GodReflection: Talking with God.
I feel the need to include an additional principle found in John’s Gospel that I failed to share in my last post on seven instructions from Jesus who knows the most about pray.
The Apostle John includes an important lesson from Jesus on prayer. I want to add it to the seven we reviewed in the previous post:
- Pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:28).
- Pray without pretense; no need to impress anyone—not even the Holy (Matthew 6:6-7).
- Pray in faith with expectation. IF YOU BELIEVE, you will receive what you ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:22) (John 15:4-8).
- Pray so you will not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41).
- Pray with persistence; don’t give up (Luke 18:1).
- Pray in humility (Luke 18:10, 13,14).
- Pray in Jesus’ name and trust him to act (John 14:10-13).
It is at this point after the Apostle of Love gives Jesus’ admonition to pray in his name and trust him for the answer (John 14:10), that I must include his witness to an eighth principle.
- Pray from Connection (John 15:1-8).
In John chapter fifteen, I find his account of Jesus’ parable about the vine. He highlights the importance of our connection to the Holy when it comes to being conversant in prayer. I count eight times in this short story his emphasis to ‘remain’ as vital for communication. Let’s listen to the parable.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:1 and 4-8).
Don’t you think it stands to reason that communication is enhanced to the degree we are connected? To talk to someone with whom there lacks connection offers no promise of a fruitful conversation. On the contrary are the occasions where relationships are strong. Strength comes to a friendship built over seasons. A relationship where REMAIN is its pronoun. Within that sort of connectivity productive exchanges take place. Isn’t that the relation we so want to experience with Holy God?
That is not to say Holy God will turn a deaf ear to a cry from a prodigal child. It is to say that warm conversation with Father God is impossible if I sever my connection with his ‘Holy Juice’ that sustains me through the vine.
To remain in the vine offers assurance I can “ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” That leads me to the thought I will explore in our next post. It is a foundational principle making it possible to talk with God. It is the reality of Holy Presence that allows humankind access to God in prayer.
Stay with me. I would love to hear if and how ‘to remain in the vine’ speaks to you. Do you see the vine connection as vital to maintain the prayer circuit open with our Father God?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on One More Prayer Point from Jesus.
God Reflection 