Our Lord Jesus said in John 14:13 – 14, “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name I will do it.” There is a need for a deeper revelation that springs from the page because so very often we ask, but do not receive. We tack the words “in the name of Jesus” on the end of our prayers quite sincerely. However, sometimes we are sincerely wrong in our asking. Why is this?
The answer lies in James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss.” The governing factor is that God will be glorified in the Son, (John 14:13.) Can I be trusted with what God wants to give me? Only God is the righteous judge of that. A man cannot and should not “bear testimony of himself.”
We are governed by what we believe. God is working with each of us individually IN our circumstances. If I did not have His restrictions of circumstance in my life, where would I be? He is there amongst it all teaching and directing me to bring me through with Him, learning to hear His voice. As I obey His voice becomes clearer.
My life speaks. We are “living epistles” for God and others to read. It is not WHAT I say, but how I live my life. God sees. God even knows me better than I know myself. He restricts, he ties me in to the Body of Christ to be accountable to Him and others, and He allows the restriction of circumstance to keep me on track, His track. I am in a learning process. We “Spend our years as a tale that is told,” Psalm 90:9. God sees the end from the beginning. God sees! God started His work in me and He will finish it. Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will finish it, even to the day of Jesus Christ.” God is not a messy worker. He is faithful to complete what He starts. Let me get this fact settled: I did not start this work in me. God did! This was His idea, not mine. I just answered His call on my life. I am somewhere in the process that He is working in my life, for His glory. The restrictions He permits are part of my learning curves to keep my eyes on Him.
In the world of celebrity, politics and finance there is so much abuse of fame, power and money. These privileges, if abused, can destroy them. This should not be so in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. The governing factor is that my life, more and more as I learn, should glorify God.
Matthew chapter 4 records the temptations of Jesus. The devil tempted Jesus to tap into God’s power to do something as an individual to make a show of God’s power for his personal gain, that was not God’s will. That is our vulnerability, where we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to refuse such temptations for our own personal glory, as the moment we succumb, God’s power is withdrawn as instant as flipping the switch to the off position in an electric socket. God will not give His glory to another. Jesus prayed, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” God’s power is given for the extension of His Kingdom and for His glory. His power cannot be used for man’s glory or wrestled from His hand.
If I do not hold what God gives me by His grace, for His glory, He will remove it to teach me humility. A man must walk humbly with his God. A great lesson I must learn: God righteously will not give His glory to another.
A child asks his parent, “How can I hear God’s voice?” We teach our children that the first step is to listen and obey their parents. In the early stages the parents represent the voice of God to them. (We are accountable to God how we train our children in obedience and loving discipline – God sees.) As children learn to obey their parents they discover that God will speak to them personally as they grow older. A developing child may often ask for things that the parent may deny him because he has not matured enough or learnt how to handle. For example, a 10 year old is refused his request to use a chain saw. The child is loved but cannot yet be trusted with it. He has to be refused, he has yet to mature, to watch and learn from the parent until the day arrives when he is old enough to be taught to handle it, with great caution! Or he could destroy himself and others. So too, with us. God loves us but in some areas we cannot yet be trusted with God’s glory until we have learnt to carry and bear it to the glory of His great name, not mine. How much can God trust me with? Only God can answer that. He knows.
God is teaching us all by our individual circumstances that He is our Father, and we are His sons and daughters. Until we lose the belief that God has abandoned us we will never enter in to the abundance of His provision for us. His provision as my Father is there for me but I need to enter into His “rest” of the provision as I face my daily challenges. Otherwise, I will never enter into it.
Remember: Until we meet the impossible, we do not touch the resources of God.
Jesus declared and demonstrated to His disciples every aspect of God’s name e.g. Shepherd, Multiplier, Resurrector etc. which is His glory. At that time the disciples could not see it as their spiritual eyes had not yet been opened. God is purposing to bring me to a place to see, believe and prove that He really is my Father, and I really am His child. He wants to lead us into a place of maturity and responsibility so He can reveal Himself to us increasingly, in order that we may carry and bear, to the glory of God.
Yes indeed! In the purposes of God He is “bringing many sons unto glory.” Hebrews 2:10
