John 15:7

Verse of the Day Devotion John 15:7 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” – John 15:7  

This verse is best understood when it is looked at in relation to Jesus’ words in the first six verses of this chapter.  He starts by discussing the relationship between a vine and a branch of that vine.  “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5.  In this mashal, which is Hebrew for a short parable with a moral lesson of religious allegory, Jesus pictures himself as a vine within the vineyard with His Father as the vinedresser.  The role of the vinedresser is one who is the keeper of a vineyard.  And Jesus’ disciples are the branches on the vine.  

He then tells them that as a branch they must be attached to Him, the vine, in order to be bear fruit, for apart from the vine the branches cannot bear any fruit.  He then doubles down on this idea in the next verse. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” John 15:6. Failure to produce fruit brings a severe warning concerning the certain end of unfruitfulness.  John separates any unfruitful person from the faithful, persevering, fruitful disciples/branches and indicates that such a person is thrown away and withers. 

So, now to our focus verse.  “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7.  The idea regarding the focus verse continues the theme of abiding or remaining in Jesus, the Vine, but that theme is here linked to the subject of prayer.  Jesus warned His disciples that failing to abide means that life fails. A branch only has life as it is connected to the stock of the vine; a disciple only spiritually lives as they are connected to the Master. 

Abiding in Jesus means abiding in His words, and having His words live in us, His disciples. We should not overlook the importance of the reference to ‘my words’. The teaching of Christ is important and is not lightly to be passed over in the interests of promoting religious feeling.  The connection is maintained by obedience and prayer. To remain in Christ and to allow his words to remain in us means a conscious acceptance of the authority of the word of God and constant contact with him by prayer. And being faithful, we should expect answered prayer as part of our relationship with Jesus. A failure to see prayer answered means something is not right in our disciple’s relationship. Perhaps something is not right in the abiding, and prayers are amiss and unanswered. Perhaps something is not right in the asking and there is no perception of what Jesus wants to do in and through us.  Charles Spurgeon puts it this way. “It shall be done for you: It becomes safe for God to say to the sanctified soul, ‘Ask what thou wilt, and it shall be done unto thee.’ The heavenly instincts of that man lead him right; the grace that is within his soul thrusts down all covetous lusting’s and foul desires, and his will is the actual shadow of God’s will. The spiritual life is master in him, and so his aspirations are holy, heavenly, Godlike.”

It is important that in our relationship with Christ that we abide with Him.  It pictures an intimate, close relationship, and not just a superficial acquaintance. In our focus verse, Jesus tells His disciples that drawing life from Him is essential.  In fact, one of the proofs of salvation is perseverance, or sustained abiding in Christ. The proofs of abiding in Christ, proof that one is truly saved and not just pretending, include these four things.

1: Obedience to Christ – “And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” 1 John 3:24.

2: Following Jesus’ examples – “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.

3: Living free from habitual sin – “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.” 1 John 3:6,

4: The awareness of a divine presence in His life – “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:13.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

1 John 5:14

Verse of the Day Devotion: 1 John 5:14 

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” – 1 John 5:14          

John here is finalizing his first letter to the church.  According to I. Howard Marshall, author of the New International Commentary on the New Testament – The Epistles of John, there was a crisis in the church whereby teachers within the church were advocating a new understanding of Christianity which did not agree with the idea John and his colleagues were teaching.  Throughout the book, John is showing them the truth as opposed to what they taught.  We see this in chapter 2.  “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.” 1 John 2:18-19.  He called those who taught wrong teachings antichrists, strong language but true if they taught a different gospel then Jesus presented.  So, many left and went out pushing their beliefs.

Now, in the final section of this letter, he lays out why He wrote it. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13.  It appears that one of the main teachings of the false teachers countered the idea of eternal life.  Note the phrase so that you may know that you have eternal life.  John wanted them to fully understand that eternal life was promised to those who believe Jesus, who He was and what He taught.  And based on our focus verse, because of their belief in Jesus they have confidence that if they ask anything, according to His will, that He hears them.  

Now, a very important phrase is found here that many either do not see or they ignore; “according to His will.”  It is not saying that anything we ask for will be heard, only those things that fall under His will. This is a very important concept, because note the next verse.  “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.” 1 John 5:15.  And if He hears us, then we shall have what we ask for.  Therefore, the great promise to believers is that if we pray to God, according to and within the scope of His will, then we can be assured what we ask for is ours.

Now, one last point of clarification. There are two ways to ask outside of His will.  The first is to ask for something that we know is not His will.  That would encompass such things as asking for something we know is wrong or sinful, or something that is not intrinsically wrong, but asking would be wrong for us, such as asking for something that may have a negative effect on ours or someone else’s life, such as if we win, someone else loses.  Remember what Paul said, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;“ Philippians 2:3. 

The other way to ask outside of His will is to ask for something that is not what God has in mind.  He has a better plan.  The basic idea is that we may ask for something, but God has something better for us.  For instance, we may ask Him to give us a ministry position at the church we attend, but He wants us to minister overseas.  This requires trust from us.  If we ask Him for something and He does not provide that specific thing, then we must understand it was not His will for us, He has another plan.  And we must be content when what we ask for does not come to pass.  God knows better, and we should learn to be content no matter which way it goes. 

Trust God that, because He knows the end from the beginning, that He understands who we are better than we know ourselves, and that He has been preparing us for His work even though we do not recognize all that He has done, He knows best, therefore rest in this truth.  

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.