TEXT: John 16:21-27
21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
We are in a series of messages titled “Praying Through the Bible: A Series on Every Passage and Verse Regarding Prayer in the Bible.” The purpose of this series is to encourage and motivate you to pray to the God of the Bible. We highlighted each of these over 500 verses and passages in the Prayer Motivator Devotional Bible. So far, we have completed 180 messages in this series.
This is message #181 titled, Turning Sorrow Into Joy Through Prayer, Part 2
At the Last Supper, Jesus sought to calm His disciples’ fear of the future — both their immediate future and their long-term future. The disciples’ most pressing concern was that Jesus would be leaving them — and He did leave them when He was arrested and crucified. But, as we saw last week, He promised that He would return and turn their sorrow into joy — joy that no one would be able to take from them.
However, the truth was that Jesus would be leaving them again. After the resurrection, He spent 40 days with them, teaching them and training them to carry on His ministry after He was gone. Although He promised to return, no one knew how long He would be gone this second time. The first time He had left them, they had a definite time period that they needed to wait — three days. Unfortunately, the disciples didn’t really believe that He would return once they knew He was dead. But, the second time Jesus left them, they had no doubt about Jesus’ words. They believed that He would come back as He said.
In the meantime, however, they still needed to be able to communicate with their Savior. Jesus told them that they could do just that through prayer. He said, “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing.” Here, Jesus is referring to Himself as the Son. The “day” He is talking about is the day of Pentecost and the Church Age which began at that time. With Jesus’ ascension, the disciples would no longer be able to make requests directly of Jesus as they had grown used to doing.
Instead, Jesus directs them to make requests of the Father. He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” E.A. Blum said, “The forthcoming events brought about changed relations. Since Jesus would not be with them physically, they would not be able to ask Him questions… The [disciples] would be Jesus’ ambassadors and therefore had the right to ask the Father for whatever they needed to accomplish His will.”
The devil will try to make us think that we are unworthy to come before God in prayer. However, Jesus tells us the truth. We WERE unworthy to stand before God before Jesus died on the cross and paid our sin debt. However, now that Jesus has ascended to the Father, we stand before God, able to enter His presence in prayer, because of what Jesus did for us. Ephesians 2:6 says that God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” When Jesus Christ ascended to the Father, spiritually speaking, we ascended WITH HIM. We are IN HIM even now. And we can now take our requests directly to God in prayer.
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Now, if you are with us today, and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your first prayer needs to be what we call the Sinner’s Prayer. First, please understand that you are a sinner, just as I am, and that you have broken God’s laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.
Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. You have done the most important thing in life. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.
Gospel Light House of Prayer International 