”A Praying Life” (chapter 15)

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World

By Paul E. Miller

 

“What Do We Do with Jesus’ Extravagant Promises About Prayer?” – Chapter 15

 

• The gospels are filled with promises from Jesus to his disciples about asking in prayer and receiving:
• “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)
• “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:17).
• What do we do with these extravagant promises?

 

Scholars to the Rescue

• Some try to limit these promises of Jesus to only ‘ministry’ related requests.
• “Ask me to do anything in the area of my work and I will do it.”
• Jesus does not specifically limit his statements to witnessing or gospel work.
• There is a better solution to understanding these promises.

 

James to the Rescue

• James describes two dangers in asking in prayer:
  • Not Asking
  • Asking Selfishly
• Those who err on the not asking side surrender to God before they are real with him. The result is distance from God. The real you doesn’t encounter the real God.
• Those who err on the asking selfishly side, are distant from God in that they are thinking only of themselves and not God’s will or his mission.
• Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane shows us that we can ask what our heart feels while also being submissive to the will of God. We can be real and reverent.
• Our prayers need this balance.

 

Back to Jesus

• “Ask whatever you wish.” Why didn’t Jesus bring balance to this statement if that is what he meant?
• The answer is that we are the ones who are imbalanced.
• Instinctively, we are either confident in ourselves or despairing in ourselves.
• In both cases we are paralyzed, not moving toward God.
• In giving his disciples these promises, he was intending to open them up to the extravagant love of God.
• Jesus wants us to tap into the generous heart of his Father. He wants us to lose all confidence in ourselves because “apart from [Jesus] you can do nothing”; he wants us to have complete confidence in him.
• All of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Gospels can be summarized with one word: ask.
• His greatest concern is that our failure or reluctance to ask keeps us distant from God.
• But he also tells us to ask because our heavenly Father wants to give good gifts. He loves to give.
• From the lesser to the greater: the unjust judge and the friend at midnight.

 

Praying in Jesus’ Name

• Deep down, we just don’t believe God is as generous as he keeps saying he is.
• That’s why Jesus added: “ask in my name.”
• The name of Jesus is not a magic formula for success, but the name of Jesus does give my prayers access to the throne of God. They get through.
• My prayers come before the throne of God as the prayers of Jesus.
• Asking in Jesus’ name isn’t another thing I have to get right so my prayers are perfect. It is one more gift of God because my prayers are so imperfect.
• Jesus’ seal not only guarantees that my prayers get through, but it also transforms my prayers.
• The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in conformity to the will of God (Rom 8:26).

 

Answered Prayers

• The point of prayer is not to analyze the percentage of prayers answered to unanswered or to analyze how many of the things would have happened anyway according to the law of averages.
• If we try to figure out the mystery of prayer, then we lose God.
• One thing is true: the closer our prayers are to the heart of God, the more powerfully and quickly they seem to be answered.
• “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (1 John 5:14)
• When you are on the inside of your prayers, you can clearly see the weaving of God, but it is often difficult to explain to an outsider.

 

Learning to Abide

• The praying life is the abiding life.
• How do we abide?
• One of the best ways to learn how to abide is to start asking. Jesus’ primary concern was to get us into the game. Start asking.
• If you are going to take seriously Jesus’ offer to ask anything, then you have to ask.
• In order to ask, you have to reflect on what you want to ask.
• It takes reflection to answer the question, “What do I want?”
• Most people fail to ask. They fail to take Jesus’ words seriously.