Prayer is Abiding in Christ

Saints,

True prayer which connects with the Most High God is more about God than us. Prayer is about our identity in God. Think of this. Let’s say you desperately wanted to speak with President Obama, would that conversation likely take place? No, he is running a country and does not have time to speak with 350 million people individually. However, if you wanted to speak with and listen to the Most High Creator God, you can. In fact, God promises to hear you. In fact, Jesus Christ promises to answer your requests.

Today, we want to look at the promise to answer prayer Jesus’ gives us in John 15. This is an amazing promise. It also speaks to who we are. There is a deep connection with Jesus described by these words. In fact, I submit that the depth of connection described here is so deep that it is transformational—the person described here as abiding in Jesus and as having Jesus’ words abiding in him is no longer the same person he used to be. As we look at this abiding a little more closely, let’s ask the Father to help us truly abide in Jesus and have His words abide in us, just as Jesus meant it when He spoke these words 2,000 years ago. 

Jesus said,

John 15:7 (ESV)
⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Spiros Zhodiates explains that this passage is portraying a connection with Jesus in which we “remain united with Him, one with Him in heart, mind, and will.”

I want us to think about and pray about this idea today. Do we understand the depth of connection with our Savior which is described here? Do we desire this kind of deep connection? Are we willing to “let go” of our own agenda, will, plans, and desires to allow Jesus to fill us up with His will, plans and desires?

I am reminded of the passage in Mark 12 when Jesus is asked by the scribe about which commandment is the foremost commandment.

Mark 12:29-31 (ESV)
²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Paul understood the depth of oneness with Christ that is described in John 15:7. Let’s look at Paul’s words in Galatians,

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Abiding in Christ is not about us and our desires. But then again, it is about our desires after they have been re-made into Christ’s desires. This is the depth of abiding that Jesus speaks of in these passages. We are not talking about asking for anything we want, hoping that if we have enough faith--we get what we want. Neither is it about our lives getting “better and better” as we add a little Jesus to our lives like we would add pepper to our steak.

In reality, Jesus is the steak. He is the pepper and the plates and the table and the utensils—He is the air, the house, the room, and the gravity, which holds it all down. What I'm trying to communicate is that Jesus is everything.

So, we are to abide in Him.

Please read what Andrew Murray says about this depth of abiding in Christ in His book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 21,

“This is the true abiding, the occupying of the position in which Christ can come and abide; so abiding with Him that the soul has come away from self to find that He has taken the place to become our life. It is the becoming as little children who have no care, and find their happiness in trusting and obeying the love that has done all for them.”

What we are trying see here is that in Christ we are changed. We are no longer what we were. Look at the people in the New Testament who had the deepest connection with Jesus—take Paul for example. Paul had direct revelation given him by Christ through visions, as a result he spoke God’s truth—he was a God-ordained instrument to relay God’s Word to others, to us. Another characteristic about Paul was that his life was no longer his—he completely belonged to God. This is what Jesus is talking about. I’m not sure that I/we get this depth of abiding that Jesus describes here. In fact, we might have a tough time overcoming our own cultural baggage or pre-understanding in order to fully understand this truth. Here again, we must ask God to help us understand this.

D. A. Carson speaks about identity in his book, The God Who is There, in chapter Eight, The God Who Grants New Birth, p 133. He discusses the interchange between Nicodemus and Jesus in John 3:11-13. He describes how Jesus teaches about being born again with authority, Carson says,

“The reason why Jesus could speak about being born again with the authority and confidence he displayed is bound up in his identity. To dismiss what he says is to dismiss who he is.”

Yes, Jesus is God. Jesus is man. He paid the penalty of our sin. He purchased a place for us in heaven. Eternal life is knowing Him—it is knowing the Father. We like Paul are to live in Him, abide in Him. Jesus words are to remain in us and live and become our will.

We are not talking about a position we hold in Christ—we are talking about how we actually live—who we actually are.

Is the abiding Jesus speaks of merely adding a little Jesus, His truth, His wisdom to our lives? No, I don’t believe this. Jesus is clear. He is speaking of a whole-hearted deep connection in which we are led by His Spirit. We are immersed in His word. As a result, when we pray, we reflect back to the Father His very heart—his truth. Then God surely answers this kind of prayer. It starts with who we are.

Father, please help us to know Jesus as He described in this passage for us to know Him. May we know Him and be known by Him. God help us to grow in faith, obedience, love and abiding—may our prayers flow out of deep abiding with Jesus Christ. We ask this for Your glory and in Jesus name, Amen.  

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve