10/21/2021

Parts of prayer

By: Leroy Pope

John 16:23-24

““And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

Prayer is a powerful ability that we have access to that performs so many tasks in the background outside of ‘asking for what we desire’. It focuses our minds on who and what is important, it should force us to look at the intent of the heart instead of the intent of the flesh. Prayer is a statement to bring the object of the prayer to the highest power that we know and entreat his knowledge and power in the situation.

Jesus declares a several powerful statements in this verse. The first being that ‘in that day’ you will ask Him nothing. The second is that whatever you ask the Father in Jesus’s name, He will give you. Third is when you ask, and you ask in the name of Jesus, you WILL receive, so that your joy may be full!

‘On that day’ meaning the day that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The day you start walking down your own path in Christ.
Whatever you ask the Father in Jesus’s name, He will give you. Lay your burdens down at the feet of God, and declare it in the name of Jesus, and He will give it to you.
When you ask the Father, and you declare it in the name of Jesus, not only WILL you receive what you ask for, but Jesus’s desire is that your joy would be full in receiving.

Yet, how do we know that God will hear us when we call?

Proverbs 15:29

“The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous.”

Psalms 27:13-14

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!”

Wait? But why wait? Because He will STRENGTHEN our heart. He will work the spiritual muscles and timing of our heart with the end goal of strength. This verse highlights the opportunity of being confident in what you ask of the Lord as you will have to wait and know what you ask for will come to pass.

Isaiah 8:17, 19

“And I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him.

And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?”

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

All of these verses imply waiting. Wait on He who is God. Keep pursuing, keep pushing, keep giving thanks, keep asking God in the name of Jesus. So that WHEN we receive, our Joy would be full!!

I once asked the question: “Is God like a ‘monkey paw’ giver?”; ‘monkey paw’ giver derives from the short horror story of someone finding a monkey paw with three fingers lifted up on it, to which the paw grants wishes, but not in the exact way you wanted or even in a way that works with the wish (i.e. you might wish to be rich, but the wish resolves with you being transported to an island with one penny and your name changed to Rich; you are now the richest person of this land). The answer would obviously be ‘no, God is not like a ‘monkey paw’, but the intent was wondering if He listens to even the smallest of details in prayers.

John 2:1-11

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it. ”

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

Here Jesus demonstrates His attention to even the small or trivial matters in our lives; so is it in prayer. Nothing is left out, nothing is shorted, nothing is small according to Jesus. It is the small things, built upon one another, that make up the big.

Hebrews 4:14-16

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus knows. Jesus knows what it is like to be in your shoes, and He listens and presents these things to God. Do you trust Him?