13 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. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 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. (I John 5)
John had been paying attention. He had listened to Jesus' words in the upper room about prayer and in Matthew 18 when He talked to them about asking in agreement. This is not a personal choose-what-you-want vending machine, but a corporate command: this is how we find out what God's will is and get in tune with it: ask together. Notice that John says "we" not "I." It is based on our common faith and union in Christ. He "tunes us in" to His plan, and promises to provide what is needed for it. As many great prayers by individuals we see in the Bible, when things really get going is when others join in: when Moses had two others holding up his hands, when the 4000 were praying the same thing as Elijah, when the 120 joined the disciples in the upper room. Ask together.
No comments:
Post a Comment