John 15:7 says, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall come to pass to you.” This Bible verse may be divided into four points. The first point is, “you abide in Me.” The second is, “and My words abide in you.” Verses 4 and 5 speak of our abiding in the Lord and He in us. But in verse 7, “I” is changed to “My words”-“You abide in Me and My words abide in you.” “I” being changed to “My words,” means that I have something to explain to you. This may be clarified by the following example: if I were to go to your home, first my person would go there; then, after I had been there for a short while, I would speak and reveal the intention of my visit. Hence, when it says here, “My words abide in you,” this is a step forward. Third it says, “whatever you will.” Because of the Lord’s speaking in us, we begin to desire something, and this desire is something issuing out of the Lord’s words. Fourth it says, “ask, and it shall come to pass to you.” When we thus abide in the Lord, His words abide in us, and there is the desiring in us that comes out of His words; finally, “will” becomes “ask.” This asking is not an ordinary prayer. It is a specific prayer. Whenever asking is mentioned in the Bible, it invariably refers to a specific prayer. Hence, this asking will be answered by God.
This verse of the Bible mentions two things: on one hand, it says that we abide in the Lord, and on the other hand, it says the Lord’s words abide in us. Consequently, the matter of prayer issues forth from the Lord’s words. All prevailing prayers, prayers that can be counted effective before the Lord, must surely be the result of our abiding in the Lord and allowing His words to abide in us.
First John 1:5-7 says, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
These few verses cover three things: fellowship, the light, and the blood. If we have fellowship with God, surely we will be in the light, for God is light. When there is fellowship, then there is light. When light comes there is the need for the blood.
First John 2:27-28 says, “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
These two verses of the Bible also point out three things: one, “the anointing”; two, “as the anointing teacheth you, ye abide in the Lord”; and three, “abide in the Lord.” The abiding in the Lord here is the same as that which is spoken of in John 15. The anointing is one thing, and abiding in the Lord according to the anointing is another thing. Finally, it re-emphasizes this abiding by saying, “My little children, abide in the Lord.”
In the past ten chapters we have spoken mostly concerning the meaning of prayer and the organs used in prayer, or, the course of prayer. Now we will begin to touch something regarding prayer itself by finding out what is the nature of man’s real prayer before God.
Whatever task a person performs, he must be the kind of person constituted for that task. One who serves as a physician must be a person who is a qualified physician. One who serves as a teacher must be a person who is a teacher. One who serves as a mother must be a person who is a mother. Likewise, you also need to be a praying one so that you can function in prayer. Generally speaking, a man of prayer is one who abides in the Lord. Now we shall see what abiding in the Lord means.
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