Saturday

Related Verses
John 15:7
7 If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

1 John 5:14-15
14 And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

Phil. 1:8-9
8 For God is my witness how I long after you all in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in full knowledge and all discernment,

John 15:4-5, 12, 17
4 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another even as I have loved you.
17 These things I command you that you may love one another.

Related Reading
John 15:7…can be divided into four points. The first point is, “you abide in Me.” The second is, “and My words abide in you.” Verses 4 and 5 speak of us abiding in the Lord and Him abiding in us. But in verse 7 I is changed to My words—“you abide in Me and My words abide in you.” I being changed to My words means that I have something to explain to you…When it says here, “My words abide in you,” this is a step forward. Third, it says, “Whatever you will.” Because of the Lord’s speaking in us, we begin to desire something, and this desire is something issuing out of the Lord’s words. Fourth, it says, “Ask…and it shall be done for you.” When we thus abide in the Lord, His words abide in us, and there is the desiring in us that comes out of His words; finally, “will” becomes “ask.”…This asking will be answered by God. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” p. 123)

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All prevailing prayers, prayers that can be counted effective before the Lord, must surely be the result of our abiding in the Lord and allowing His words to abide in us.

Once man abides in the Lord, spontaneously he touches God’s feeling and understands God’s desire. In the Old Testament Abraham was an example of this. Because he continually remained before God, God could not refrain from telling Abraham of His intention. Psalm 32:8 says that God guides us with His eyes…If you live in the fellowship, you will understand what the Bible means when it says that God guides us with His eyes…We need only to live in the fellowship, remain in His presence, and draw near to Him. Then spontaneously, we will be able to understand His temperament, His disposition, and the principles of His doings. It is as if in our spirit we catch a glimpse of the Lord’s eyes and thus spontaneously touch His feeling and understand His desire.

After we have touched God’s feeling and understood His intention, spontaneously we will have His desire in us. At that moment His desire becomes our desire, and what He wants is exactly what we want.

After we have touched God’s feeling, understood His intention, and are also able to desire what He desires, then we pray. This is the very thing that is spoken of in John 15:7…This wish does not come out of the one who prays. Rather, it comes out from that which God has anointed into him. Since this desire is God’s desire, when he prays, God answers.

Some, shortly after they have been saved, read this verse in John 15 and then say, “This promise of the Lord is truly wonderful. I can ask whatever I will, and it will be done for me.” So they begin to ask according to whatever they want. Eventually, they find that what they ask for is not granted. This is not because the Lord’s promise fails to materialize. It is because they take the Lord’s promise out of context. They pray without first fulfilling the necessary requirements. They misunderstand the meaning of the verse…We understand that the desire in our prayer does not originate from man, but it is what God desires. First, man continuously abides in the Lord. Then God becomes the words in man so that man is able to understand God’s intention. This produces in man a desire that is God’s desire. When man prays according to this desire, God has no choice but to answer it. This then is to “ask and you shall receive” [16:24]. This prayer is a prayer resulting from abiding in the Lord. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 123, 132-133)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “A Living of Mutual Abiding with the Lord in Spirit,” ch. 3

Further Reading:
Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 157

Hymn: #1162
1 We’ve found the secret of living,
We’ve seen the vision divine:
We are of God in Christ Jesus,
We’re abiding, abiding in the vine.

Abiding in the vine,
Abiding in the vine,
All the riches of God’s life are mine!
Praise God, He put us here,
Never to leave; oh, we’re—
Abiding, abiding in the vine.

2 No more in vain need we struggle,
Trying the way in to find.
Praise God—we’re in Him already,
Hallelujah, abiding in the vine.

3 In us, the ointment is moving,
’Tis the anointing divine;
God’s precious essence bestowing,
While abiding, abiding in the vine.

4 Now in the life-flow we’re living,
O how the light in us shines!
Both God and man are at home now
By the mutual abiding in the vine.