I Appointed You That Ye Should Go and Bear Fruit, and That Your Fruit Should Abide: That Whatsoever Ye Shall Ask of the Father in My Name, He May Give It You--John 15:16
In the first verse of our parable,
Christ revealed Himself as the true Vine, and the Father as the
Husbandman, and asked for Himself and the Father a place in the
heart. Here, in the closing verse, He sums up all His teaching
concerning Himself and the Father in the twofold purpose for which
He had chosen them. With reference to Himself, the Vine, the purpose
was, that they should bear fruit. With reference to the Father,
it was, that whatsoever they should ask in His name, should be
done of the Father in Heaven. As fruit is the great proof of the
true relation to Christ, so prayer is of our relation to the Father.
A fruitful abiding in the Son, and prevailing prayer to the Father,
are the two great factors in the true Christian life.
That whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you.--These are the
closing words of the parable of the Vine. The whole mystery of
the Vine and its branches leads up to the other mystery--that
whatsoever we ask in His name the Father gives! See here
the reason of the lack of prayer, and of the lack of power in
prayer. It is because we so little live the true branch life,
because we so little lose ourselves in the Vine, abiding in Him
entirely, that we feel so little constrained to much prayer, so
little confident that we shall be heard, and so do not know how
to use His name as the key to God's storehouse. The Vine planted
on earth has reached up into Heaven; it is only the soul wholly
and intensely abiding in it, can reach into Heaven with power
to prevail much. Our faith in the teaching and the truth of the
parable, in the truth and the life of the Vine, must prove itself
by power in prayer. The life of abiding and obedience, of love
and joy, of cleansing and fruit-bearing, will surely lead to the
power of prevailing prayer.
Whatsoever ye shall ask--The
promise was given to disciples who were ready to give themselves,
in the likeness of the true Vine, for their fellow men. This promise
was all their provision for their work; they took it literally,
they believed it, they used it, and they found it true. Let us
give ourselves, as branches of the true Vine, and in His likeness,
to the work of saving men, of bringing forth fruit to the glory
of God, and we shall find a new urgency and power to pray and
to claim the "whatsoever ye ask." We shall waken to
our wonderful responsibility of having in such a promise the keys
to the King's storehouses given us, and we shall not rest till
we have received bread and blessing for the perishing.
"I chose you, that ye may bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit may abide; that whatsoever ye
shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
Beloved disciple, seek above everything to be a man of prayer.
Here is the highest exercise of your privilege as a branch of
the Vine; here is the full proof of your being renewed in the
image of God and His Son; here is your power to show how you,
like Christ, live not for yourself, but for others; here you enter
Heaven to receive gifts for men; here your abiding in Christ has
led to His abiding in you, to use you as the channel and instrument
of His grace. The power to bear fruit for men has been crowned
by power to prevail with God.
"I am the vine, my Father is
the Husbandman." Christ's work in you is to bring you so
to the Father that His Word may be fulfilled in you: "At
that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not that I will pray
the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you." The
power of direct access to the Father for men, the liberty of intercession
claiming and receiving blessing for them in faith, is the highest
exercise of our union with Christ. Let all who would truly
and fully be branches give themselves to the work of intercession.
It is the one great work of Christ the Vine in Heaven, the source
of power for all His work. Make it your one great work as branch:
it will be the power of all your work.
In My name. Yes, Lord, in
Thy name, the new name Thou hast given Thyself here, the true
Vine. As a branch, abiding in Thee in entire devotion, in full
dependence, in perfect conformity, in abiding fruitfulness, I
come to the Father, in Thee, and He will give what I ask. Oh,
let my life be one of unceasing and prevailing intercession! Amen!
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