Today's blog is short and sweet, nothing crazy profound or drawn out. But, it's a point that I find to be very, very important.
This morning I read John 15:7 and it struck me that the words in some verses are left open to interpretation. God has given His word to us, and the option of having a close relationship with Him. Between the two of those, we should have the knowledge and wisdom to interpret the things He says in His word. However, I find that scripture is often misinterpreted, or just misunderstood.
John 15:7 says " If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
There are multiple verses throughout scripture that say something very similar to this and I find that 90% of the time, people focus on the wrong part of this verse.
Naturally, we see "ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" and think "wow, whatever I wish? God's like a genie!"
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Another verse I hear misinterpreted often is Matthew 21:22 " And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
The problem with seeing these verses with the "ask and you shall receive" mentality, is that God didn't write them to tell you that He'll give you anything you want just because you prayed and asked for it. That's not the case at all. In fact, he warns us about this thought pattern specifically in James 4:3 " You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
Here is why we too often ask "wrongly:"
The beginning of John 15:7 says If you abide in ME and MY WORDS abide in you.
This does not mean if you can recite a lot of scripture. This also does not mean if you are saved. This verse is saying that if you are walking with Christ daily, if you are living close to Him, soaking up His word, living in His word, and you ask for something, chances are that your priorities and desires will be in tune with His.
If you read the beginning of John chapter 15, you will see the analogy of God being a vine and people being branches. The point of this example was to show us that apart from Him, we are nothing. A branch that is not connected to it's vine is dead, useless. However, a branch that is connected to it's vine is living, and it is living because of the life given to it through the vine.
If your will is aligned with His because you've been walking with Him daily and staying close to Him, your desires will become His desires. You will begin to want what He wants. What you ask for will be His will. And this is where the end of the verse "ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you" comes into play.
Let's look at Matthew 21:22. "And whatever you ask in prayer..." This doesn't mean that you bowed your head and closed your eyes and asked for something. This verse is saying, AGAIN, if you are walking with Jesus and your will has become His, in your prayer time with God, your requests will be God's will. What you ask for will be what He already wants for you. Not always. We are still human, we are still flesh. But if you are walking closely with Him, your wishes are more likely to be His wishes.
Look at it this way: have you ever had a best friend (maybe when you were younger) that you spent all of your time with? Maybe in the summer time when school was out, the two of you would spend every day and night together for weeks on end. You might notice (or maybe someone else noticed) that the things you say and do have become more and more like your friend (or vice versa). The more time you spend with someone, the more you become like them.
So keep that in mind in your Christian walk. The more time you spend with Jesus, the more you'll become like Him. The closer your relationship with Him is, the better chance of having your desires granted because the better chance of your desires being His desires.
God was never promising Christians that we'd get whatever we wanted if we asked. He was promising complete happiness and fulfillment through Him if we walked with Him. He was promising that the desires of our heart would be fulfilled because they would align with His desires.
Remember that when you have fleshly desires. If your will isn't aligning with God's, spend a little more time with Him, get to know Him a little better, walk a little more closely with Him. Your wants will change and you will become more fulfilled and happy.
A relationship with Jesus is key to this life.
It will pay off, I promise.
