Prayer and the Great “If . . . Then” Promise of Jesus – Part 6: The Promise and the Elephant in the Room

This is the final post in series of 6 posts on the ‘Great “If . . . Then” Promise of Jesus’ in John 15: 7.

Jesus makes an incredible promise in John 15: 7, connected to 2 conditions. “If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you”. There is no indication in Scripture that this verse is not for every believer who meets the conditions.

Let’s look more closely at the promise.

“Ask” in Greek is aiteo. It means to “ask, beg, call for, crave, desire, and require”. It contains an element of necessity and immediacy, almost desperation. We must ask! Too often we lose sight of this basic element of prayer. Scripture tells us we don’t have because we don’t ask. The power of the promise is that when we remain in Him and His words remain in us, our joy comes from asking for what He wants.

“Wish” in Greek is thelo ethelo. It means to be resolved or determined, to purpose an outcome. When we ‘wish’ for something, we are already imagining the thing we are wishing for as if it is real.

“Given” (“Done” in KJV) in Greek is ginomai. It means “to become, to come into existence, begin to be, to come to pass”. Jesus is telling us when we pray, we speak something into existence that did not exist before. This is the meaning of praying for something that is not, as if it is. That is the type of power Jesus is telling us our prayers can have if His conditions are met. Jesus is the giver. We ask, He delivers. Once we ask, we can let go of the request believing by faith that He will bring it to pass.

But there is a problem; the elephant in the room – unanswered prayers. On the one hand, Jesus says it, therefore it must be true. On the other hand, how many of our prayers apparently go unanswered?   

So how do we rationalize the promise with what seems, for many of us, to be the reality of prayer? How can we explain this discrepancy?

Many address the elephant in the room with the idea that the promise was only for the early church. If we disregard these verses with the argument, “that was for then, not for now”, doesn’t that way open the door to throw out anything Jesus says that seems too difficult for our 21st century materialistic minds to comprehend? We might as well throw out healing, deliverance, signs, wonders, miracles, and most of what Jesus said, like, I don’t know, the Lord’s Prayer. Was that for then, not for now? In other words, if we relegate signs, wonders, miracles, and other supernatural manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit to the first century, we strip all of the power out of the Christian faith – which sadly (no, criminally) some denominations today do. There is no Scriptural evidence to support this radical move.

The promise has two parts: Jesus’ part and mine. Is Jesus faking us out; does He not have the power to follow through? Nope, He can’t be the problem. Ok, then the problem must be on my end.

I might not be remaining ‘in Christ’ and, therefore, His words are not remaining in me. Am I in an intimate, organic union with Jesus? Is He the motivating force in my life? Am I living a repentant life style? Is Jesus the source of my value as a human being? Am I daily remining in Him? Am I having daily conversations with Jesus, listening to Him and obeying His instructions? These are different dimensions of “remaining in Christ”. If I am living a life of activities and not relationship, profession without practice, and lacking obedience to His word? Then these might be the reasons why my prayers are lifeless.

I can come to Jesus and ask, “Lord, what part of me is not ‘in Christ’?” He will tell me. I can bring this issue of the ‘flesh’ to Him – renounce it, repent of it, ask Jesus to remove it from me, and then fill me with a double portion of His Spirit.

Most often, in my experience, many of us (Christians!) have veils of spiritual flesh around our hearts, keeping us from hearing Jesus’ voice and living in union with Him. These veils need to be removed. A veil is made up of threads. The spiritual threads in our lives are negative emotions like anger, resentment, bitterness, hatred, and unforgiveness; fears, sins, occultic practices, abuse, and curses woven together over our lifetime. Removing this veil is done by healing and repentance prayer I have presented in other posts in this blog. If that veil keeps us from remaining in Him and hearing “His words”, then that might be a major reason why more of us don’t see our prayers answered. I believe Christians are not seeing more answered prayers because they need healing, which, sadly, many churches will not discuss or know how to provide.

Some of us have demonic infiltration/oppression that prevents us from living ‘in Christ’, even though we are saved.  Many of us need deliverance ministry (many more than we realize). Perhaps you visited a fortune teller out of curiosity when you were young, participated innocently in a séance, used Tarot cards, or a Ouija board. Carrying years of unrepented anger, unforgiveness, hatred, resentment, shame, or bitterness does more than build a veil; they all open doors for demons to gain a foothold in our hearts, according to Paul (Ephesians 4: 26). Same with unrepented sin like pornography or an abortion years ago. Verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse can leave us scarred and an easy target for demonic oppression.

In this type of oppression, demons have entered our heart through these open doors. They are free to roam about, releasing spiritual and emotional poison into our lives, and even building strongholds, preventing us from living ‘in Christ’ and hearing His words. Demons can be cast out. There are many posts in this blog about deliverance, coupled with emotional healing. Or find a good book on deliverance like Neal Anderson’s ‘The Bondage Breaker’ or ‘Victory Over the Darkness’.

Maybe I was praying for a wrong outcome; an outcome that I selfishly desired without listening to God’s voice. James writes about prayer. “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives . . .” (James 4: 2, 3 NIV).

I believe God’s will is to heal broken hearts and bodies. In the prayer ministry I am involved in, almost everyone I pray with for emotional healing and spiritual deliverance sees positive results – some more than others. But sometimes God says, “No. Don’t pray for healing”. I don’t know why. But He does. If I push forward with prayer on my own, my prayers are not usually answered, or at least not in the way I wished. Here is an example:

I prayed fervently, for years, for a man to be healed from cancer. But he died. He did live much longer than the doctors predicted; his courage and cheerful, positive outlook encouraged many; about a thousand people attended his memorial service where the Good News was preached, and I believe some came to know Jesus in that service. Maybe these were the answers to my prayers, and I was not listening to Jesus’ rhema words about what to pray for. I just assumed God’s will was for him to be healed (I believe God’s will is to heal), but in truth I never stopped to really ask God and listen to Him.

Some people claim that unanswered prayer is due to a lack of faith. I think this idea is both wrong and right. It is wrong because many Christians who don’t see much fruit from their prayers have faith in Christ. They have accepted Jesus, they believe in Him, and they are undoubtedly saved. This idea is right because many Christians, while believing in Jesus as Savior, don’t believe this promise, don’t believe it is for them, or haven’t been told what remining in Christ is all about.

Often, we pray prayers that praise God and exalt Him. These are necessary prayers. But Jesus is also calling us to pray prayers of intercession. If we don’t ask, we won’t see answered prayers.

Others will say if there is no answer to prayer or at least not the answer they asked for, then it was not God’s will. In this way they maintain both God’s integrity and their own. The only problem with this qualifying clause is that Jesus never said it. He says, “Make your home in Me, converse with Me, and you can ask for anything you wish and it be given you”. Of course, as I explained above, when we ‘ask’, we need to be in harmony with His will. If we are in harmony, Jesus says what you wish will be given you. If the wish isn’t given, we can’t blame it on God’s will. We must look to ourselves and ask, “what am I doing wrong”.

Another principle I often hear is the purpose of prayer is to change me. Undoubtedly prayer changes me. Anytime I come into the throne room of God I am changed. But changing me is not the primary purpose of prayer. The primary purpose of prayer is to pray God’s will into existence. That changes me, for sure, but it can also change the world. Read the biography of Rees Howells and see how intercessory prayer changed the course of WW 2.

Jesus gives us a promise of answered prayer, but He doesn’t specify a time line. I see some prayers answered almost immediately; others are answered in days or weeks. Sometimes God brings about an answer in months or years, especially prayers for loved ones to come to know Jesus.

I am sure there are more reasons why our prayers aren’t answered. These are the ones I can think of.

This promise, “Ask for whatever you wish, and it will be given you” is beyond our comprehension and certainly flies in the face of our materialistic culture, which has even invaded the Church. Yet, this promise is obviously important to our Father. It is mentioned 7 times (that I have found) in the New Testament. We must take it seriously. For some reason, God has decided that our prayers are going to be the way He sovereignly shapes the future and rules His creation. Our prayers, prayed in harmony with His will, have the power to create, to bring into being something that does not yet exist. We need expectancy, which is rooted in faith.

How are we going to make that mountain move if we don’t ask with faith and expectancy, as we remain ‘in Christ’ and His words remain in us?

I like what Dale Bruner wrote in his commentary on John, writing about this promise in John 15: 7:

“Jesus clearly challenges His disciples in this remarkable verse: “Try Me!”.

The promise is amazing. The potential power in our prayers is staggering. Perhaps all we need to do to walk in signs, wonders, and miracles that glorify God is – ask!

Jesus, help me live in the power promised by you when I remain ‘in You’ and Your words remain in me. Let me, by faith, receive and appropriate all the gifts You, Jesus, have bestowed upon me – my heavenly inheritance. I want to influence and change the world for Your glory and for Your Name, one prayer at a time. Amen

In His name,

John