John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
There are millions of people that believe that they know The Lord, but not all that claim to know the Lord, is a child of God. Jesus stated in John 17:8-10 “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.” Christ only prays for those that The Father has given as a love gift, as a bride to Jesus The Son. Jesus is NOT praying for the world, but only for His children.
Many pray, but God hears, in the sense of honoring, only the prayers of His children. As His sheep hear His voice, so too does The Lord know His own. Isaiah write, “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
As God’s people abide in Him and His words abide in them, they ask whatever they wish, and it will be done for them. This is not treating The Lord as a cosmic Santa Clause or a genie in the Bible. “Answered prayer arises from knowing, loving, and praying His will revealed in Scripture (1 John 5:14) (The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible, p. 1539). John writes in 1 John 5:14, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” We see a constant reality of abiding in Christ and praying according to His will. How can we know the will of God? We must know the Word of God, whereby His will is illuminated by the Holy Spirit to those that know the Lord. God answers prayer according to His Word and will. In the Garden, Jesus prayed, “…nevertheless not my will but yours be done.”
Charles Spurgeon said, “Prayer comes spontaneously from those who abide in Jesus. Prayer is the natural outgushing of a soul in communion with Jesus. As the leaf and fruit come out of the vine branch without any conscious effort and simply because of its living union with the stem, so prayer buds and blossoms and fruits out of souls abiding in Jesus.” (Spurgeon, Charles. The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life (Christian Living Classics)).
Soli Deo Gloria: Do you abide in Christ, and pray according to the Word of God? Do you see God answering your prayers? Be diligent in abiding in Christ and the joyful work of prayer.