Daily Devotionals

April 18th, 2023

John 15:7 ERV   Stay joined together with me, and follow my teachings. If you do this, you can ask for anything you want, and it will be given to you.

No, that doesn’t mean a car, new home, or a million dollars. When Jesus spoke these words, He wasn’t speaking of the riches of the world but rather anything that would increase our fruitfulness in this world. In 1 John 5:14-15, John tells us “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him”. 

What we are told to ask for is God’s will, not ours. When we keep in close, continual communication with God, His words live in us and our prayers are conformed to the will of God. That is when He answers our prayers. 

Think about it this way. As little children, when our parents asked us what we wanted for Christmas, we would circle at least five things on each page in the store ads. As we grew older, we started to learn of the value of money and more particularly that it didn’t grow on trees after all. We learned our parents weren’t rich and our list of Christmas wishes needed to be more realistic. Our fruit was growing from the vine and we were becoming more like Jesus. 

God wants to bless us, but if our prayers aren’t according to His will, it will inhibit our growth in Him. What we want would become what we rely on rather than relying on God. He loves us too much to let that happen.