John 15:7 (NLTSE)
“…you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!”

Many of us are familiar with these words of Jesus in the gospel of John. We read them and think about how much God loves us and that he desires to give good gifts to us as his children. Generally speaking I think we understand that he’s not saying we can ask to win the lottery or to be given a new car and expect those things to happen. But what about praying for things that don’t seem so self-centered? Asking for a loved one to be healed or broken relationships to be restored? Do we get upset with God when things that seem like they should be his will don’t happen? God works all things for the good of those who love him right?

This is a stumbling block for many. We pray for something that aligns with our impression of God’s will and it doesn’t happen.

Enter: the rest of the verse…

John 15:7
“But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!”

IF we remain in him, and his words remain in us, THEN we may ask for anything we want and it will be granted… So the question is, what does it mean to “remain in” Jesus and his words “remain in” us? In John 15:10 Jesus said “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” For us to obey his commandments we have to know his commandments, and don’t be fooled to think that he’s only referring to the ten commandments of the Old Testament. He is referring to everything he preached while he was on this earth. Including Mark 8:34 where he said “…If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.” This is a daily decision we have to purposefully make, not something that we can say once then go on living in ignorant bliss. Remaining in Christ is the resulting action of our faith and belief in him; daily turning to him in reliant prayer, seeking to know him through the reading of his word.

Does this mean that before our feet hit the floor in the morning we can say a little prayer, read a couple verses, try to obey everything Jesus taught and expect to get everything we ask for? Certainly not! John 14:13 sheds a little more light on this saying, “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.” Here Jesus makes it clear that the reason God answers our prayers is for his glory.

Let’s look at a scenario to put some context to this. Surely God would receive glory for allowing a baby to be conceived and fully developing in its mother’s womb ending with a complication free birth. The miracle of life can only be explained as a display of Gods glory. But now suppose that four months after conception he decided to allow that baby to miscarry, knowing that the parents would develop more character and depend on him more deeply, ultimately bringing him more glory. Are we OK with this?

I know that from my limited perspective I have no right telling God what outcome is going to bring him the most glory… Take Lazarus for example. He was critically ill and his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent for Jesus knowing that he could heal their brother. It’s obvious that they were not thinking, “God let our brother die for your glory!” I have a feeling that it was out of the pain and fear of losing him that they asked Jesus to come. And their requests were not immediately answered. Lazarus did die and their hopes were dashed. They even told Jesus that if he’d gotten there earlier Lazarus wouldn’t have died. It wasn’t a lack of faith that prevented Lazarus from dying; they knew Jesus could heal him. It was God deciding that healing him in his illness wasn’t going to be as effective for his glory as what was planned.

Jesus, knowing the final outcome of this situation said “…Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” (John 11:4) Again Jesus points out the fact that the glory is the whole point. If you were in Mary or Martha’s position wouldn’t it make sense to pray for the healing? God is going to get glory for a healing right? We have such a limited point of view when it comes to knowing what will ultimately bring the most glory to God. The bible says that the heart above all things is deceitful and it also says that out of the heart the mouth speaks. I have a feeling that even when we think that we know what to pray for in a situation there’s no way to be certain that it’s God’s will.

So what should we pray for? If anyone ever knew how to pray it was Jesus and he instructed us to pray like this:

Matthew 6:9-10 (KJV)
(9) …Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

The only thing I can pray that I can guarantee will line up with the will of God is that His will be done! That’s not to say it’s wrong to pray for healing, restoration, freedom, or any number of things. We just have to keep in perspective that God receiving glory is far more important than our own desires.

So how then can we have everything we ask for?

When our desire for God to be glorified exceeds our selfish desire to have things go our way, then we will have all that we want. Suppose I interview for a promotion at work and I pray that God would give it to me if it’s his will, then I don’t end up getting it? I still got what I wanted because his will was accomplished and he will be glorified by my staying where I’m at. This is much easier to say than to live out because we are so selfish, but it is very powerful! When we can truly rest in knowing that God is sovereign and that his will is always accomplished we can let go of trying to figure out what we should be praying for and focus on obeying his commands, remaining in his love.