By Jodie Berndt
I don’t know about you, but I spent a lot of years thinking that prayer was basically a one-way conversation in which I’d ask God for what I thought would be good and then see what happened. If my relationships or my circumstances lined up with my requests, I would know that God said yes. And if not, he said no. I didn’t begrudge God when he turned me down (I knew verses like Isaiah 55:9, which explains that God’s ways and his thoughts are higher than ours), but I much preferred it when I’d put in a prayer and get the answer I wanted.
I liked it when prayer worked like a vending machine.
But that’s not how Jesus sees prayer. As we see in The Lord’s Prayer, he puts relationship ahead of results. When Jesus tells us to call God “our Father,” he invites us to experience a whole new level of access and intimacy. Now, in John 15, he calls us to come even closer. To connect.
Jesus’ model for prayer is based on attachment. On abiding. On the idea that if we remain in him and allow his words to soak into our souls, we can pray with the full and wholehearted expectation that God will answer.
That’s an incredible promise—but it’s conditional.
I’m no math-brain, but I remember enough from my ninth-grade geometry class to know that in a conditional statement, the if clause causes the then clause to happen. We’ve already considered the first part of the promise and how abiding—remaining—in Christ allows the Holy Spirit to influence our desires. Our prayers are no longer just “our” prayers; rather, they are petitions that draw their inspiration from the heart of God.
The second condition—the part of John 15:7 where Jesus says “if my words remain in you”—works much like the first. In this case, though, the Bible—God’s Word—actually creates our desires. The more we dig into Scripture, letting the words we read penetrate our thoughts and shape our perspective, the more our longings will start to reflect what God already wants to do.
The more our prayers will line up with his plans.
And the more we will position ourselves to be people of impact.
[See Praying Scripture in the Scripture Engagement section on Bible Gateway]
We see this dynamic played out over and over again in the pages of Scripture, in places like Psalm 1:1–3. “Blessed is the one . . . whose delight is in the law of the LORD [that is, in God’s Word], and who meditates on his law day and night. That person,” the psalmist writes, “is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” Soaking up God’s Word equips us to be fruit-bearing people.
Fruit, when it’s talked about in the Bible, is often an outward expression of an inward power. In Galatians 5:22-23, for example, Paul writes about the fruit of the Spirit—things like love, joy, peace, and gentleness—which are visible manifestations of an unseen inner power at work in our lives. In the John 15 passage, when Jesus invites us to ask for whatever we wish, he tells us why: “This,” he says, “is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
God wants us to bear fruit. Much fruit. And delighting in his Word—letting it dwell in us and give shape to our desires and requests—can open the door to a harvest of answered prayer that extends beyond anything we could have imagined.
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Four Things to Remember When Praying for Your Prodigal]
Lay the Track Down
So what does it look like, in practical terms, to let the Bible shape our desires and requests? Here’s a simple example of how this can work.
As I write this, I’m working my way through the Gospels, using a Bible reading plan that lets me check off sections I’ve read every day. A few days ago, I came upon the story in Luke 5:1–11 where Jesus asks Simon to put his boat out from the shore so he could use it as a pulpit of sorts, since the crowd was pressing in on him. Simon was cleaning his nets at the time, but he complied.
But then after Jesus had finished teaching, he made a second request: “Push out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
Simon was an experienced fisherman who had been up all night long. He had to have been tired. Discouraged, even. Had I been in Simon’s sandals, I might have balked.
But he doesn’t. Instead, Simon says this: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
Because you say so.
Right there was the prayer prompt I needed. “Lord,” I prayed, “help me obey you, even when what you’re asking me to do doesn’t make sense. May I always be willing to let down my nets—to do what you want—simply because you say so.”
Had I been thinking about obedience when I opened my Bible that day? No. But just reading a handful of verses reminded me of how important it is to be ready and willing to do what God says. In Simon’s case, obedience led to an “above and beyond” blessing; he and his partners hauled in so many fish that both of their boats started to sink! Who knows what God might do in my life—and in your life—when we ask him to make us quick to obey?
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Whack-a-Mole Parenting]
We don’t know—we can’t know—the good thing God might have in store as we ground our prayers in his Word.
One year, for example, I decided to pray 2 Peter 1:2 on behalf of one of my dearest prayer partners. She is a woman whose zeal for life is almost unmatched—she lives big, you might say—and the word abundance in that verse caught my eye. “May grace and peace be hers in abundance,” I prayed over this friend, again and again. What I didn’t know—what I couldn’t have known—was that she would come up against some incredible challenges in her workplace that year, including rumors and lies that eventually led to her leaving her job. Had my friend not been thoroughly covered in God’s grace and peace, the fear and anxiety that tried to capture her heart during that difficult season might have succeeded. As it was, she weathered a six-month-long storm and, when she came out of the darkness, she found herself in a new job, one far more fulfilling (and financially rewarding) than anything she could have imagined.
I was asking God for abundance. He was willing to provide that—and he did—but he knew my friend would need his grace and peace even more.
And here’s the thing about praying the Scriptures. We don’t do the blessing, the healing, the providing, the protecting. That’s God’s job. Our job is simply to be the conduit for his power. The branch, to use John 15 terminology, through which the sap can flow.
Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian writer, put it like this: “Our prayers thus lay the track down which God’s power can come. Like some mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.”
Let’s lay the track down.
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Taken from Praying the Scriptures for Your Life: 31 Days of Abiding in the Presence, Provision, and Power of God by Jodie Berndt. Click here to learn more about this book.
Taking you on a 31-day journey rooted in Christ’s words in John 15, Praying the Scriptures for Your Life will help you find guidance and peace as you pray through life’s trickiest issues, from relationships to finances to what to do with the pain of unanswered prayer. Discover how Scripture can be experienced, not just read!
In one of his last conversations with his disciples, Jesus urged his followers to “remain” in him. But what does it mean to remain in Christ in our daily lives? In Praying the Scriptures for Your Life, popular Bible teacher Jodie Berndt invites you to experience deeper intimacy with Christ as you allow his words from John 15 to transform your perspective as well as your prayers.
This reflective 31-day devotional:
- Gives insight into what it means to abide with Christ every day.
- Guides you in how to pray the Scriptures and let them shape your choices.
- Covers topics ranging from relationships to faith to money management.
- Shows how closeness with Christ equips you to bear fruit through your prayers.
- Is a reminder that you are created for connection with your heavenly Father.
- Teaches how abiding is the key to abundance.
Praying the Scriptures for Your Life is the latest addition to the bestselling Praying the Scriptures series. With short, easy-to-read chapters, the book invites you to read, reflect, and respond as you pray the Scriptures over every area of your life. Discover the peace that comes from abiding in Christ as you sink deep into his Word.
Jodie Berndt has written or cowritten many books, including the bestselling Praying the Scriptures series for children, teens, and adult children. A speaker and Bible teacher, Jodie has been featured on programs like Focus on the Family, The 700 Club, and a host of popular podcasts, and she has written articles for Fox News, Club31Women, and Proverbs 31 Ministries. She and her husband, Robbie, have four adult children, and they live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
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