Lesson 25: The Will of God in Prayer (Part 2)

Lesson 25: The Will of God in Prayer (Part 2) Bible Texts: Isaiah 53:4- 5; Matthew 8:16- 17; 1 Peter 2:24. Central Truth: To be an effective prayer warrior, we must have God's Word abiding in us. As we continue our study about God's will in prayer, let us look at these pertinent words of Jesus in (John 15:7). "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Under what condition did Jesus tell us to as what we will ? He said, "if ye abide in me. . ." In other words, to be born again is the first requirement. If we are born again, we are abiding in Him. He also said, ". . . And my words abide in you. . ." So we must have a thorough knowledge of God's Word to be an effective prayer warrior. Now, God's Word primarily the New Testament is the will of God for our lives ! We must have His Word Abiding in us. In order to do this we must go to church, no, we must "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth "(2 Timothy 2:15). When we have God's Word abiding or continuing in us, we will know what His will is concerning any matter we need to pray about. As we saw in our last lesson, God's Word is His will. Therefore, we can bring our petitions with confidence and boldness to God's throne of grace. If we have followed steps one and two of the above verse--- if [1] we are abiding or continuing in Him, and [2] His Word is continuing or abiding in us--- we can "ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." What a powerful promise ! The believer walking in fellowship with the Word never will ask for anything outside of the will of God. If he or she knows the Word, he or she knows what is promised them; they know the will of God. If he or she is not walking in fellowship with the Word, they are not going to have a successful prayer life and get answers to their prayers. Their prayer life isn't going to be effective, because Jesus plainly stated, "If ye abide or [continue] in me, and my Words abide or [continue] in you. . ." We must come according to His conditions. GOD'S WILL CONCERNING HEALING: what does God's Word has to say about physical healing ? Is it His his will to heal the sick ? Let us look at some Scripture to determine His will in this matter. (Isaiah 53:4- 5) "Surely he hath bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Matthew 8:16- 17) "When the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses." (1 Peter 2:24) "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. We see from these verses that healing the sick is God's will because Christ bore our infirmities and carried our diseases. Just as He our salvation through His blood by dying on the cross, so He has purchased our healing: ". . . By whose stripes ye were healed." When we have His Word firmly settled in our hearts, we need not wonder if it is His will to heal us. We need not pray, "Lord, heal me if it be thy will."