Tag: John 16:23-24
Stronghold for the oppressed!
Scripture reading for August 27th: Psalm 9:9-11 “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know Your Name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. Sing praises to the Lord, Who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples His deeds!”
John 16:23-24 “In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
There are many kinds of oppression in our fallen world. People are often oppressed because of prejudice against races or nationalities. They may be mocked and relegated to the lowest place in a country or people group. They may be taken advantage of or sold into slavery for labor or sexual pleasure. The psalmist declares a truth about His Lord concerning oppression and those in trouble: God is faithful! All who put their trust in Him and know His Name, calling on Him and seeking His help will never be forsaken or left to the enemy.
The Name of the Lord often declares His character and benefits. In the last devotion we found that God was our Shield, Glory, and the lifter of our heads. God is our Healer, providing remedy for disease as well as protection from disease. In the New Testament, Jesus encouraged His disciples to begin asking the Father directly in His Name for whatever they had need of and they would receive it. Our Lord Jesus is truly a ‘Stronghold’ in times of trouble or oppression. No weapon formed against us will prosper! Our God shall meet all our needs according to His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prayer: Father, in Jesus’ Name, we take You at Your Word today and ask You to lift our oppression from sickness and disease. You Alone are our Stronghold in oppression. We will worship You and tell among the peoples Your amazing deeds of answering our prayers! Amen!
Prayer Adds Years!
Scripture reading for July 28: Isaiah 38:1-5 “In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.”
God sets the boundaries of each life in terms of how long our stay on earth is. (Psalm 139:16) In our reading today, King Hezekiah became sick and was near death. Isaiah the prophet was sent to him to confirm his upcoming death and he was told to get his affairs in order. But for those who believe that nothing is too hard for God or impossible, there is the option of appealing to God. Hezekiah chose to appeal to God based on his years of service to God and faithfulness of his heart. He wept sincerely as he offered his appeal.
God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer and tears by sending Isaiah back to him with the answer to his appeal. God had heard the prayer, saw his tears and decided to add fifteen more years to his life. We know it wasn’t that Hezekiah was so righteous or faithful, but that God was merciful and had promised to hear the prayers of His people and answer them. Solomon had prayed at the temple’s dedication for God’s people’s prayers to be answered. (1 Kings 8:38-39) Jesus now promises His disciples that whatever they ask in faith in His Name He will answer. (John 16:23-24)
So the question for us today is what is the state of our faith in God and Jesus Christ? Do we respond to Jesus’ invitation to ask Him for whatever we have need of? Are we resting in Jesus’ sinless life of perfect obedience and His sacrifice of body and blood to give us and access to God? Why not ask today and trust God’s promises?
Prayer: Father, I ask you for _____________ today. Thank You! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
God Knows All Hearts!
Scripture reading for July 23: 1 Kings 8:37-40 “If there is a famine in the land, if there is a locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear from heaven Your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart You know, according to all his ways (for You, You only know the hearts of all the children of mankind, . .”
Prayer is a matter of the heart. Hearts that were humble and sincere and revered God and His Word were invited to ask the Lord, Whose presence had filled Solomon’s temple to bring healing or deliverance. Solomon asked God for grace in hearing and acting on each request. He stated that he believed God would bring an answer according to the condition of the heart. Only God knows each person’s heart.
Even in this time of the Old Covenant, God made provision for healing sickness, plagues, and disease. He loved His people and wanted them to enjoy health and blessings. He also knew that the law could not truly change the heart of His people, it could only reveal sin like a mirror. God encouraged His people to pray and seek Him for all their needs. The temple of the Lord built by Solomon as a dwelling place of God was given to help His people grow in faith and build a relationship with Him. As their hearts moved them, they could pray and God would respond.
But God’s plan was not a physical temple, but to dwell intimately with His people. Each person now can ask God in Jesus’ Name for whatever is needed and it will be supplied. “In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24)
Prayer: Father God, thank You for grace for each of us Your children to ask for healing or provision and knowing that You will hear and answer. Examine my heart and heal it. Amen.
Day 2 -Jesus’ Prayer for Us!
Scripture reading for June 30: John 17: 20-25“”I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are One, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.””
Not only did Jesus give His disciples a pattern or model of how to pray, He prayed for them using that pattern as recorded by the apostle John in chapter 17 of his Gospel. Earlier in this prayer and over and over, Jesus addressed God as “Father” as He instructed His followers. We are to pray directly to the Father and can come boldly before Him because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. (John 16:23-24)
As Jesus taught His disciples to pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done, so Jesus prayed in this passage for God’s will to make us all one with Him and the Son. God’s purpose was that the world would believe that God sent Jesus and that He loved them enough to send His Son to die on their behalf. Those who would believe and unite in God’s family would experience God’s love and it would flow through them to those in the world.
Jesus had prayed earlier that God would keep His followers in the world from the evil one and that none of them would be lost, except Judas, the son of destruction. (John 17:12) His request was to make them complete and filled with joy eternally, even though the world would hate them. They would be set apart by the truth of God’s Word and Son. Jesus not only prayed for His immediate disciples, but for all who would come to believe in Him through their witness and message. His plan was that all who believed would be with Him where He was and behold His glory forever and ever! Truly, His is the power and glory forever and ever! Amen!
Powerful Prayers
Scripture reading for December 10: Revelation 8
“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” Revelation 8:1-5
Often people wonder if their prayers are heard or answered by God. Prayer is an act of faith coming from a belief that God is alive and actively concerned about each person and their needs. God has told His people that when they call on Him in the times of trouble they honor Him and He will deliver them. (Psalm 50:15) Jesus Christ spent time each day in prayer with His Father, often all night! Jesus urged His disciples to pray, asking the Father in His Name for their needs and promised answers. (John 16:23-24)
As John was in heaven observing Jesus Christ open the seventh seal on the Father’s scroll, he faced a period of silence lasting about half an hour. It was as if all heaven stood at attention as the Lamb revealed the contents of the scroll and the judgments coming soon. Seven angels with seven trumpets stood ready before the throne. Another angel stood at the golden altar with a golden censer. This angel was given incense to offer with the prayers of the saints. God received the prayers as the sweet smell of incense. In response, the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and hurled it on the earth. Fireworks resulted resembling a great thunderstorm with lightning and thunder and a great earthquake.
How does your view of prayer and its effects get shaped through this picture shown to John? Will you pray powerful prayers that move heaven to shake the earth on behalf of believers or the lost?
Prayer: Father God, thank You for hearing and answering prayers of Your people. Increase my faith to pray even more powerful prayers that shake the heavens and the earth as You send forth the answers. Shake up my children and grandchildren to fulfil Your calling. Shake up my lost friends and neighbors with heaven’s lightning and thunder. Amen!
Confidence in Christ
Scripture reading for November 25: 1 John 5
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:11-15
John’s readers struggled to really know if they had received eternal life. Satan loves to use doubt and deception to keep people in fear and darkness. Nothing has really changed in our culture today. But God is light and in Him is no darkness. God has revealed through His Word that He has provided eternal life for all who will receive His Son, Jesus Christ. If you have the Son, you have eternal life. If you reject the Son, you are without eternal life and God’s wrath rests on you. (John 3:36)
John wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to bring clarity to believers in Jesus. God the Father wants His children to know that they are a part of His forever family. The Holy Spirit indwelling us testifies that we are God’s children by crying “Abba, Father”. (Galatians 4:6) Jesus gave His followers the promise of asking in His Name for anything we have need of and it would be granted. (John 16:23-24) By faith this means that if we asked for forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life, God has heard us and granted us what we asked. Faith in God’s Word brings confidence and deliverance from all fears of future punishment. (1 John 4:18) Eternal life is found only in a relationship with God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Have you struggled with fear or uncertainty about your future after leaving this earth? How does John’s letter help you to regain confidence and begin to live by faith? Have you asked God for His forgiveness in Jesus’ Name?
Prayer: Father God, thank You for this assurance of eternal life found in Jesus Christ, Your Son. Thank You for the privilege of prayer in the Name of Jesus and the assurance of my needs being taken care of because You hear and answer. Use me to share these truths with those You place in my path. Amen.
No one will steal your joy!
Scripture reading for November 14th: Ezekiel 46-48, John 16
John 16: 19-22 “Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘a little while and you will not see Me, and again a little while and you will see Me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
As Jesus explained how He would go away for a time and then they would see Him again, the disciples struggled to understand. Jesus, perceiving this, used a woman giving birth as an illustration of how this event would affect them. As the labor brought pain and lament in the time immediately before the birth, so the disciples would experience pain and lament. The world would rejoice. As the woman quickly forgot the anguish of the birth, joyful at the new baby and new life, so the disciples would also rejoice at Jesus appearing again, having conquered death. He would confirm His resurrection to them in such a way that no one could ever rob them of their joy and hope! They would ask the Father for their needs and receive in Jesus’ Name! Amen!
John 16:23-24 “”In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.””
Prayer: Father God, thank You for these amazing truths and promises of joy and answered prayer. Forgive me for my unbelief in failing to ask You at times for my needs and power to accomplish Your will. Let the river of Your love through the Holy Spirit flow in me, the new ‘temple’, to reach the lost and dying in this world. Encourage me that everywhere that river flows, life will result! Amen!
Ezekiel 47:9 “And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.”
God loves to answer His children!
Scripture reading for July 7th: Matthew 7
Key Scriptures: Matthew 7:7-11 “”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Is God really listening to us? In our world there are lots of voices and distractions. Not many people really listen closely to others. And we can’t see God so how do we know He is listening? These same questions came to the disciples who followed Jesus. Jesus gave them careful instruction and used examples that everyone could understand. Getting God’s attention is as simple as asking, seeking, or knocking. Those that ask, receive. Those that seek, find. And those that knock find the door opening. These verbs are all in a persistent voice that is full of faith in the answer coming. To help His followers with God’s willingness, Jesus pointed to children asking their parents for bread or fish for satisfaction of daily hunger. Would the parents spitefully give their own children stones or serpents instead? Never! Neither would the Father! He is a good, good Father who always listens and gives good gifts in response!
Luke 18:7-8 “”And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?””
Faith confession and prayer: Father God, thank You for being a loving and compassionate and listening Father Who delights to hear and answer prayers. Forgive me for failing to believe this by not asking, seeking or knocking but instead trying to figure out how I can do it myself. Fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit and empower me to pray even when I don’t know how or what to ask for.
John 16:23-24 “”In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.””