Some time ago I had to come face to face with one of the most fantastic promises that Jesus Christ ever made. It is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse First of all, just to think that in the life of each Christian, from the youngest to the oldest, is the potential of equaling the works of Jesus — that in itself is enough to put you on shouting grounds. But then Jesus said: Because He was going to leave the earth, no longer to be bound by time and space, and would then return in the person of the Holy Spirit to live within them. After all, Jesus started out with 12 men and ended up with Other people have said that Jesus was saying our influence would be greater than His.
We have a great deal of power. So what was He referring to when He said that we would exceed His works? I believe that the answer is found in the verse which directly follows that promise, John Prayer is the key to miracles. Prayerful God has chosen us for two reasons: Being fruitful means that we must be prayerful. And so, the way that we are to equal and excel the works of Jesus is through a life of believing prayer that results in fruitfulness.
This principle is illustrated so profoundly by what happened on the day of Pentecost after the resurrection when, in one fell swoop, the disciples both equaled and exceeded the works of Jesus. They had been praying for 10 days. Then Peter stood up, preached and 3, people became Christians. But the one thing that we are not doing in the Christian ministry today is praying. We concoct our little recipes of programs, then add a dash of prayer for favor. There are some important points that most of us have not yet learned: Prayer is not preparation for work: Prayer is not substitution for work; it is work.
I want to share with you four things about this matter of prayer that I believe are crucial to our understanding of how Jesus wants us to pray.
First, remember that in John How much can I pray for? Several years ago, when our church started a round-the-clock intercessory prayer ministry, I made a decision that no matter how big a request seemed to be, we would put it on the list and pray for it. The very first request had to do with a little boy who had drunk a bottle of cleaning fluid. The doctor had told the parents that if the boy lived, which he probably would not, he would be blind.
And I had just been preaching a series on the power of prayer. But we put the request on the list. Twenty-four hours later, the parents called and said that the child was completely healed. The doctor had called it a miracle, and God taught me a lesson.
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I knew it was very important because Jesus continually reminds us to ask in His name. I also knew that it was not just a simple formula tacked on to the end of a prayer. So I began to ask the Lord to show me what it meant to pray in the name of Jesus. Several years ago we took our three children to a county fair with my brother and his family.
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Pretty soon we realized that what the kids were most interested in was the rides, so I bought a roll of dime tickets. I would stand at the entrance of every ride and as the kids would come by, I would give a ticket to each one. We were standing at the entrance to the tilt-a-whirl, and I had given out about four tickets, when right behind my son, Steve, came a boy I had never seen before, holding out his hand for a ticket!
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He really had no right to the ticket, but because my son had asked me to do it, I did. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and [ d ] manifest Myself to him. You'll get this book and many others when you join Bible Gateway Plus. Starting your free trial of Bible Gateway Plus is easy. The next step is to choose a monthly or yearly subscription, and then enter your payment information. You can cancel anytime during the trial period.
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