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“If you live in me and what I say lives in you, then ask for anything you want, and it will be yours. You give glory to my Father when you produce a lot of fruit and therefore show that you are my disciples” (God’s Word, John 15:7-8).

The Bible has much to say about prayer. Our Lord encouraged his Disciples to live a lifestyle of prayer. And we see that prayer is not simply a Christian ritual, prayer is designed to produce results. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (NIV, James 5:15). There are some things that will not happen in our lives until we pray. Prayer is not a tool used to manipulate God; it is often the path that God uses to release his power into our lives. God has promised us that if we stay in fellowship with him, and his word, we can bring our desires to him, and he will grant our requests. A Christian who receives answers to prayer brings honor to God, and that Christian has proven that they are a true Disciple of Jesus Christ.

John 15:7-8 gives us conditions to answered prayer; we must stay in fellowship with God and be immersed in his word. These scriptures do not teach us that we can ask the Lord for evil things. Our understanding of scripture comes from the totality of teaching on a certain topic. We understand that prayer should be based on God’s will. “This is the confidence which we have before 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 which we have asked from Him” (NASB, 1 John 5: 14-15). The Christian who meditates on God’s word will know what the will of the Lord is, and that Christian will petition God from a renewed and Christlike mind. Living in obedience to God keeps us in fellowship with our Creator. A person who stays in fellowship with God will have godly desires. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Many times, the desires that we express in prayer come from God. The Lord knows the desires of our hearts, but he wants us to express those desires to him.  

There are some blessings that God simply bestows upon his children, but many things will only come into our lives through prayer. “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (NASB, James 4:2-3). Yes, we need to ask God for the things that we desire. Many Christians do not ask for much in prayer because of their lack of faith. They do not truly believe that God will move heaven and earth to bless them. As James 4:2 tells us, these Christians will not receive some blessings because they do not ask God for them. Abiding in God and abiding in his word will bring faith into our lives, but we need to exercise that faith through diligent prayer. Answered prayer is not a reason for pride; all the glory goes to God.  

Answered prayer both glorifies God and establishes the Christian as a true Disciple of Jesus Christ. Most parents feel honored when their children achieve great things. This is a reflection on the nurturing that the child has received. God is no different, he is honored when his children stand on his word and manifest spiritual power. This shows the universe that the power of God is operating in the life of the Believer. Answered prayer is by God’s power, so he gets the credit. It could be that Christians who do not receive answers to prayer are not truly the Disciples of our Lord. They may be born again, but they are not walking with God. A disciple is a student, and the disciple seeks to emulate their teacher. A disciple is taken under the wing of his teacher; it is an intimate relationship. If a Christian is not making time for God, they are not a Disciple of Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit, Christians can become the Disciples of our Lord, but they must spend time with him. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you” (NASB, John 14:16-17).

The Christian who remains in fellowship with God will do great things in the name of God. This is a promise that Jesus gave to his original Disciples, and it is applicable to those who are his Disciples today. The true Disciple of our Lord will experience much answered prayer. And their lives will bring glory to our Heavenly Father. Ask God to show you how to live as a Disciple of Christ, and your prayer life will never be the same.