus Pray?”  That is a question that actually has an answer.  When the disciples were asking Jesus about prayer and how to pray, He said after the address, “Thy will be done.”

Again, whether you like the term “condition” or not is up to you, but we who approach the throne in the name of Jesus, make our requests in accord with the Father’s will.  Even as we confess that we approach the throne for the sake of another, Jesus, and it is His worth and merit that grants us access to God; so to, we yield to Him in the knowledge that His wisdom is higher than ours, His ways better than ours, and thus we pray that His will, not ours, be done in the answer to our prayers.

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer