"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." — John 15:7
You know, I think one of the most honest struggles in the Christian life is prayer that feels like it's just bouncing off the ceiling. We pray, and then we wait, and then we wonder. Did anybody hear that? Is anybody home?
I ran across something from the life of a man named Dr. Burns Thomson, a Scottish physician and missionary who lived in the 1800s. When he was a young student, he and a close friend made an agreement to pray together for specific things, very specific things. And here's what his friend wrote about it later: the answers came so quickly and so clearly that there was simply no room left to doubt that God had heard them. Once the answer came the same day. Another time, the answer came while they were still praying.
Now I don't know about you, but that kind of prayer life sounds like something from another world. Most of us would settle for an answer sometime this decade. So what was their secret?
F.B. Meyer, that wonderful old devotional writer, put his finger on it. He said prevailing prayer, the kind that actually moves things, has some marks on it worth paying attention to.
First, it has to be aimed at God's glory, not just our comfort. We have to ask honestly, "Would this bring honor to God, or am I just trying to get out of a tight spot?" That's a question that'll clean up your prayer list in a hurry.
Second, it has to be prayed in Christ's name, and Meyer makes the point that this isn't just a phrase you tack on at the end like a period. Praying in Jesus' name means praying the way Jesus would pray, with His heart, His priorities, His spirit running through every word.
And third, here's the one that really gets me, we have to be abiding. Jesus said it right there in John 15:7. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you." The answered prayer flows out of the abiding relationship. You can't separate the two. A branch that's connected to the vine doesn't have to beg for sap, it just comes. When we stay close to Jesus, when His Word is actually living in us and not just sitting on the shelf, our desires start lining up with His desires, and suddenly we're asking for things He already wants to give.
I'm too soon old and too late smart on this one, but I've lived long enough to know the difference between praying from a distance and praying from a place of closeness with God. The prayers that get answered are almost always the ones that come out of that abiding place.
So maybe the question today isn't "why isn't God answering my prayers?" Maybe the better question is, "How's my abiding?"
Let's pray: Father, draw us close. Let Your words live in us, not just sit near us. We want the kind of prayer life where heaven moves and answers come. We seek Your face, show us Your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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