Whatever You Ask in My Name

In one paragraph

Pastor Brad opened with a question most of us have quietly asked: if God is going to do what he is going to do anyway, why pray at all? He was upfront that there is no formula to get God to act on our timeline, and that the real answer is far better than a formula. The message walked through John 14:13, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do so that the father may be glorified in the son,"...

Read together

1. John 14:12-14 the primary text for the sermon, quoted from the NASB
2. 2 Corinthians 12:9 cited to support the idea that weakness is an advantage and we should boast in our weaknesses
3. James 5 referenced as a chapter on prayer that points back to Elijah and the rain
4. 1 Kings 17 Elijah praying to shut up the heavens for three and a half years, to illustrate that the power belongs to God not the prophet
5. Luke 11 one of two locations of the Lord's Prayer, cited as an example of Jesus modeling prayer
6. Matthew 6 location of the Lord's Prayer and the statement that God knows what we need before we ask
7. Matthew 6:8 God knows what we need before we even ask
8. Romans 8:28 cited as part of the scriptural basis for the idea that God gives us what we would ask if we knew what he knows
9. Genesis 50 cited alongside Romans 8:28 as scriptural basis for God's perspective on unanswered prayer
10. Matthew 7:9-11 Jesus asks which father would give his son a stone instead of bread, used to illustrate God giving good gifts to those who ask
11. John 15 Jesus saying if you abide in me, referenced to support the idea that abiding in Christ leads to accomplishing more of what matters
12. 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will purify us from all unrighteousness, cited under the confession section of the ACTS model
13. 1 John 2:4 briefly and incompletely cited in connection with keeping God's commandments as an act of obedience

Talk about it

1. Brad said the point of prayer is not to get God to do what you want but to get more of God and fix our eyes on him. How does that land with you, and where do you see yourself still treating prayer more like a request line than a relationship?
2. Brad described prayer at its core as admitting your dependence on God, and said that if dependence is the goal then weakness is an advantage. What would it actually look like in your daily life to treat weakness as a strategy rather than something to overcome?
3. Brad used the John Piper quote that one of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the last day that prayerlessness was not from a lack of time. When you look honestly at how you spend your time, what does that reveal about your own prayer life?
4. Brad offered this reframe for unanswered prayer: God always gives us what we would ask for if we knew what he knows and had his perspective. Has there been a moment in your life where you later saw that to be true? What made it hard to trust in the moment?
5. Brad drew a distinction between walkie talkie prayers throughout the day and a dedicated time that is more like a full meal. Which of those describes your current prayer life, and what is one thing that is actually keeping you from the bigger meal?