This morning we continue our journey into this new year with a focus on making “Intentional Progress.” I shared with you six steps to intentional progress and I will walk through them over the next few weeks. As a reminder, here are the six steps.
Here are the steps again:
1. Pray/Discern
2. Plan/Prepare
3. Wait/Discern God’s Timing
4. Execute/Measure Progress
5. Wait/Faith & Patience
6. Receive When Harvest Time Comes
We are looking at the first step right now: praying and discerning the will of God. As we are looking to learn from the life of Jesus, we have looked at John chapters 5, 6, 8, 12, and 14. Yesterday we looked at John 14:12. Today we will look at verse 13.
(John 14:13 NLT)
“You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Getting to the point where you can ask for “anything.”
Please don’t misunderstand Jesus when He said, “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Don’t mistake that to mean that God is at your beck-and-call. Please don’t look at God and think that He has signed up to perform your desires (or wishes) like a Genie in a bottle. Remember the context. Jesus had taught, over and over again, that He only said what He heard the Father say, and He only did what He saw the Father do. Jesus then said that we could do what He did. It is within this context that we get to ask in His name.
— When you die to self, and you only seek to do what you believe the Father is leading you to do, then yes, you can ask, in the name of Jesus, in faith, with the full expectation that God will bring it to pass.
— I will teach more about this point when we get to the next chapter, where Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” (John 15:7). The point is that if you abide in God and God abides in you, meaning that you live in Him so much that you are now in harmony with Him in all your ways, then you can ask for whatever you want. Because at that point, what you want IS what God wants. You have died to sin, self, and selfish desires. You are now at the point where your desires are God’s desires, and you don’t want anything but what He wants for you. At that point, you can ask for anything, because your “anything” is God’s “anything.”
— When you are dead to sin, self, and selfishness, God is free to live in you, with you, and through you. When you are living this way, you will be living the life God destined you to live, you won’t take on any pressure to perform, you will freely walk in the grace of God daily, and nothing will be impossible for you.
2. Jesus gave us the authority to use His name.
This is yet another wonderful act of God’s undeserved grace. I served in the military for 25 years, so I know the power behind someone’s name/rank. When a higher-ranking person sends out a subordinate and gives them the authority to use his/her name, the subordinate is then able to do what he/she could not do without the authority of the name/rank. When I say, “I am here under the orders of person X,” my words and actions get to take on the “weight” of the rank of person X. But I am not there in my own authority. I am there in the authority of the one who sent me. This is how Jesus lived back then, and it is how He expects us to live today. The Father sent Him out and He now sends us out. He operated in the power and authority of the Father. We get to operate in the power and authority of His name.
— We do not deserve the right to use the name of Jesus. Jesus gave us this right by grace (unearned, unmerited, and undeserved).
— Not only can we hear from the Father, like Jesus heard from the Father, but Jesus has given us the authority to use His name, here on the earth, to accomplish whatever the Father leads us to do. This is #TheGraceLife because it is a reminder that we are: 1) not doing our own thing, 2) not operating under our own power or authority, and 3) not even the ones who are doing the work. It is the Father, who lives in us, who gives us the words and performs the work. If you understand this, your life will be stress-free because you are allowing God to live through you.
3. Jesus is glorified when we exercise divine authority in His name.
Jesus gave us the authority to use His name, and when we do, He said, “the Son can bring glory to the Father.” When the Father leads us to do something that is beyond our human ability, and we have the audacity to ask for and pursue what He is leading us to do, in the name of Jesus, not only is God glorified through us, but we also bring glory to Jesus, because we operated in His name. I see God’s grace in every aspect of this. God gave us His Spirit by grace, He willingly speaks to us and leads us by grace, and we then get to use the name of Jesus by grace, to perform the will of God on the earth. Grace is amazing!
4. We are the continuation of His incarnation.
Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus was the incarnation of God. You and I are called to be just like Jesus in this world. We are called and commanded to live like He lived, to hear from the Father like He heard, to pursue our individual purpose like He did, and to become a conduit of the Father’s supernatural power like He was. In essence, we are the continuation of Jesus’ incarnation.
I went to sleep last night and woke up this morning meditating on this statement, “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:13). I am convinced that many believers don’t understand what Jesus meant. I will share with you what the Father was sharing with me concerning it.
— This statement was made after Jesus had already made it clear how He operated in the earth. Jesus had already told His disciples that He could do nothing with the Father, that He was not on the earth to do what He wanted, that He was only here to do what the Father wants and that the Father Himself lived inside of Him, giving Him the words and performing the work. After Jesus taught of all of this, Jesus told them that they would do the works He did, and ever GREATER WORKS, because He was going to the Father.
— Jesus later explained that the reason Him going to the Father was important, is because He was living WITH them, but once He left, the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be IN them.
— Once the Holy Spirit was IN them, Jesus wanted them to use the power and authority of HIS NAME. Now, to do so, they were going to have to live the same way He lived. Jesus was not signing up to allow people to use His name who had not developed His character. Jesus was not signing to allow people to His name to fulfill selfish desires. No, Jesus was saying, “Hey, if you understand all the stuff I have taught you for these three and a half years, and you put it into practice and live the way I am living, fully submitted to the Father in all things, then I am giving you the authority to use my name and continue what I started. Before I showed up, people were focused on The Law and they were very religious. I came to fulfill The Law, so people can go back to living the way my Father and I originally intended for you to live. It is the way Adam lived in the Garden of Eden. He walked with us and we walked with him. He had power and authority. He was supposed to extend heaven to the earth. He messed up. I came to redeem mankind. Now you guys can go back to living the way my Father and I originally intended for you to live. So when you operate, operate in my name. Operate the way I did. And when you ask in my name, which means you are living the way I lived, I will do it. There is nothing we will withhold from you!” (Rick Pina Version).
That’s enough for today and this week. I hope you are enjoying these life lessons from Jesus. I know I am!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for Your amazing and undeserved grace. This is a year of intentional progress for me. I will experience the progress You already destined me to walk in. Not because I of my goodness, but because of Your grace. I operate like Jesus operated in this word. As Jesus is, so am I. I am dead to self and alive to You! Without You, I am limited to human activity. However, with You, I can do all things! I am called to live JUST LIKE JESUS in this world. I am the continuation of His incarnation! I am a carrier of God! The supernatural is natural to me because I am born from above! I am naturally supernatural. Therefore, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME because I am NOT the one doing it! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
