“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
JOHN 15:7 NKJV
Mary was working hard competing for a promotion she desperately wanted at work. She didn’t have time anymore for her small group Bible study. Even her prayer life had gone cold. Now, her health suffered serious consequences. She didn’t have time to be sick, and God just wasn’t listening to her prayers.
John grew up in the church, but over the years, he drifted away. Now, he was hospitalized for a serious work injury that could leave him paralyzed. “How can I ask God for anything?” John asked the pastor who had come to pray. “I haven’t been paying much attention to God. Why should He answer my prayers now?”
Jolene was a volunteer in her church where the actions of a few leaders left her deeply wounded. She pulled away from all the ministries she had been serving. She pulled away from the weekend services and her prayer group. She felt angry, betrayed, and alone. What do You want from me, God? Nothing but silence.
Jesus gives us the secret to answered prayer: “abiding.” Abiding means to stay, dwell, and remain in His presence and to live from an intimate connection with God. When you became a believer, the Holy Spirit took up residence in your spirit. He abides in you. But abiding is a two-way street. The Lord abides in relationship with us. We abide in fellowship with Him.
Jesus established your relationship with the Father through His death and resurrection. Your faith in Him allows you to come boldly and confidently into His presence (Ephesians 3:12). Your relationship with God is never in doubt. It can never be broken, regardless of anything you might do or experience (Hebrews 13:5; Romans 8:38–39). This relationship is based on your identity in Christ. You are a child of God (John 1:12), justified by faith (Romans 5:1), making you a citizen of heaven where Jesus lives and reigns (Philippians 3:20). Your citizenship can never be revoked because God never changes (Hebrews 13:8).
But unlike our unchanging relationship with God, our fellowship with Him can change. Many factors can cause us to drift out of fellowship. Mary let the cares of this world distract her until they displaced her devotion to God (Matthew 13:20). John believed the lie that his actions made him unlovable and unworthy of God’s grace, and his injury was God’s way of punishment (Ephesians 2:4–8). Jolene let past wounds and offenses turn into bitterness that held her captive to the sin of unforgiveness (Mark 11:24–25). All three had drifted out of fellowship, cutting them off from intimacy with the Father and hindering their prayer lives.
But Jesus showed us through the parable of the prodigal son just how quickly our Father will restore fellowship. After squandering all his inheritance on wild living, this son was so poor and hungry that he was forced to eat with the pigs. Pigs were unclean according to Moses’ law, so he had truly sunk to the depths of humiliation. When he came to his senses, he returned home to his father, who ran to him with open arms and threw a party to celebrate his return (Luke 15:22–24).
This young rebellious son wanted to be free and live as he pleased. He had to hit rock bottom to come back home. Abiding in your heavenly Father is very much the same. He will give you plenty of opportunities to fellowship with Him, but He won’t force it. You might have to experience a crisis to look to Him for help. But your Father is full of love and patience. When you humble yourself before Him and come back into fellowship, He welcomes you home with open arms, no matter how long you’ve been gone. Your Father wants to bless you, and He knows everything flows from that place of abiding. In that place of intimacy, you hear His voice. Your heart beats with His. Your prayers are His prayers. He abides in you, and you abide in Him—the secret to answered prayer.
Father, thank You that everything flows out of intimacy with You. All the promises and blessings I so desperately want; whether it’s guidance, direction, peace, provision, or healing, all these things flow from Your presence because You ARE these things. If I have You, I have everything I need (Matthew 6:33). You are the Lord, the I AM (Exodus 3:14). You are the God who heals.
Lord, teach me to abide. Help me to stay in fellowship with You around the clock. Forgive me for letting the world distract me from fellowship with You. Please reveal any sin that is blocking my intimacy with You, keeping me from fellowship, or hindering my prayer life. Reveal any lies I have believed about myself or Your character. Forgive me, Lord! Show me Your truth! I want to know You, Lord. I want to know Your heart. I want Your prayers to be my prayers. I want to abide in Your presence, the place of answered prayer. I want to abide always.