Whatever from God
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you,
ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
John 15:7
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you,
ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
John 15:7
Will God allow us to ask for whatever we want? It sounds incredible doesn’t it? Throughout the New Testament God does just that. There are numerous verses where God tells us to ask for whatever we want.
Therefore I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for—
believe that you have received them, and you will have them.
Mark 11:24
Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that
the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:13
and can receive whatever we ask from Him because
we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight.
1 John 3:22
We must not believe that God is Santa Claus. He does not grant us prayers for things to satisfy our lust or sinful nature.
You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives,
so that you may spend it on your evil desires.
James 4:3
The relationship God wants with us includes asking him for anything. In his kindness he is willing to give us anything. But there are things we must do to receive anything we ask. We must
- Walk with him on the path he wants us to walk
- Make him our first love
- Have a heart’s desire to please him
- Then he grants our hearts desire
When your heart’s desire is for his blessing rather than satisfying your flesh, then he will bless you with whatever you desire.
Good parents give children almost anything they ask. It is a parent’s desire to be kind and generous with their children. God is kinder and more generous than any parent. When we ask for something according to God’s will, then God will not withhold it from us. But he will give generously. What if parents knew their children genuinely desired to honor, love, and respect them. How much more would the parents be willing to give their children whatever they ask. God does the same with us.
Hannah prayed for a son and God gave her one.
I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked Him for,
1 Samuel 1:27
Jesus did not need to curse the fig tree, but on that day he did.
Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found
nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever
come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.
Matthew 21:19
When we joyfully ask God, “what can I do for you today?”, God will joyfully ask us “Well, what can I do for you today?”
Jesus always did what was pleasing to the father.
The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone,
because I always do what pleases Him.”
John 8:29
When Lazarus died Martha knew God would give Jesus whatever he asked.
Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.”
John 11:22
Jesus told Peter that Jesus could appeal to God for legions of angels to stop the men who arrested him. Because the son lives to honor the father and the father delights in blessing the son.
Or do you think that I cannot call on My Father, and He will provide
Me at once with more than 12 legions of angels?
Matthew 26:53
We can live in the same place of delighting ourselves in the Lord and he will give us the desires of our hearts.
Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.
Psalm 37:4
In the original text of Psalm 37:4, the word desire is actually petition. The things we wish for can become petitions before God. If we don’t ask, we will never know if God will give us our desires.
When Solomon became King, God asked him “What do you wish me to give you?” Solomon answered that he wanted wisdom to rule the people of Israel. Because this was in sync with God’s will for Solomon’s life, God gave him more than wisdom.
Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. So God said to him,
“Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself,
or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to understand justice,
I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. In addition,
I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no man in any kingdom will be your equal during your entire life. If you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
1 Kings 3:10-14
We serve a God who delights in his creation and wants us to delight in him and all the things he gives us. God chose to make food delicious and delightful, not just nutritious and necessary. He gave us eyes to navigate the world around us. Bur he also made the world beautiful, colorful, and full of intriguing and amazing things to see. God made sunsets, flowers, music, loving emotions, and friendship all for us to enjoy.
Turn you heart to God and delight in pleasing him. Acknowledge him in all things and you will be able to ask for anything your heart desires. He will be delighted to give you the desires of your heart.
The Wonder of God’s Name
Arise, bless the Lord your God forever and ever!
O may Your glorious name be blessed
And exalted above all blessing and praise!
Nehemiah 9:5
We are called by many names such as Christian, choir member, Alabamian, retiree, cousin, mother, or father. Each name reveals something about who we are and what we do. We each have multiple roles in life and multiple character traits. Likewise, the Bible reveals multiple names of God. Each name reveals something about his character and what he does.
When we pray to God we may be praying to our redeemer, our counselor, our savior, our healer, our strength, or our peace maker. By learning the names of God, we can learn to pray to him for who he is. He is one God but he has many names. God is Living, Limitless, Maker, Master, Holy, Most High, Savior, and Sovereign. God’s names reflect who he is.
When praying we call on the name of the Lord for many things.
To be saved.
for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
We proclaim the name of the Lord in witnessing.
and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the
synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Acts 9:20
We praise the name of the Lord in worship.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord;
Praise Him, O servants of the Lord,
Psalm 135:1
We trust in the name of the Lord.
For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
Psalm 33:21
We pray in the name of the Lord.
Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do,
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:13
The Bible describes God for who he is, separate from what he does.
- As the all-powerful one creator in the name Elohim.
- As the great I am in the name Jehovah.
- As the God most high in the name El Elyon
- As the eternal God in the name El Olam
Other names describe the action God takes on our behalf.
The God who executes vengeance for me,
And subdues peoples under me.
Psalm 18:47
And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.”
Exodus 15:26
Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.
Psalm 54:4
The name Elohim is plural and refers to all 3 members of the trinity. Revealing to us that Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all present at creation.
Other names refer to one member of the trinity.
The Father is sometimes referred to as God.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
Psalm 22:1
Or as Lord.
But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
Isaiah 53:10
Or as God the Father of Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Peter 1:3
Or as Father of the fatherless.
A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
Psalm 68:5
God the son is referred to by many names also.
As the Christ.
The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
Acts 4:26
As the Lamb of God.
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “
John 1:29
As the Alpha and the Omega.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,
“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8
As the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written,
“KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Revelation 19:16
The Holy Spirit is called by many names also.
As the Spirit of Christ.
seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ
within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings
of Christ and the glories to follow.
1 Peter 1:11
As a helper or counselor.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another
Helper, that He may be with you forever;
John 14:16
As the Spirit of the Living God.
being manifested that you are a letter of Christ cared for by us,
written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,
not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:3
In Psalm 91, God is described with multiple names. As Elyon, the Most High; Shaddai, the Almighty; Yahweh, the Lord; Elohim, my refuge, my fortress, my God.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
Psalm 91:1-2
The name of Jesus is the most precious to us because he is the one who died for us and saves us.
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which
is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those
who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
Philippians 2:9-11
When praying we can call on God’s many names and lean on our understanding of who he is and what he does. Jesus modeled this for us when telling us how to pray.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:37-38
Paul also wrote letters calling on the name of God for many things.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all
times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
2 Thessalonians 3:16
We don’t need to know every name of God to pray using his names. We can pray to the Lord Over All Things asking him to send rain. Or the Great Physician to watch over us during surgery.
As we learn more about God and his names we can pray more strategically to God for who he is and what he does. God reveals himself to us in the Bible because he wants us to know him more intimately as time goes on. God delights in his children calling on him and knowing him.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
Psalm 148:13
I hope you have learned more about God and prayer from this teaching. If it was helpful to you, please comment and let me know.
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