⁷ “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

So why does God leave the divine resources on hold until we ask for them? Why not just put them on autopilot and skip the middle step of asking? Then He will supply what we need without depending on our erratic or inconsistent prayer life. After all, as Scripture says, “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27)? Further, “… we know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). It would seem, then, that asking God for anything would be superfluous. The Spirit prays for us, God is going to work everything out for the good. Why prayer, then?

Jesus sees it as absolutely necessary for us to ask. His training of the disciples in the Upper Room was not preparing them to be automatons. He was training them to be partners with God, working together with Him in reaching the world. If efficiency were the goal, God could very well have cloned the human Jesus, placed His spirit on all the clones and then the world would be reached much more “effectively,” it would seem. But, just as God incarnated Himself in the person of Jesus, He wants to incarnate His word in us who are followers of Jesus and empower us with His spirit. He wants to use our humanness, our divine-image-bearing-ness to reach the world.

So as He gave Adam and Eve human choice and responsibility, He gives the followers of Jesus the same God-like prerogative to voluntarily join Him in the mission to bless the world through the message of Christ. Thus, just as our abiding in Christ and having His word abide in us is subject to our volition, so also is requesting from God our hearts desires.

This gives God great joy when He sees that the requests of our hearts (“whatever you wish”) flow from lives that are abiding, that are delighting in the Lord (Ps 37:4). Then we are functioning as originally intended, living out His image in our lives. And in our prayers we reflect back to Him the desires of His heart! And we grow as we increasingly recognize the real needs we have in fulfilling His mission for and through us. These are prayers He delights to hear; these are prayers He delights to answer. Oh, that we would abide in Him and that we would let His Word abide in us! That is preparation we need for serving the Lord in the power of the Spirit with the resources of God.

Lord, may I bring You joy by reflecting the image of Christ back to You.