MEMORISE:

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24

READ: John 16:24-27.

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.

26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:

27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

MESSAGE:

Every child of God must cultivate the habit of praying without ceasing, according to 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The importance of prayer cannot be overemphasized when we consider what those who took time to pray gained by so doing. James 5:17-18 says:

“ Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

I remember when I was asking God for a small apartment in the suburbs of Lagos shortly after becoming the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The Lord forbade me to ask for just an apartment house because He was preparing a city for me. In other words, the Lord was saying that I should not ask for peanuts. Today, the city is in the making. As a matter of fact, what is already on ground is comparable to the modest city and I am still trusting Him for the full actualization of His promise. Praise the Lord!

All we need is to keep on asking Him so our joy may be full. The prayer of Elijah that brough about the rain was not just a five-minute one. He prayed and prayed again before the rain fell. When a man of God prays for a few minutes in public and miracles begin to happen, one should not be deceived to imagine that all we need too are brief prayers. The fact is that the man of God would have actually prayed long hours before the public show of God’s miraculous deeds.

Our Lord Jesus Christ in today’s memory verse says “……ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full”. In other words, we must not stop asking until we receive answers to our prayers so our joy may be full.

Hannah prayed until something happened in her life to confirm that she would get her blessing, according to 1 Samuel 1:13-18. Jabez also prayed and God granted him his request (1 Chronicles 4:10). David said that when he cried to the Lord, He healed him (Psalm 30:2). Cry unto the Lord today, and He will answer you as He answered Hannah, Jabez and Elijah, to mention just a few, in Jesus’ name.

ACTION POINT:

Make out time to pray earnestly today and you will receive unprecedented answers to your requests, in Jesus’ name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: ISAIAH 40-44.

 

HYMN 18:    PASS ME NOT, O GENTLE SAVIOR.

1. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,

Hear my humble cry;

While on others Thou art calling,

Do not pass me by.

o Refrain:

Savior, Savior,

Hear my humble cry,

While on others Thou art calling,

Do not pass me by.

2. Let me at Thy throne of mercy

Find a sweet relief;

Kneeling there in deep contrition,

Help my unbelief.

3. Trusting only in Thy merit,

Would I seek Thy face;

Heal my wounded, broken spirit,

Save me by Thy grace.

4. Thou the spring of all my comfort,

More than life to me,

Whom have I on earth beside Thee,

Whom in Heav’n but Thee.