Today’s 333 Devotional: “Jesus Answers Prayers”

“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 I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)

If Jesus said that whatever we ask in His name, He’ll do it; then why aren’t we seeing answers to our prayers.

It begins with belief.

Prayer today is more of a formalized ritual, at least as we end our prayers. Every time we say, “In Jesus’ name.” And that’s the way we were taught, and that is what we read as to how we are to end our prayers. But is it what we believe?

When we end our prayer with “In Jesus’ name,” it’s not simply a formalized ending; rather it needs to be a statement of faith. It’s saying we believe Jesus hears and answers our prayers. And while there’s a hope that He will answer, is it an absolute 100 percent belief?

For our prayers to be answered, for us to do great, if not greater things than Jesus did while He was here, we must be completely and totally assured and believe in Jesus’s promise.

But there’s one more reason why our prayers aren’t answered, and it has to do with why Jesus gave is His promise to answer, and that’s so “the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

For our prayers to be answered they must be Kingdom of God focused rather than being focused on our personal preferences.

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)

It’s not like we’re not asking. Rather it’s because we’re asking with the wrong motives.

Therefore, it is in Jesus’s name we ask, for God’s Kingdom glory.