Memorise: Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye
shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24
Read: John 16:23-28, (KJV) 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it
you.
25 These
things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no
more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
26 At
that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the
Father for you:
27 For
the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that
I came out from God.
28 I came
forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world,
and go to the Father.
Bible in one year: Romans 9:30-13:6, Psalms 6
MESSAGE
Children of God must cultivate
the habit of persistent prayers so that they may attain their full potentials.
The importance of prayer cannot be overemphasised when we consider what those
who take time to pray gain. The Bible say;
“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and
he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by
the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven
gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”
James 5:17-18
The prayer of Elijah that brought
about the rain was not just a five-minute prayer. He prayed and prayed again
before the rain fell. When a man of God prays for a few minutes in the public
and miracles begin to happen, one should not be deceived that it is the few
minutes of prayer that instigated the miracles. The fact is that, the man of
God had prayed long hours in private before the pubic show of God’s miraculous
deeds. God, in His Word, commands us to “Pray without ceasing.” The One who
commands us to pray, definitely will answer our prayers, if only we will obey
command. God is interested in listening to our petitions and responding
accordingly. Our Lord Jesus Christ in our text for today says,
“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye
shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
John 16:24
In other words, we must not stop
asking if we have not received an answer to the petitions that we put before
God. At times, answers to our prayers are double-crossed by the agents of
darkness like in the case of Daniel. The following importune prayer of Daniel
eventually saved the day:
“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the
first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself
before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the
prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo
Michael, one the chief princes came to help me; and I remained there with the
kings of Persia.”
Daniel 10:12-13
Hannah prayed until something
happened in her life and so did Jabez. We must begin to pray until the
attention of God is drawn to our petition. The Psalmist said in Psalms 30:2
that when he cried to the Lord, the Lord healed him. This is another testimony
of someone who believed in the God that answers prayers. My prayer for someone
using this devotional is that as you cry unto God today, He will answer you as
He answered Hannah, Jabez and Elijah in Jesus’ name.
Action Point
Set aside quality time to pray today and you will receive
unprecedented answer to your prayers.
Open Heavens Daily, written by Pastor E.A Adeboye
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