A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.
Part Six settled whose name we come in. Now we have to deal with a pair of verses that look for all the world like they are fighting each other . . . and until a man gets them straightened out, his praying will be tangled up his whole life.
Here is the first one:
John 15:7 — “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
And here is the second one:
1 John 5:14 — “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”
So - which is it? Ask what ye will . . . or according to HIS will? Because those two things DO NOT really sound like they belong in the same Bible – and the same man actually wrote both of them.
READ THE WHOLE VERSE
The first one has a front porch on it, and almost nobody quotes the porch.
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you . . . ye shall ask what ye will.” There it is... The promise has a condition sitting in front of it – and the condition is not a hoop to jump through — it is a description of a certain kind of man.
Think about who that man is which is being described... He is a man who is living IN Christ . . . and the words of the Book are living in HIM… Now what is a man like that going to ask for? He is not going to be asking for foolishness – because he has been soaking in the Bible long enough – so that the Bible has gotten into what he WANTS.
Illustration — The Well-Trained Hand… A boy who has just been handed the keys – does not know what a truck can – and cannot do… so you have to tell him every single thing…
A man who has driven that same truck for twenty years - he does not have to be told . . . he has driven it so long that he wants what the truck wants . . . “abiding” does that to a man's asking… God is not fencing him in — the point is – that the fence has stopped being necessary.
Simple truth: the two verses were never fighting . . . the first one already had the second one built into it.
THE HINGE — WHY SOME PRAYERS ARE REFUSED
Now James gives us the plain reason a prayer gets turned down – and he does not soften it a bit:
James 4:3 — “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Ask AMISS. Some prayers are refused – not because God is stingy with us – but because of what is IN the asking . . . we wanted it for ourselves . . . we wanted it to spend on ourselves . . . and a good Father does not hand a child a thing that will hurt him – just because the child hollered loud enough for it.
I want us to notice that James says both things – only one verse apart. Verse 2: “ye have not, because ye ask not.” Verse 3: “ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” So - a man can miss the blessing by not asking at ALL . . . and he can also miss it – by asking wrong . . . BOTH of those are on the table.
WHAT “ACCORDING TO HIS WILL” ACTUALLY MEANS
Here is where this gets practical – because most folks hear “according to his will” and think it means – that we can never really know – so we might as well never ask for anything straight out . . . that is not it at all . . . there are two piles here – and they do not get handled the same way.
The things He has already told us
On a whole lot of what we pray about – we are NOT guessing . . . He has already put it in writing:
1 Thessalonians 4:3 — “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 — “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
2 Peter 3:9 — “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
So – when we pray for a lost person to be saved – we do not have to tack an “if it be Thy will” on the end – like we are not sure… He has TOLD us that this is according to His wil... When we pray to be made more like Christ – we are not guessing . . . when we ask for help to be thankful in a hard week – that is “His revealed will” with His name signed to it.
We can pray these with no “if” in them at all… Half the timid praying we do comes from hedging on things that God already settled in the Book.
The things He has not told us
Then there is the other pile . . . and it is the one that keeps us up at night . . . which house . . . which job… Whether the surgery goes well . . . whether that diagnosis is the one we are dreading.
The Bible does not say one word about any of those – and here is where the “nevertheless” belongs — and it belongs there honestly – and not as a way of protecting ourselves from being disappointed…
IS “IF IT BE THY WILL” A COP-OUT?
Somebody will say it is... I have heard it said that adding “if it be Thy will” is weak faith . . . that it is a back door – we leave open so we will not look foolish – if the answer does not come.
Well – lets take that up with the Lord in the garden.
Luke 22:42 — “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”
Nobody in the history of this world – ever prayed with more faith than that . . . and that is the very sentence He prayed.
Now notice He did BOTH things – and He did them in an order that we ought to copy…
First of all – He asked plainly for what He wanted — “remove this cup from me.” He did not pray around it… He did not pretend He did not want it… Then He handed it over — “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”
That is not a man hedging . . . that is a man laying down the thing he wanted most – on purpose – in front of a Father he trusted . . . and there is not a more difficult or a stronger thing that a human being can do.
THE ORDER MATTERS
So – do not use “Thy will be done” as a way of not asking . . . that is the mistake I see most often – and it wears a very religious type of face…
A man who is scared to want anything out loud will pray – “Lord, whatever You think is best” — and then he will go to bed having told God NOTHING… That is not turning it over to God . . . that is just being too CAREFUL… Our Father already knows what we want anyway (Matthew 6:8) — the asking was NEVER to tell Him something He did not know.
Ask plainly first . . . then turn it loose second… Both halves – in that order – every time . . . that is the pattern which the Lord left us in the garden – and it has never been improved upon…
AND WHAT ABOUT “BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE”?
One more verse has to be handled here, because it gets used badly…
Mark 11:24 — “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
That verse is NOT telling us to work up a strong enough feeling of certainty – until God owes us the answer . . . that is not faith — that is trying to use faith as a lever on God – and it turns prayer into a MACHINE with a crank on the side of it.
Bible faith – is faith in a PERSON – and it is NOT faith in an outcome we have talked ourselves into . . . and a person can be trusted – BECAUSE he will not give us the wrong thing just because we asked hard.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Please – Please – Please let me stay at my house in the country… Nevertheless – not my will but thine be done… The answer to this prayer was NO… it turns out that my will (what I was asking) was not a sin – but it was not in line with God’s will… If He had answered my prayer – I would be driving 35 minutes one way – three times a week… After every storm I would be cutting a tree off of my fence… I would be on a tractor almost every day bush-hogging or mowing 80 acres… None of this is a sin – but it is just not practical at this point in my life… Life changes – life does not ever stay the same – our health changes – circumstances change – and when our “want to” gets out of line with REALITY – it is then that a prayer like this – gets moved over into the God’s will category – and moved out of – the this is what I want category… I could have held on – I could have been resentful – but the truth is – I am 67 years old – and it was time to stop acting as though I was 47 years old… and I needed to be nudged toward that direction… I miss my HOME – but even though I can see five neighbors now when I stand on my porch – I can also see a God who loved me enough to tell me no – not because He was being mean – but because He knew that keeping up an 80 acre farm is something that comes with an expiration date – and that I just needed a little help to see that – my time had expired… — C.T.
WHY THIS IS THE SAFEST PRAYER WE EVER PRAY
Let me close it where the Wednesday night lesson closed it… Would we honestly WANT a God who handed us every single thing we ever named?
Think back over the things you have wanted really bad in your life . . . think about a door you pounded on for a year that never did open . . . and where that road would have taken you if it had opened . . . most of us – if we are honest – have a short list of prayers we are now grateful – that were turned down.
Psalm 84:11 — “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
No GOOD thing will He withhold. Sit with that a minute – because it cuts both directions . . . it means that He is not holding out on us . . . and it means that when a thing IS withheld from a man who is walking uprightly – we have God's own word for what that thing was… which means that it was NOT a good thing after all…
So – “Thy will be done” – is not us giving up on the asking . . . it is us saying – I do want this Lord – and I am telling You plainly that I DO want it . . . BUT I would rather have what YOU know – than what I know.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
“Ask what ye will” and “according to his will” were never two different rules . . . they are one rule – said from two sides . . . abide in Him and let His words abide in you – and the two of them come out at the same place.
Ask plainly . . . then hand it over . . . and when the answer is not what you asked for – remember that it came from the only Father in the universe – who has never once withheld a good thing from His child…
Simple truth… praying “Thy will be done” is NOT giving up on the request . . . it is trading our judgment for HIS judgment – which is the best trade a man can ever make...
TRY IT THIS WEEK
One… Take one thing off the shelf that you have only ever prayed about in a careful, beating-around-the-bush way — and this week ask God for it PLAINLY – out loud – in so many words…
Two… Then – in the same prayer – say the nevertheless part . . . out loud . . . both halves – in that order.
Three… And find one thing this week – that the Bible has ALREADY told you is His will — somebody's salvation will do — and pray for it with no “if” anywhere in it.
NEXT — Part Eight: When the Line Is Clogged. Cherished sin does not un-save a child of God . . . but it will kink his prayer line, and the Bible names exactly what does it.
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