“...Have faith in God.
For assuredly, I say to you,
whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,'
and does not doubt in his heart,
but believes that those things he says will be done,
he will have whatever he says.
Therefore I say to you,
whatever things you ask when you pray,
believe that you receive them,
and you will have them.”
Mark 11:22-24
(Though the above may look - and sound - like a genie's lamp, it is not!)
Having faith in God,
confidently trusting Jesus and believing that what He says is true,
enables us to experience answered prayer.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 15:7
Abiding in Jesus refers to an intimate relationship,
a connection that has life in it.
(There is an experiential knowing that goes beyond factual knowledge.)
It is like a couple on the ballroom dance floor,
the partner's attentive responses in dance flowing from the leads of the other.
With practice, the dance has become graceful.
The movement of two having become as the movement of one.
As we abide in Jesus, we move with Him.
Our desires are molded to His, as His were to the Father's.
Our prayers are not to be for selfish purposes.
They are for His glory!
And God knows what it is that will bring Him glory!
It is others knowing Jesus and me knowing Him better.
It is the fruit of the Spirit growing abundantly in the lives of His children.
It is sensitivity to His direction, a heart of obedience.
It is a grateful attitude.
It is expressing our thoughts and feelings, likes and dislikes, to God,
then relinquishing our will and submitting to His,
as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane!
Though sometimes painful, it is what we really want!
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.
I John 5:14
God, help me to examine what it is I am really asking from You.
Help me to understand and practice abiding in Jesus.
Help me to submit my will to Yours, as Jesus did.
Twila Charles Leichty – L6
For assuredly, I say to you,
whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,'
and does not doubt in his heart,
but believes that those things he says will be done,
he will have whatever he says.
Therefore I say to you,
whatever things you ask when you pray,
believe that you receive them,
and you will have them.”
Mark 11:22-24
(Though the above may look - and sound - like a genie's lamp, it is not!)
Having faith in God,
confidently trusting Jesus and believing that what He says is true,
enables us to experience answered prayer.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 15:7
Abiding in Jesus refers to an intimate relationship,
a connection that has life in it.
(There is an experiential knowing that goes beyond factual knowledge.)
It is like a couple on the ballroom dance floor,
the partner's attentive responses in dance flowing from the leads of the other.
With practice, the dance has become graceful.
The movement of two having become as the movement of one.
As we abide in Jesus, we move with Him.
Our desires are molded to His, as His were to the Father's.
Our prayers are not to be for selfish purposes.
They are for His glory!
And God knows what it is that will bring Him glory!
It is others knowing Jesus and me knowing Him better.
It is the fruit of the Spirit growing abundantly in the lives of His children.
It is sensitivity to His direction, a heart of obedience.
It is a grateful attitude.
It is expressing our thoughts and feelings, likes and dislikes, to God,
then relinquishing our will and submitting to His,
as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane!
Though sometimes painful, it is what we really want!
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.
I John 5:14
God, help me to examine what it is I am really asking from You.
Help me to understand and practice abiding in Jesus.
Help me to submit my will to Yours, as Jesus did.
Twila Charles Leichty – L6
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