CHRIST’S
SEVEN-FOLD
INVITATION
TO PRAYER!
By
Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
“And
whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name I
will do it.” (John
14: 13, 14)
By
God’s grace, I will prove definitively and conclusively in this
brief treatise, that God not only answers the prayers of His trusting
children, but that He delights in doing so!
The
Bible says: “Now
unto Him Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think, according to the power that works in us. Unto Him be glory
in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen.” (Eph.3:
20,21)
FOUR
THINGS NOTED HERE!
First,
God has the ability to meet every need presented to Him in sincere
prayer. Our Sovereign Lord is omnipotent, meaning all powerful.
Nothing is difficult for Him. He spoke the worlds into being and
upholds all things by the Word of His power.
“He
(Christ) Who being the brightness of His Glory, and the express image
of His Person, and upholding all things by the Word of His Power,
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on High.” (Heb.1: 3)
“And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in
Heaven and in earth.” (Matt.28: 18)
Jesus
demonstrated his awesome power when He raised Lazarus from the dead.
Before healing the paralytic, our Lord emphasized that He could just
as easily forgive sins as heal the sick. He didn’t say, “Which is
harder?
Secondly,
our greatest needs are miniscuel compared to the greatness of His
ability to answer. Thirdly,
He performs miracles in direct proportion to the Holy Spirit’s
power that resides within us. Fourthly,
we will glorify Him forever by Jesus Christ!
Jesus
said: “Abide in Me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.
I am the Vine, ye are
the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in Him, the same brings
forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing.”
(John 15: 4,5)
The
KEY to answered prayer is to “ABIDE
IN CHRIST”. We know
that God is more willing to give than we are to ask.
When you
consider how much He has already given us, then it is not difficult
to believe that He desires to continue giving and meeting our needs!
Consider these Scriptures:
“For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John
3: 16); “Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us…”
(1 John 3: 16);
“I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd lays his life down for
the sheep.” (John
10: 11)
“Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.” (John
15:13); “But God
commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.” (Rom.5:8)
JESUS
GAVE US THIS ANALOGY!
Jesus
invited: “Ask and it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks
finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” (Matt.7:
7,8)
Our
Lord stated, no Father would deny his son’s request for bread by
giving him a stone
(something useless)
or instead of a fish, give him a serpent
(something dangerous) to eat.
He
concluded: “If ye
then, being evil (carnal),
know how to give good
gifts unto your children,
how much more shall
your Father which is in Heaven
GIVE GOOD THINGS to
them that ask Him?” (Matt.7:
11)
Only
an ignorant
or belligerent
person would deny the willingness of God to meet the needs of those
who cry unto Him in desperation!
In the
following parable, Jesus clearly made a case for determined and
consistent prayer:
“And
He spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to
pray, and not faint
(cave in); Saying,
There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded
man.
“And
there was a widow in that city; and she came unto Him, saying, Avenge
me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he
said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
“Yet
because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her
continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the
unjust judge says,
“And
shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him,
though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them
speedily!” (Luke
18:1 – 8)
JESUS
CHRIST: THE
EXPRESS
IMAGE OF GOD!
It
makes you wonder if any of today’s evolutionists,
politicians or
modernist theologians
even have a clue of Who Jesus Christ really is!
St.
Paul made it clear that they just “DON’T
GET IT.”
Here are the anointed words of that great theologian who brought the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile world:
“That
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of
God.
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect (mature): yet
not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world, that
come to naught:
“But
we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery,
even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our
glory: Which
none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, THEY
would NOT
have CRUCIFIED
the Lord of Glory.”
(1 Cor.2: 5-8)
The
ONE who made all these staggering statements about our Heavenly
Father was Jesus Christ, the very Son
of God, Redeemer of
Israel and Saviour of the World!
THE
BIBLE says: “God…hath in these last days spoken unto us by His
SON, Whom He hath appointed HEIR of all things, by
Whom also He made the worlds;
Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His
PERSON, and upholding all things by the WORD of His POWER, when He
had BY HIMSELF
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.”
(Heb.1: 1-4)
That
Scripture make these things are very clear:
1.
God had spoken
to the world previously through His
holy prophets,
but He sent His Own Son to speak to us.
2.
Jesus Christ is
heir of ‘all things’.
3.
Jesus Christ is the Divine
Architect and Creator of
the worlds.
4.
Jesus Christ came to earth to reveal the Father to us.
5.
The solar system, planets, stars and universes are
kept in their orbits and
proper functions by Christ’s power.
6.
Jesus Christ doesn’t need any help to save us. He
alone shed His precious blood to purge us from our sins.
7.
Jesus Christ is
NOW seated on the
right hand of the Majesty on High!
JESUS
PERSONALLY
INVITES
US TO PRAYER!
We
can trust His Word completely because He is the Way, the Truth and
the Life…” (John 14: 6), Jesus Christ cannot change, fail or lie,
because He is Holy, Righteous, Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient,
Omnipresent, and His Word is Immutable!
He
ALONE could say: “…I
do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these
things. And He that hath sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left
Me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.” (John
8: 28, 29)
Seven
times in John's Gospel chapters 14, 15 & 16 our precious Lord
Jesus Christ invites us to bring our requests to God in prayer.
He would not invite us
to pray if He were not prepared to answer!
There
are hundreds of Scriptures that promise answers to our sincere,
faith-filled prayers, as we call upon the name of the Lord in Jesus’
holy name.
I
have chosen three chapters from St. John’s Gospel where Jesus
specifically invites us to pray, because He declares that we will
receive an answer to our prayers!
SEVEN
INVITATIONS TO PRAYER!
Here
are the seven
invitations our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ personally initiated, together with the
conditions necessary for their implementation!
NUMBER
1.
“And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John
14: 13)
The
language that Jesus chose to use in issuing this promise is easy to
understand. There is nothing duplicitous about it. He had nothing to
hide and He had no problem expressing Himself.
Our
blessed Saviour is TRUTH personified and His words were straight
forward and to the point! He uses the word ‘whatsoever’
which means exactly what it says. There are no limitations. It covers
whatever our needs are!
He
specifies, however, that we must ask in HIS NAME. Herein, lies the
key
to
receiving from Him answers to our prayers. We must understand the
value
of His NAME; the authority
and power
that is inherent in His Name!
NUMBER
2. “If ye
shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John
14: 14).
Here,
Jesus repeats almost word for word what He had said earlier. He
stresses that nothing is too hard for Him. We can bring Him the
most difficult problems we have and He is able and willing to help us
solve them.
It
staggers the imagination that the Creator, Life Giver and Great
physician promised: “If ye shall ask ANYTHING in My name, I WILL DO
IT.”
St.
Paul quoted Isaiah: But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for
them that love Him.
GOD
HATH REVEALED THEM TO US!
“But
God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit: for
the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now we
have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that
are freely
given to us of God.” (1
Cor.2: 9,10)
The
nation of ISRAEL was terribly backslidden and the Prophet Isaiah
called upon the Lord
for mercy. In Chapter
63, he rehearses how
the Lord had delivered them through Moses and asks for God’s
deliverance again.
“Oh
that Thou would rend the heavens, that Thou would come down…to make
Thy name known…that the nations may tremble at Thy presence.”
Then,
Isaiah stated: “For
since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by
the ear, neither hath the eye seen,
O God beside Thee, what
He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.”
(Is.64: 4)
The great
Baptist preacher, DR. VANCE HAVNER, writes:
“Paul quoted that in
1 Corinthians 2: 9,
and he had in mind
not only heaven but the riches of God’s grace for us here and now.
“It is
impossible to imagine, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, what God can
do TO us and THROUGH us and FOR us when He can find a man who really
cares enough to be His instrument.
“That
is indicated in verse 5:
“Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those
that remember thee in Thy ways.”
God will
meet any man more than halfway if that man is in dead earnest and
means business with heaven!
Here
is the question: Who
among us will be that man whom God can use to bring His people back
into fellowship with Him? To bring the Church of our Lord Jesus
Christ into repentance and faith, in order to see His power in
revival fire with forgiveness, divine healing and deliverance in His
Church again?
Again,
our Lord teaches us the value and power that is inherent in His Name!
Here is the reason the incomparable name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
is so influential, so powerful and life giving!
WHY
JESUS’ NAME IS SO POWERFUL!
St.
Paul declared:
“Christ Jesus…Who being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God (He
is God the Son):
But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
“And
being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also
hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every
name:
“That
at the NAME OF JESUS
every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil.2:
5-11)
In
the Great Commission, Jesus gave His Church AUTHORITY and POWER in
HIS NAME to speak in new tongues, preach the gospel, cast out evil
spirits, heal the sick and be protected from the devil and his
cohorts!
He
said: “Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature…And these
SIGNS
shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out
devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”
(Mark 16: 15-18)
Unbelieving
theologians, using some later discovered older manuscripts with a few
missing verses from St. Mark’s Gospel chapter 16 have sowed seeds
of doubt as to the veracity of that text. What they don't disclose is
that the same
manuscripts have
missing verses and entire chapters
from other parts of the Bible, yet that information has been withheld
from the population at large!
GOD'S
WORD IS INSPIRED & INNERANT!
In
his book, ‘Bodily
Healing & The atonement’,
DR. T.J. McCROSSAN
wrote: “A
few scholars have denied the authenticity of the verses in Mark 16,
but IRANAEUS quotes these verses as a part of Mark’s Gospel, and
remember he was a pupil of John the Apostle. This is positive proof
that these words are genuine.”
NUMBER
3: “If ye
abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you.” (John
15: 7). Here is one
of the most important lessons we must learn and practice in order to
receeive miracles from God.
We
must abide in Christ, meaning to give ourselves totally and
unreservesly to Jesus Christ until we receive the assurance that we
are His, and secondly to take His Word into our hearts to resonate
and become a part of us.
NUMBER
4:
“Ye have not
chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go
and bare forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that
whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in MY Name, He may give it
you.” (John 15: 16)
We
are important to God since He has chosen us for Himself. When we
understand the bond we have with Him and able to call Him our Father,
it is easy. One of the first things that Jesus taught His disciples
was that God was their Father, something none of the prophets stated.
Jesus
teaches us that when we bare bear fruit, we please the Father.
Bearing fruit for the Master also shows our devotion to Him and faith
in Him. We must show God we mean business, by living the life He
demands!
“But
without FAITH it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him.”(Heb. 11: 6)
NUMBER
5: “And
in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.”
(John 16: 23)
He
referred to the day when He would pour the Holy Spirit upon them. He
would no longer be with them, but they would not be alone because He
would send them the Comforter, the divine Helper.
He
had walked with them for more than three years. He would soon leave
them to sit on His Father's Right hand, and they were instrcted to
pray directly to Him for whatever they needed. The only prerequisite
was, they must ask in His NAME. He was teaching them to use His name
and His Heavvenly Father would honour that name, as though He was
still with them.
NUMBER
6:
“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall
receive, that your joy may be full.” (John
16: 24). Jesus continued teaching on the importance of His name. He
and His name were synonymous. His Father would honour His Name just
as if He were there in person. And He wanted them to be filled with
joy by having their prayers answered!
NUMBER
7: “At
that day ye shall ask in My name: and I say not unto you that I will
pray the Father for you: For the Father Himself loveth you, because
ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.”
(John 16: 26-27)
There
is only one prerequiste for the Father to love us and that is that we
love His Son and believe the record that He gave of His Son. If you
love Jesus Christ and believe that our Heavenly Father sent His Son
to this sin-cursed earth to save us from our sins, He is obligated to
love us and come to make His abode with us.
JESUS
made it clear that God knows us personally and He doesn't need to run
interference for us, but we can have our prayers answered simply by
using His name and our faith in His Word. He will keep His promises
to us, when we PRAY to our Heavenly Father in faith in Jesus' name!
Amen.
THE
SEAL OF GOD'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT!
Dr.
John Lake,
who was used greatly in the Ministry of Healing stated: Divine
Healing is the seal of God's acknowledgment, the proof to the world
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John the Baptist was in prison.
He was troubled with doubt, as to whether Jesus was the Christ. He
sent two of his disciples to Jesus to put the question,
“Art
Thou He that should come, or look we for another?”
His
answer was to appeal to the signs of His Ministry. These were, and
still are God's answer to doubt and unbelielf:
“Go
and show John those things which ye do hear and see; The blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel
preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in Me.”
These
are still GOD'S SEAL and ENDORSEMENT of the preaching of the TRUE
GOSPEL. The preaching that lacks the SIGNS which Jesus promised lacks
Divine attestation
by which God confirms the preaching of His own True Gospel. The
results should be, “And they went forth and preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them to confirm the Word with SIGNS following.”
(Mark
16:20)
Dear
Heavenly Father:
I
pray for every man, woman and child reading this article. Please,
anoint these words with the Holy Spirit. May your blessing rest upon
them all. Please Lord, touch them all with Thy nail-scarred hands and
heal them from every evil power, all demonic activity and every
sickness and disease. In Jesus' all powerful name, Amen.
P.S.
My dear Friend, Please write us with your prayer request!
