“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”– Matthew 6:24-25
LIGHT FOR NOW: The believer has an audience with God at all times.
It was clear in the last study that the believer must be more father-conscious in his mentality than need-conscious. Hence, he is taught to ask the Father whatsoever we desire in prayer (among other instructions), knowing that the father knows our needs before we ask him. Matthew 6:7-8 “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him”. Jesus was by no means saying that praying for long is unscriptural as he himself often prayed for long periods of time for men (Luke 6:12; Mark 1:35). He rather consistently admonishes that when it comes to things and needs, we must not be anxious as the Gentiles do because we know and trust our heavenly father who knows what we have need of before we ask. He taught them to ask the father; Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”.
John wrote about this also; 1John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”. The statement “according to his will” should not be misconstrued to mean, for God to hear us when we pray for our desires, it must be according to his will. If that was what he meant, John would not have said, “this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything…whatsoever we ask…” The words “anything” and “whatsoever” simply imply that we are the ones that determine our needs or what we need, while his will is to hear when we ask. Thus, his will is to hear us when we ask based on the knowledge of our union with the father in Christ which brings that confidence (freedom of speech) to make requests unto him, whatsoever we need. Glory!
INSTRUCTION: God hears you always, so while asking in prayers, ask in confidence.
CONFESSION: The father knows my needs and he hears me whenever I ask, in Jesus name, Amen.
QUOTE: God hears the believer always.
DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: MARK CHAPTER 11; EVENING: 1JOHN CHAPTER 5
LIGHT FROM THE WORD 