Living in the Vine 11:

Praying His Heart

John 15:7-8; James 4:2-3; Isaiah 55:10-11; 1 John 5:14-15.

I well remember some years ago how a lady I knew, on reading verse 7 of John 15 (“If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”), decided to go around the village praying indiscriminately for everything and everyone. I am sure that her motive was evangelistic, but misusing the authority of the name of Jesus to distribute all manner of imagined blessings and gifts in this way, as if God is some form of genie or Father Christmas, is a very dangerous thing and it didn’t give glory to Him at all; in fact, it had the opposite effect. 

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Jesus gives the caveat to answered prayer that is in today’s reading. There is a clear link being made between our ‘abiding’ in Him that results in His Word abiding within us; this then positions us correctly before Him where we can see the prayers we offer being heard and answered. 

Is this because we carry a greater anointing in prayer? No. It is the fruit of a deepening personal relationship with Father God – our increasing intimacy, submission and dependency during which Father actually changes our heart. As we give time to being aware of His presence within, He places His Word, His will and His desires also within us. This means that when we turn these things back to Him in prayer, we find we are praying in complete harmony with His heart. The fruit of a growing ‘abiding’ in Him is therefore a more effectual outward-looking prayer life.

As we wait on Him with a particular situation in mind, He might well highlight a particular scripture to us. When we look it up, it either explains what is going on in the background of the situation or it is a scripture that we can wield in prayer like a ‘sword’ in our hand (see Hebrews 4:12). As we pray it out loud over the situation, whether we realise it or not, we are actually praying His revealed will into being. 

How does that work…? Think about this: if He gave the scripture in the first place, then, because He cannot lie, it must be His will. Isaiah 55:11 and 1 John 5:14-15 both reassure us that if we pray anything according to His will – especially His Word – then it will accomplish what He sent it for and we will receive that for which we are praying. 
When we co-operate with Him in this way, what transpires will be some form of breakthrough or change in circumstances, such as a financial release, a healing or a salvation which, because it is a clear supernatural outcome, brings total glory to God and no other name.

Additional reading: Isaiah 54:16-17; John 15:16.

Prayer time

Think about what has been shared today.

• How do usually pray for situations that concern you? What does that look like for you? 
• Do you ever stop and ask Father about what is going on or how you are to pray? Or do you rush straight in?
• Have you had your own experience of this type of praying? If so, what happened?

Write down one situation where you need Father to teach you how to pray.

Lift the situation up before Him now and simply wait for Him to guide you. He might give you a scripture that speaks into the situation, a picture, or simply place a word in your spirit. Repeat this waiting and listening twice more.

Now go ahead and pray what you have heard back to Him. Remember, you can have confidence in praying God’s Word back to Him. You might need to press in over considerable time before you see the breakthrough, but specific, persistent prayer does bring a breakthrough – eventually.

To see previous installments of this devotional, follow this link. 


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