If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 ESV
In our Scripture passage today, God makes a conditional promise. It is so easy to just focus on the second part of this verse and think that whatever we ask for God will do for us. That’s not what it says. It says, “If we abide in Him and His words abide in us, then we can ask whatever we wish, and it will be done for us.
This is because whenever we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we want His will to be done, just as in the model prayer in Matthew 6:10 where he taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What we want will align with God’s will.
In Nehemiah 1:8-9, Nehemiah prayed a summary of Scripture passages found in the book of Deuteronomy. God granted Nehemiah’s request and put it in the heart of Nehemiah’s king to help him get to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.
I’ve found praying Scripture to be very effective. You may wonder why we should pray Scripture and I believe the answer is simple. It lets God know that we are listening to Him and paying attention to what He says. God speaks to us through Scripture. We speak to Him through prayer.
When you are in a deep conversation with someone and they reflect what you have said to be sure they have a good understanding of what you mean, you feel heard. You feel understood. It also gives you a chance to correct any misunderstanding.
When we pray Scripture it’s like reflective listening. I once had a woman ask me if I believed there was a solution to each of life’s problems found in Scripture and I told her I did.
If you read the Bible, you may be surprised to learn that those people living in Biblical times experienced the same kinds of temptations and problems we do. And the beautiful thing about it is we see those who did it God’s way and came out just fine and those who did it their way and didn’t fare so well.
In order to pray Scripture, you have to know Scripture. In order to know Scripture, we have to read Scripture. I will be honest there are times I pray to God and say, “Your Word tells us,” And I may not know the book, chapter and verse but I know it’s in there.
God doesn’t expect us to memorize the entire Bible, but we should have a general knowledge of what he tells us in His Word. This is why Bible study is so important.
When we read something, we have a tendency to glance over it. When we study something, we are making an effort to actually learn it.
Communication with God should always be two-way communication. We should study His Word and pay close attention to what it says to us, and we should pray to Him.
We don’t need to remind God of what He has said. He certainly knows what He has said, but we need to let Him know we have paid attention to His words and have an understanding of what He is saying to us.
Bible study and prayer are so important because they are our open line of communication to our Lord and Savior. Trust in Him today. Stay in constant communication with Him. Call on his promises to us and don’t get it twisted. If you are calling on Him about His promises, be sure you are holding up your end of the bargain.
Have a great day!