A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Chris Musgrove of Future Now)
Scripture for the Day (June 9, 2017)
John 15:7 says, ”If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Jesus is speaking about prayer in John 15:7. If he had only said, “If you abide in me you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”, every Christian would have it made. That’s because the minute you become a child of God you are abiding in Christ. But Jesus added “…and My words abide in you“. To be effective in prayer we must be in Christ and His Word must abide (be present, dwell) in us.
I like to ask people what scripture they are standing on anytime they request prayer. I heard a preacher say once that in his services, when people came down to the altar for prayer, he would ask them what scripture they were standing on. He said that eight out of ten times (and he kept a record of it for years) they looked at him with a blank expression and said, “Well, none in particular.” He told them, “That’s what you’ll get then (nothing in particular) because you have no foundation for faith. Faith is based on what God said.”
Isaiah 43:25-26 says, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.”
God through the prophet Isaiah is saying, “I will blot out your transgressions and I will not remember your sins.” Then in verse 26 He is saying, ”Put me in remembrance” or in other words, “remind me”. We are to remind Him of all His promises in the Word of God that have to do with whatever we are praying about.
Jeremiah 1:12 says, “Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.”
The New American Standard Bible says, “Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”
We must give God something to watch over. God’s Word is God’s will and if it is abiding, dwelling, and has become an active part of our lives, then we can ask confidently. I John 5:14-15 says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
Thank God for His Word that can abide in us!
