"We shall individually be held responsible for doing one jot less than we have ability to do...But when we give ourselves wholly to God, and in our work follow His directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment. He would not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeavors. Not once should we even think of failure. We are to cooperate with One who knows no failure." ~Messages to Young People, p. 309

Monday, July 4, 2011

Blogging Through The Gospels: John 15

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! :) Today's chapter is John 15--on the vine (Jesus) and the branches (us), and the branches remaining in the vine!

Scripture:

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." ~John 15:7

Observation & Application:

So. Did Jesus just give us a blank check? Not exactly. Jesus didn't just say, "Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." There were, and still are, conditions. Let's look at them:

1. Remain in me--

Stay with God. Don't just come to him, and then leave him when it's hard. Stay with him.

2. My words remain in you--

Before you pray for something, you should think if it is in accordance with God's will. Let's look at an example. Say you pray to God for a million bucks' worth of chocolate. Do you think God will give it to you? What if you used John 15:7 in your prayer? I think you know the answer to this one.

Jesus is saying that if we stay with him, and then pray for something he would want (courage or peace, somebody to be healed, etc.) then we will get it. But he's not sending us a million bucks' worth of chocolate!

Prayer:

Please finish this prayer yourself.

Dear God, help me not to misuse your promises. Help me to understand, and correctly use your promises. I know that you said in John 15:7 that if I stay with you, and if I think that you would want for me what I'm asking for, you will give it to me. Lord, you know I'm having problems with.....


Amen.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S.--To learn more about this blogging-through-the-gospels program, or if YOU would like to join yourself (you're more than welcome-jump right in!!) go to: http://www.momstoolbox.com/ 
Labels:

1 comment:

  1. FriendJuly 05, 2011

    Very good thoughts. God loves us too much to allow us harm through a "blank check" of whatever we want to ask for. We are too sinful and too, well, too not very smart. He doesn't want us to be harmed, and not all that we ask for is good for us! AND where in the world did you take THIS flower picture? I want one!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)