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Incredible Promises

Tom Barnard

esus made a habit of saying things that stunned his listeners. Turn to almost any page in any of the four Gospels, and you will find things that our Lord said that “blew away” his hearers. Here is one of my favorite promises of Jesus, from Matthew 7:7-8):

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

But my absolute favorite “stunner” is this one found in John 14:12-14:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

What was Jesus talking about in these two passages? Asking…seeking…knocking…receiving? Yes. Was he talking about how to make requests of God?  Absolutely. Was he talking about our doing great works? Yes. Doing greater work than he did? Yes—well, let’s hold that thought for a moment.

The main thing Jesus was addressing here was prayer. Everything else Jesus spoke about in these verses flows from a heart open in prayer to God. If a person prays, God hears and answers. Jesus did not caution his listeners about what not to pray for. He just invited them to pray…about anything.

In his devotional entitled “Greater Works,” Oswald Chambers said, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work. Prayer is the greater work. We think of prayer as a common-sense exercise of our higher powers in order to prepare us for God’s work. In the teaching of Jesus Christ prayer is the working of the miracle of Redemption in me which produces the miracle of Redemption in others by the power of God. The way fruit remains is by prayer, but remember it is prayer based on the agony of Redemption, not on my agony. Only a child gets prayer answered; a wise man does not.” (My Upmost for His Highest, p. 215).

As Chambers points out, “Prayer is the battle; it is a matter of indifference where you are. Whichever way God engineers circumstances, the duty is to pray. Never allow the thought—‘I am no use where I am;’ because you certainly can be of no use where you are not. Wherever God has dumped you down in circumstances, pray…to Him all the time.”

Often I hear from readers who are discouraged because they feel their prayers are not being answered in a timely manner. What they don’t realize is that even when God is silent, He is listening and working. Reuben Welch had it right when he said, “When nothing’s happening, something’s happening.” God sees the end from the beginning, and He knows exactly the outcome before it comes. He knows what is best for us, and he knows the best timing for us to receive the answers to our prayers.

In the Garden, the night before his death, Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). In his heart he knew that death was imminent, but he also understood the secret of prayer. He was “dumped down” in the reality of what was coming, but he knew prayer would comfort him and remove any uncertainty he had about dying.

What should be our attitude when we pray? Here is how hymn-writer Adelaide Pollard expressed it:

Have thine own way, Lord, Have thine own way;

Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me, after thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

One last thought. You may know of someone who feels that their prayers are not being answered. Send this epistle to them and accompany it with a prayer that God will lift their sights to believe that He is at work in their behalf.