God

Pray the Word Every Day

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Prayer should be an important part of every Christian’s life. It is our lifeline to God, the Holy Creator of the universe. 

Imagine having a direct line to God’s ear, to which He is always listening. No matter what we need, He’s always there.

Plus, He knows what we need even before we go to Him in prayer. What could be better than that?

He even promises that everything will work together for our good if we love Him and follow His will for our lives (Rom. 8:28).

How should we pray then? 

We can take all the small aspects of our lives to him—like looking for a good parking space, help for a conflict with a coworker, and a thousand other things).

However, we can go much bigger than that, as we can also take the promises we find in the Bible to Him. 

There is a unique angle behind this kind of prayer, because we’re literally praying God’s word and His promises back to Him.

Praying God’s promises is not a new concept, as there are many instances recorded in the Bible where God’s servants do this. 

Isaiah 62:6-12 shows us how, as a reminder of God’s word, the prophet proclaims God’s promise to protect Israel.

In verse 6 of this passage, we are told:

You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves.

Another example is found in Exodus 32:13, where Moses comes to God in the face of His wrath and reminds God of His promise to give Abraham a vast number of descendants:

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.”

King David often reminds God of His promises. Psalm 119:49-50 gives us just one example of this:

Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

If we’re going to pray God’s words and promises back to Him, how should we do this? 

There are an abundance of promises found in the Bible, and we can choose any of them that suit our needs.

Well known author Max Lucado says:

Find a promise that fits your problem, and build your prayer around it! These prayers of faith touch the heart of God and miracles are set in motion!

For instance, if you’re feeling anxious, you might turn to Philippians 4:6-7 and pray something like this:

Lord, thank You for promising that I don’t need to be anxious about anything and that I can turn all my concerns over to you. Thank You for guarding my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Even though you may have to repeat this prayer several times throughout the day as you encounter various trials, you can rest easy knowing that God has taken all the anxiety off your shoulders.

Another great verse for dealing with anxiety is 1 Peter 5:6-7. Here, Peter tells us to humble ourselves and cast all our anxieties on our caring God.

We can once again reference these verses and thank God for shouldering all our burdens according to His promises.

For general protection, we can always pray Psalm 91. 

In this chapter, God offers several promises for protection against evil, harm, and sickness. Pray these words back to Him and thank Him for all He’s done and is going to do for you.

Then, in Philippians 4:19, we read:

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Whenever we’re dealing with financial pressure or feeling frustrated, we can go to God and thank Him for meeting all our needs.

Within the pages of the Bible, we find a huge number of God’s promises that can be prayed back to Him.

The next time life is getting you down, go to the Word, find a promise, remind God of it, and thank Him for His sufficiency.

Practice Persistent Praise

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Send up prayers of gratitude throughout every day.

It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But it’s actually harder to do than you might think. With all the negativity that surrounds our everyday lives, it’s pretty easy to get caught up in a mindset of everything that’s going wrong, instead of thanking God for what’s going right in our lives.

I can’t take credit for the title for this blog post. I actually got the title from a Reel by dr.sherrispeaks. In the Reel, I believe she says she herself heard the concept from someone else. 

The fundamental idea is to give God constant praise for all the blessings He has placed in your life. Even in the worst of circumstances (even though you might have to look really hard), you can find something to thank God for. 

It could be something as simple as a parking spot close to the door, a break in the clouds so that a little sunshine hits your face and gives you a warm feeling, or just the simple chirping of an unseen bird going about its business.

If we continuously focus on all the good that we can find in our lives, there won’t be any room for the negative thoughts to creep in. 

And even if they do, we can quickly kick them out by thinking about another positive blessing or circumstance the Lord has given us. Read Philippians 4:8 for great ideas on how to do this.

I got the following idea from Joyce Meyer. It’s a great way to start your day—or at any point in the day when you need a little encouragement.

Say, “Something good is going to happen to me today. I can hardly wait to see what God is going to do in my life today!”

Then, for the first positive thing that happens in your life or positive thought that comes into your mind, thank God for it, truly being appreciative of all that He does for you.

That’s not even to mention the myriad of situations He works out or protects us from that we literally have no idea about. 

I shudder to think about how many bad things He has shielded me from or directed me to avoid without any real sense of the danger or darkness behind those situations.

We need to be just as grateful and give God just as much praise for these things as we do for all the many praise-worthy blessings we can count on any given day.

As long as we’re consistently grateful and thankful to God, we’ll experience much more joy and peace in our lives, no matter the chaos that’s going on around us.

Is Your Faith Legitimate?

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered if your faith in Jesus is legitimate? Oh sure, if you attempt to raise your child in a God-fearing home, you probably exhibit a healthy fear of God that your children pick up on.

It is one thing to show your children a God-honoring approach to the Almighty, but it is something else entirely to live this belief out in your private life when no one is around to judge you.

In these cases, it is often all too easy to let our faith slide and commit sin through unbelief and trying to handle our situations using our own efforts.

But God never wanted to handle all our problems on our own. He is our loving, caring Father, and wants to help us through the difficult situations of life. 

In fact, I would even go so far as to see He feels honored when we reach out for help, as this shows a level of trust and reliance that He deeply desires from His children.

However, we can just as easily stray from God when we try to figure out and handle all our problems on our own. We may think we have all the answers, especially if our current situation is similar to one we’ve encountered before.

In these situations, it’s easy for us to rely on our past experiences and successes to handle this problem by ourselves. 

After all, we may think we don’t need God, while waiting around for Him to come through when we can easily take care of our situation ourselves. 

The first way we can tell we’re not living by faith is making the mistake of trying to figure out and solve our problems by leaving God out of them. 

If we truly love Jesus and all that He’s done for us, it should be easy to turn immediately to Him when problems arise and place their outcome in His hands. 

Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work together for our good to those whose love God and are called according to His purpose. 

If we’ve accepted Christ into our lives, we can rest assured that His leading and guiding are directing our lives into a favorable direction. Somehow, someway, everything will work out to our advantage.

The second action that should signal to us that our faith is legitimate is when we remember to continually love Jesus when things don’t happen the way we want them to. 

That may sound simple, especially when things are going well, but it becomes much more difficult when we’re facing the trials and tribulations of life. 

If you got recently passed over for that big promotion you’ve been looking forward to, it may be hard to maintain a happy attitude toward your boss and especially the individual who was promoted in your place. 

In fact, it may be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done to put on a happy face and offer them congratulations. 

God calls us to celebrate the good fortune of those around us, so we should try our best to feel happy for them and smile at their positive situation. 

Doing so shows that you’re displaying the love of Jesus. It means you’re a bigger man (or woman) and can celebrate their achievements no matter what they are. 

After all, you’re not in competition with anyone except yourself. If you can improve yourself by a mere 1% every day, pretty soon you’ll begin to notice some significant improvements in your life.

The third sign that we know our faith is legitimate ties in closely with the second sign and involves loving God’s people just as He loves us.

For certain, we commit many sins every day, yet our Heavenly Father is just to forgive us of all them. 

In the same way, we are commanded to love others and forgive them just as they sin against us. 

In fact Jesus tells us to forgive our neighbor a whopping 490 times, in essence saying there should be no limit on our forgiveness.

That can be a monumental task that the Lord is asking of us, especially when the trespasser shows no remorse for his actions.

However, if we’re to live in the peace, love, and forgiveness that Jesus did while on earth, we must take his teachings to heart.

Love for others also means going out of our way to serve others and anticipate their needs. Others may never ask us to do something for them out of embarrassment. 

It is up to us to see their needs and lend a helping hand when it is in our power to do so. We should always love, help, and serve people just as God does the same for us.

These three areas are but a few of the ways that we can demonstrate our love and care for God and His creation.

Since we are part of His creation, we should always be on the lookout for how we can better someone’s else’s life.

I’ll be the first to admit that I often fall short in doing this. Too often, I’m in a rush trying to get things done that I overlook the needs of those around me.

It could be something as small as letting someone cut in line at the grocery stop, or helping someone who is obviously stranded on the side of the road.

I try to justify my actions (or lack thereof) by telling myself that I would be late if I stopped to help that person. However, I might be the only person who stops to offer assistance while that persona waits in vain for help.

I need to do a better job of listening to the Holy Spirit as He speaks to me in these situations.

How about you?

Joseph and His Amazing Faith

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

I’ve always been fascinated by the character Joseph in the Bible. He suffers through so much early on in his story in Genesis, then later becomes second in command in Egypt only to Pharaoh.

He is the perfect example of someone whose faith is rock solid, no matter the circumstances. And his faith paid off, as God was with him during all his tribulations.

My question to him would be, How did you manage to keep your faith through all those tough times?

For me, it would be difficult to keep up the faith when my brothers sold me into slavery to the Midianites.

Here is poor Joseph, first thrown down into a pit to be left there, but then brought up just so that his buyers could see him, pay for him, and carry him away.

Surely Joseph must have wondered where God was in all of this, especially when the Midianites later took him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, an officer to Pharaoh.

No doubt he wondered what he had done to deserve this kind of treatment. Here, he was far from home with no one in his family even knowing his whereabouts.

It would definitely be hard to keep your faith up at this point. Surely God has forgotten all about me or else I wouldn’t be in this predicament, he must have thought to himself.

Eventually things began to look up for Joseph, but he was soon framed by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison.

It would definitely be hard to maintain your faith in God when you’re locked in prison for something you didn’t even do. 

Soon, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker joined Joseph in prison. Joseph interpreted dreams for both of them, with the cup-bearer’s dream meaning that he would be reinstated to his former position. 

Joseph asked that the cup-bearer remember him when he spoke with Pharaoh, hoping that would help him get out of prison.

Joseph wasn’t about to be let out of prison just yet, as the cup-bearer forgot all about him for two whole years. 

What kind of negative thoughts do you think were going through his mind during this time?

Pharaoh eventually had his own puzzling dream, and the cup-bearer at last remembered the dream that Joseph had interpreted for him. 

He mentioned Joseph to Pharaoh and Pharaoh had Joseph brought to him to tell him the meaning of his dream.

Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream to mean that there would be seven prosperous years followed by seven years of famine. 

Pharaoh then made Joseph second in command in all of Egypt. 

Joseph was to oversee a plan to store the country’s grain during the prosperous years so that there would be enough grain during the lean years.

At last, Joseph had reached a level of responsibility brought about by God himself. Even though he was far from his home, he was prospering and well respected in this foreign land.

Eventually, Joseph even reunited with his brothers when they came to buy grain from the Egyptians. 

His father, Jacob, eventually traveled to Egypt to see his son again. God had truly blessed them when the surrounding areas were suffering through the famine.

As hard as it must have been, Joseph’s steadfast faith paid off. It took several years, but God brought him and his family back together and blessed them all in the midst of a famine.

We can all learn something from Joseph’s example. As long as we’re putting God first and living so as to honor Him, we can trust Him to ultimately work everything out for our good (Rom. 8:28).

Stick with God, even when it looks like everything is working against you, and everything will be alright.

Knowing About Jesus Versus Knowing Jesus

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Do you know Jesus? That may seem like a pretty simple question, but how you answer it is quite important.

Many people have heard of Jesus, that He was a man who lived a long time ago and who some say had some good moral teachings. 

Beyond that, there are many people who know of Jesus. They’ve heard a little more about Him than the first group and may even believe that He was a great prophet who had some radical ideas.

With all due respect, those who simply know some things about Jesus, don’t truly know Him, and they definitely don’t know Him as their Savior.

I may know of the President of the United States, but I certainly don’t know him on a personal level.

To know Jesus Christ as your Savior and have a daily, ongoing relationship with Him is the only true gateway to an intimate relationship with God the Father. 

As Jesus Himself said,

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

Jesus also said,

I and the Father are one.

John 10:30

Simply put, there is but one true pathway to God, and that is through His Son, Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus, then you don’t know the Father.

Our sin is what separates us from God, creating a chasm between Him and us that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan into eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

That is the point at which sin entered the perfect world God had created.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Rom. 3:23

Hundreds of years later, God made a covenant with the Israelites, giving them the Law, which they were supposed to adhere to.

However, the Law was simply the precursor to the work that Jesus did on the cross. The Law helped humankind to recognize their sin and the futile attempts at keeping all aspects of the law.

Being the just God that He is, and since man failed at keeping the Law, God the Father sent His Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins once and for all.

He allowed Jesus to be flogged and cruelly murdered by crucifixion, one of the most excruciating forms of torture and death ever devised.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom. 5:8

But that’s not all. After His death, Jesus lay in the tomb for three days. Then the Father resurrected Him, putting on a grand display of Christ’s power over death. 

With Jesus’s death and resurrection, we have the same hope of eternal life if we simply repent of our sins and let Jesus into our lives as our Savior. 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 6:23

There is no other pathway to an eternity spent living in Heaven with God.

When you die, if you haven’t let Jesus into your life as your Savior, you’ll spend all of eternity separated from God in a horrendous lake of fire.

You may say, “Well, that just doesn’t make any sense. I’m a good person. God wouldn’t send me to some place like that.”

It’s not that God is sending you there; it’s that you’re making the choice to live in eternal separation from God.

Or you may simply not believe the Bible and all the truth contained in it.

For all the Christians who take the Bible literally, the worst thing that could happen is that they’re wrong, and we simply cease to exist after we die.

However, if the Bible is right and you’re wrong, you’re putting your entire eternity at stake. You risk ending up in a place that you will definitely wish you weren’t in.

However, it’s easy to change all that. If you’ve never accepted Christ as your Savior, there’s no better time to do it than right now.

Take a moment and pray to God. Tell Him you’re sorry for the sins you’ve committed and that you want to live a better life from this point forward. 

Thank Him for sending Jesus to die for your sins, washing you clean of them, and making you righteous in His eyes. 

Then ask Jesus to come into your heart as your Lord and Savior. Acknowledge that Jesus is God in human form and that he is the true pathway to salvation.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Rom. 10:9-10

The next thing you need to do is find a Bible-believing church to begin attending.

Find the pastor and tell him you’ve recently accepted Christ into your life, and that you’d like to be baptized as an outward sign of your acceptance of Jesus as Lord of your life.

The steps to accepting Jesus and becoming a Christian are simple. But if you’ve been living in sin for a long time, they may seem like a huge commitment. 

Furthermore, it doesn’t mean that everything will be completely rosy after you accept Christ.

You’ll still have problems, but you’ll now have God in your corner helping you, as well as Jesus and the Holy Spirit interceding on your behalf with the Father (Rom. 8:26, 34).

Don’t put off making the biggest and best decision of your life. One day it will be too late.

Worship God for the Right Reason

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Why do you worship God? That may seem like a simple question, but I believe that how we answer it reveals a lot about our motives and attitudes.

Simply put, we should worship and fear God because of who He is. 

As the our loving Father and the Creator of the universe, we should naturally revere the Lord and give Him the respect He deserves.

However, we may be guilty of worshiping God out of selfish motives.

We should ask ourselves if we honor and worship God because of His awesome, loving nature, or because we hope to get on His good side and perhaps receive more blessings?

I know that I have been guilty of falling into that trap of selfishness. 

Many times, the enemy has planted the thought in my mind that if I just give God His due, then He will cause my life to be better and more fulfilling. 

It’s like I was playing a game with God, thinking that I could somehow buy His favor if I “worshiped” Him more or better. 

This approach sounds like how we might look at our job, trying to win brownie points with the boss by buttering him up and being a “yes” man or woman.

By giving the boss praise and compliments—and getting on their good side—we might score a raise or promotion sooner.

However, God isn’t our boss. He’s our loving Father, and he wants us to love Him and worship Him out of this love as well as a healthy, reverential fear.

This isn’t the fear that he will hurt us, but fear that recognizes He is the Ruler of the universe and that all power is in His hands. 

So, if we’re worshiping Him for any other reason, it’s wrong, and we need to rethink our motives.

God is not some sort of cosmic genie who will give us more stuff and a better life if we pull the right strings. 

True, there are many verses in the Bible that tell us God gives favor to those who love and fear Him:

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

Ps. 126:1

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Cor. 2:9

The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive.

Deut. 6:24

We can find many more such verses in scripture, but these are enough to give you the overall picture that God rewards and blesses us when we fear, love, and honor Him as He so fittingly deserves.

However, He doesn’t want us to worship Him just out of a motivation for reward. 

God desires a mature, intimate relationship with us, one that is built on love, not just His love for us, but our love for Him.

He gave us free will so that we could freely choose to love, respect, and worship Him. 

That’s the way God made us. He didn’t want robots that simply worshiped Him because that’s the way they were programmed. 

He made human beings in His image, with a free will who will either choose or refuse to worship their Creator out of love and reverence.

So, the next time you’re praying or singing praises to God, think about why you’re doing it. 

Is it because you love Him or because you hope to get something from Him?

Finding Hope in Times of Adversity: Trusting in God’s Plan

/ Clay D. / 2 Comments

We’ve all been there. By there, I mean been in a situation where we doubted if God was ever going to come through for us. 

Each of us faces challenges and struggles every day of our lives. Some of these challenges are small—perhaps as simple as trying to find a parking space in a crowded parking lot. Other challenges can severely test our faith—perhaps a family member has received a negative diagnosis from a doctor.

The question many of us ask ourselves during these trying times is, Where is God in this situation? 

If you’re like me, you tend to question God during these times, even challenging Him to show up and do something positive to affirm His love for us.

It’s easy to point our finger at God and ask Him why He has allowed this bad thing to happen to us. 

After all, we’re good Christians, right? We read our Bible, go to church, pray, and perhaps even give when the offering plate is passed around. Why shouldn’t God bless us when negative circumstances come into our lives?

This isn’t a simple question to answer by any means. By expecting God to bless us when we do the things He expects of us, we’re completely taking His love and mercy out of the picture.

We’re reducing God to some sort of magical genie whose only purpose is to grant us wishes upon our request.

And that is not what God is at all. Sure, He can do anything He wants. However, His plans often don’t coincide with what we think is best for our lives. In fact, more often than not, they don’t. 

It is during these times of trials that we simply must trust in God and His plan, understanding that He knows best and that,

for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Rom. 8:28

I have had to lean on that verse many times when things weren’t going my way.

God is bigger than I am, and He knows how to run the universe. He doesn’t need me telling Him how I think He should do things, as He is perfectly capable on His own.

However, believing that God can and does do what is best doesn’t always translate into a feeling of peace and calm for me.

Does that mean that my faith is somehow lacking? Yes, it probably does. It most likely means that I’m not relying on Him to work everything out for the best.

A good verse to read and meditate on when things aren’t going your way is Psalm 91. Here are verses 2 through 6:

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

    my God, in whom I trust.”

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

    and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his pinions,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

You will not fear the terror of the night,

    nor the arrow that flies by day,

 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

This passage can give us hope in God’s goodness and protection when it seems like all is lost. It conveys to us the love of God for His people and the protection that He has promised to us.

We can also keep in mind Psalm 103, especially verses 17 and 18:

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children’s children,

 to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.

We can rest confidently on God’s promise to look out for us during all the trials we are sure to face while living on this fallen earth.

That doesn’t mean that everything is always going to work out how we think they should, because often they won’t. 

We can, however, feel certain that God is in control and that His plan will be for our benefit. It takes faith to continue trusting God even in the midst of circumstances that look hopeless. 

But we know that with God, all things are possible. Plus, we have His promise that He is always on our side.

So, the next time you’re facing a challenge in life, just remember that God has everything under control. 

He exists outside of time, meaning He is in the past, present, and future all at the same time.

Even though our human bodies can only experience life moment by moment, God has already been where we’ve been and where we’re going. It’s just up to us to trust Him.

God Is Always on Our Side

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

As believers in Christ, we never have to doubt that God is with us and working in our lives.

He is always at our side, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in. Even when we feel our loneliest, we can rest assured that God is walking beside us.

After all, we’re told in Romans 8:28a: 

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good. 

This verse should be enough to reassure us of His love for us and that He is actively working in our lives.

Of course, there are a myriad of verses that tell us that God is always there for us, always on our side. In Isaiah 41:10 we read:

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

We need not be afraid of anything in this life, as God is always available to strengthen and help us. All we have to do is trust in Him and place our hand in His.

A few verses later, in verse 13, we read:

For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Again, God tells us not to be afraid because He is the one who will help us.

In Joshua 1:9, we’re told:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

There are also abundant references to God’s presence in the New Testament. Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 28:20b:

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus says this immediately after commanding them to make disciples in all the nations and then baptize the converts. He doesn’t give them a huge, important task like this and then leave them to their own devices. He knows they will need His help.

In Acts 2:27-28, Peter quotes King David in Psalms 16:

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

We can go through the Bible and find many more examples of God telling us He will always be by our side. But the simple truth is that we can’t go anywhere where God isn’t.

Whether we’re high above the earth flying in a jetliner or deep below the ocean depths, He is there, always pulling for us.

He will go to work in your life to help you become the person He has desired for you to be all along.

The redeeming work of Christ on the cross, as He died for your sins then arose from the dead, makes you justified in God’s eyes. 

And for that reason, He will never leave you nor forsake you. That fact should be comforting for us all.

All we have to do to tap into this power is accept His son Jesus as our savior, then latch onto God.

We don’t have to be perfect before we come to Him. Just show up where you are, as you are, and He will do the rest. 

Praying in Jesus’s Name

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Can we really trust God to hear and answer our prayers?

In several places in the Bible we’re told to ask God for what we want (in Jesus’s name) and He will give us our requests. 

But is it really that simple? Can we think of God as some sort of cosmic vending machine just waiting for us to make a selection so He can dispense what we want?

No, of course that’s not accurate. If it were, then that is exactly how we would see God, as a supernatural genie waiting to fulfill our wishes.

Rather, God promises to give us what we long for, so long as He is our main focus:

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

We’re focusing on three chapters of the gospel of John—14, 15, and 16. In these passages we are told several times that God will give us what we ask for in Jesus’s name. 

However, as we’ll see, these promises are not without caveats that we must adhere to. And dare I say that most of us fail to fulfill our end of the bargain. I know that I often do.

Let’s first look at John 14:12-14. Here, Jesus is speaking to His disciples:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

In verse 13, Jesus promises to give us what we ask for in His name. However we have to look at the surrounding text on either side of that promise. Immediately after the promise are the words, “‘…that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’” 

And after this sentence, Jesus reiterates His promise: “‘If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.’”

It is obvious that Jesus wants to get His point across about doing what we ask, but it is also apparent that His promise is conditional in that the reason behind our prayers is to bring glory to the Father.

Verse 12 gives us an even stronger description of the reason behind Jesus’s promise:

The works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do. 

Once again, it is to bring glory to God through our actions. 

I believe that is the whole crux of this passage—to do good works and pray for things that are in line with God’s will so as to bring glory to Him. As long as we are doing that, He will give us the desires of our hearts.

Now let’s look at the next chapter, John 15, specifically the verses before and after verses 7. In this verse we’re told:

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

That’s a pretty big promise. But we have to look beyond the promise to the surrounding verses before we can understand the reason behind the promise.

Verses 5 and 6 talk about the importance of abiding in Jesus so that we can produce much fruit, because apart from Him we can do nothing. It is this abiding that is so important to fulfilling the destiny that God has planned for us. 

Verse 8 then tells us:

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Once again, if we read the passage correctly, we understand that Jesus’s promise is not intended to be spent on our own selfish desires, but rather it is intended to produce fruit, bring glory to God, and draw others to Him.

We must keep these ideas in mind when we go to God in prayer, not merely asking for solutions to our problems, but imploring God to show us how we can be used daily to advance His kingdom.

Next, we look at Chapter 16 of John. In verses 23 and 24, Jesus tells His disciples:

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

The “day” that Jesus refers to is His resurrection after spending three days in the grave. His disciples will be excited at His return from the dead. Furthermore, He tells them that they will be able to ask the Father in Jesus’s name and they will receive their petitions. 

Even though not explicitly spelled out in this section, based on similar promises in the preceding two chapters, we must assume that the prayers mentioned are not just any old prayers, but rather petitions of God that will advance the work of His kingdom and bring Him glory. 

Jesus wants us to be fruitful during our time on earth. Hence, the reason He mentions praying in His name on so many occasions.

Plus, He promises to send the Holy Spirit, who will guide His followers into all truth and help them produce fruit for the Kingdom.

These passages in the gospel of John are but a few examples of Jesus telling his followers to pray in His name and expect results.

The important idea we must keep in mind, however, is that our prayers are not meant to be spent on only petitioning for our desires. 

We must align ourselves with God’s will and pray God’s word in accordance with the Scriptures. Then we can expect to see Him working in our lives in a supernatural way for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom.

Does God Inhabit Our Praise?

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Does God make His home in our praises? It’s a very intriguing thought—that God is actually present when we are praising His name. 

Psalm 22:3 is the key verse that brings up this question. Various Bible translations have rendered this verse in different ways.

For example, the New International Version (NIV) translates it:

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.

The English Standard Version is one of several translations that makes the question a little more valid with its rendering:

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

You can almost picture God living in our praise. In fact, the ESV includes a footnote that says an alternative rendering is “dwelling in the praises.”

Then, there are translations that make it relatively easy to envision God living in our praise. The King James version, among others, renders this verse:

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

And that is where the question really comes into play for me.

Does this verse mean that God is actually present with us when we’re offering up praise?

Of course, God is always with us. He gives us that promise in Deuteronomy 31:6 and reiterates it in Hebrews 13:5.

But it is a whole other thing to imagine that God is physically present—real and alive—in our praises. That should give us comfort like nothing else can.

It’s like the famous line from Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” If we praise God, He will show up. That should give us something to think about.

No matter which translation you read from, and whether or not you believe that God actually lives in our praises, we should all practice praising Him more. 

He is certainly worthy of our praise, as He is our Creator and Heavenly Father who loves us immensely despite all our flaws and sins.

That, in itself, is reason enough for our reverent worship of Him.