God Wrote The Book

In John 15:7 we read these words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”  (NIV)

This verse contains two conditions for answered prayer: we must remain in Christ and His words must remain in us.  The last article discussed the latter condition.  In this article we’ll take a closer look at the former.

We can glean much insight into the meaning of the phrase “remain in me” by comparing different Bible translations.

What does it mean to “remain in Christ”?  The word “remain” can also be translated “abide” (as found in the NASB and ESV) and it means to stay around, to continue, to persevere.  The Living Bible offers this paraphrase of John 15:7 – “If you stay in me and obey my commands, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted.”  The Contemporary English Version puts is this way: “Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for anything you want, and your prayer will be answered.”  The Amplified Bible says to remain means to “abide vitally united to Me”.

All these versions are expressing a similar thought: “Remaining” is a synonym for intimate union and perseverance.

Jesus is saying that we must continue steadfastly in the faith if we expect our prayers to be answered.  We cannot come and go as we please, taking a willy-nilly, flippant attitude toward the Lord and thinking, “Well, it doesn’t really matter if I wander away from God for awhile because I know He’ll always take me back.”  Such an approach is to presume on the grace of God, which Paul vehemently denounces in Romans 6:1-2 – “Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be!” (NASB)

Christianity was never meant to be a sometime or part-time endeavor.  Jesus made this quite clear with His repeated demands for total commitment.  “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Paul exhorted the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).  We would do well to heed this command regularly, even weekly, for Paul also issued the command to self-examination in the context of observing the Lord’s supper (see 1 Corinthians 11:28).

Would you join me in taking a close look at your life, your faith and your level of commitment?  Are we truly remaining in Christ? Are we “all in” for the long haul? If not, then we cannot expect God to answer our prayers.

We come to the final installment of this 7-part series on the conditions of answered prayer.  When God promises to answer our prayers, He is not handing us a blank check.  Rather, He is making a conditional promise.

If we want God to answer our prayers, we must pray in a particular way, we must do certain things, we must have a specific attitude.  We must meet God’s requirements in order for Him to keep His promise.

And here they are:

1. We must not cherish sin in our heart  (Psalm 66:18)
2. We must pray for the glory of Jesus (John 14:13)
3. We must maintain a lifestyle of habitual obedience to the Word (1 John 3:21-22)
4. We must offer our prayers in faith (James 1:6-9)
5. We must allow the words of Christ to remain in us (John 15:7)
6. We must remain in Christ (John 15:7)

That is quite a list, is it not?  It’s a humbling list.  It’s a list that should bring us to our knees, crying out to the Savior for the grace we need to live the kind of life described above.

We like lists, don’t we?  I have several “To Do” lists that keep me focused at the office.  And I have another “To Do” list for family and household projects.  What would we do without our “To Do” lists?

With the Christian life, we must be careful when looking at a list such as the one above.  Yes, we must take each of these conditions ever so seriously.  But we must also remember this: the Christian life is not a list, it’s a relationship of intimacy with the living God.

Condition #7 is simply a summary of Conditions #1-6: We must be in a vibrant, ever-growing relationship with the Father through His Son empowered by His Spirit.

Isn’t this what the list above is describing?  For God to answer my prayers, I must be experiencing a relationship with Him that is characterized by a hatred for sin, a passion for the glory of Christ above all else, a hunger and thirst for righteous living in accord with the Word, an ever-increasing faith, and an intimate union with Jesus that results in lifelong perseverance.

That is the Christian life.  That is what it means to be a Christian.  And God answers the prayers of Christians.  It’s as simple and profound as that.

The Christian experience cannot be reduced to a list.  But the list above is a good place to start to engage in soul-searching spiritual self-assessment.  So let’s challenge ourselves with the exhortations of these Scriptures. May the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, and may the enabling of the Spirit cause us to be clinging to the Savior as we pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done.