Praying

THEN HE was praying in a certain place; and when He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, [just] as John taught his disciples. And He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done [held holy and revered] on earth as it is in heaven. Give us daily our bread [food for the morrow]. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended us or done us wrong]. And bring us not into temptation but rescue us from evil. Luke 11:1-4

Notice how Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “our Father,” “give us,” “forgive us,” “bring us,” and “rescue us.” When Jesus taught us to pray, He did not teach us to pray: my Father, give me, forgive me, bring me, and rescue me.

I don’t know about you, but my prayers have usually been either for a need or a want that I have, or a need and a want that someone I know has. But when Jesus taught us to pray, the prayer was for the body as a whole and not just for a specific member. Even if the prayers are really religious, like for wisdom, faith, healing, or love. They usually would go something like Father, I ask You in Jesus’ Name to give me wisdom, or Father I ask You in Jesus’ Name to heal so and so. But this is not at all how Jesus taught us to pray!

Now I want you to look at Jesus’ prayer in John 17. Right before Jesus was crucified, at the time of His greatest need, He prayed for the body as a whole. He prayed for all who would believe in Him. He prayed for the body to have eternal life. Jesus prayed for us to all be one with our Father as He is One with our Father. He prayed for the body as a whole to be sanctified and for all of us to have our Fathers love abiding within us. We don’t see many examples of prayers in the Gospels, but the two prayers that the Holy Spirit did have written, were both for the body as a whole.

There is a power here that I think the church is missing. And the Truth is that we are all one, we are all the body of Christ. We are members of His body, flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone. And if I have a need or you have a need, the body has a need. Jesus knows better than any our oneness with our Father through Him and our oneness with each other. And when our Lord taught us to pray, it was for the body as a whole and not just for a specific member. Just think of your own body and how it works, if your hand is cut, your whole body has a need and the whole body joins together to assist the hand. This is exactly how the body of Christ is, we are one!

And when Jesus taught us to pray He was teaching us to not only look to our Father for every need, but that our need is actually the body’s need, and when we pray our prayers should reflect this Truth. There is only One Spirit, One Lord, and one body. So our prayers should sound something like, Father in Jesus’ Name I ask that all who are called and chosen are healed this day, that this day all of your children have perfect wisdom and peace. That today all of your children are debt free and lenders and not borrowers. Father, I ask that in Jesus’ Name that we are all as You are, even while on this earth, that we all have the mind of Christ, and that we all have the Holy Spirit abiding within us showing us plainly things to come. So whatever your need or desire may be, include the whole body in your prayer, just as our Head taught us to, and as our Head did! Because our need is the Body of Christ’s need. We are all one!

A Study of John 15

I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. John 15:1

Think of what the Vine does for a moment. The Vine is what is rooted and grounded. The Vine determines what is going to be grown and when it will be grown. The Vine is the instrument that brings the nutrients and life to the branches, without the Vine there is no life for the plant.

Next, let’s consider what the Gardener is. The Gardener is in control of the Vine and the branches. The Gardener protects the Vine. He is responsible for keeping insects and disease from the plant. He is responsible for insuring that the Vine has enough nutrients and water to produce abundant amounts of fruit. And the Gardener owns the Vine and the branches and He owns all of the fruit that is produced by the plant.

So Jesus starts off by teaching us in John 15 that our Father is in total control. And A-men for us, He is!

Hebrews 12:2, Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
John 14:27, Jesus gives us His peace.
John 15:11, we posses Jesus’ joy.
John 14:10, it is the Father within us Who does the works.
Galatians 2:20, we are dead and yet we live, but it is not us who live, it is Christ alive within us Who lives.
John 17:26 , the love of God now abides within us.

Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. John 15:2

Jesus goes on to teach us that God is the one Who is in total control of us producing fruit. The Truth that sets us free is that our Father is responsible for continually pruning out of us everything that would hinder Him from producing abundant fruit through us. Religion places all of this responsibility on us, as if it is a choice of ours; it is preached and implied that we can either choose to or not choose to do the will of our Father. But that is not at all what Jesus teaches us. Jesus shows us that we produce fruit because we have become one with Him and He is the Vine. Jesus teaches us that we produce fruit because our Father prunes out of us everything that would ever hinder us from being used. God is successful, He never fails, He succeeds 100% of the time, and this is why He is in control of our destiny. And our Father controls our destiny by making us one with Himself through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is not one truly saved person who will ever fail, because God is in control and it is finished!

That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me. John 17:21

Religion teaches us that God sent Jesus and gave us access to a better life. But so many preachers make it a life a choices and place man with his own human abilities in control of them. God is made to be a reactive to our direction. It is preached if we do what He said, then we will be rewarded with His favor. But grace teaches us something far different. Grace teaches us that God is in total control and if there is something that needs removed, He removes it. If there is faith needed He authors and finishes it. Jesus is the Head, the Vine, and the Shepherd. We are the body, the branches, and the sheep.

Think of your body for a moment. Your head is in charge of your body, it is directing every activity whether consciously or unconsciously. It is not a choice for the arm to act at the heads direction, the arm can do nothing else. If the arm would move at its own direction, the body would be a cripple, and the Body of Jesus Christ is not a cripple! And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by means of its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. Colossians 2:19 A-men, God causes our growth! The whole key to our salvation is that we are one with Jesus, Who is One with God, there is no separation and our old self has been crucified with Christ, and our new self, is actually now part of Jesus, one with Him, and one with God!

You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you]. Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. John 15:3-4

The Bible teaches us that we have been grafted into Jesus, the Vine, Romans 11:24. Think of this process of grafting. Who does the grafting? Does the branch decide it wants to be grafted or does the Gardener decide He wants to graft the branch? The Gardener decides, the branch has no ability on its own to do it. This is why the Bible teaches us that many are called but few are chosen, Matthew 22:14. God wants us all to be grafted, but He knows the heart and He will only graft those whom He has chosen! Religion teaches us that we choose, but the Truth is our Father chooses! This is important because many will teach that it is our choice as to whether to live in Jesus or not, so it is mans choice to bear fruit or not. But that is not the Truth. The Truth is our Father chose us and grafted us into Jesus, making us one with Him. And since He did, He is now responsible for causing us to bear fruit and our Father is responsible for us living as one with Him. This is the peace that passes all understanding. Everything that is required for us to live in the full salvation of our Lord is accomplished by our Father through His body Jesus. We are saved to the uttermost because of Jesus, not by some human effort. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25

And since we are one with Jesus, as the branch is one with the Vine, we cannot just stop living as one with Jesus. And since we are one with Jesus we are clean as Jesus is clean. And we will be used by the Vine to bear fruit! For both He Who sanctifies [making men holy] and those who are sanctified all have one [Father]. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren; Hebrews 2:11

I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. John 15:5

Think about Jesus as you read this verse. Why does He bear much fruit? Jesus bears much fruit because He is one with God. He was chosen by God to do it! God made Himself man and came and died so that we too could be one with Him and enjoy the exact same blessings as our Father enjoys! Jesus cannot help but to bear much fruit, He is God, and that is just the way God is! And we are now grafted into God through His Own flesh, Jesus, and we now enjoy the same things.

So many times when the Holy Spirit begins to have me teach these Truths, people refer to us as only being robots then. And the famous religious saying comes flowing out, and God doesn’t want robots! And here is the question that the Holy Spirit has me ask them back, was Jesus a robot? Jesus was chosen to be birthed by a virgin, He was chosen to die on the cross at a specific time, at a specific place, and before hand suffer specific tortures! He was chosen to be raised from the dead at a specific time and He said that He could only speak what He had been directed to speak by the Father. Jesus’ life was predestined before the world ever was. So was He a robot? The answer is always no, He was God! Sounds religious and like the right thing to say, and it is true. But when you bring the Truth that God came so that we could be just as Jesus, it somehow then becomes we are robots? But we are not robots, we are parts of the actual Body of Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And God knew use before we were even in the womb. And He knew what we would be and how He was going to use us. He knew He could choose us and He could choose us because He knew we could be grafted into the Vine and have absolutely no problem whatsoever in being one with Him. And by being one with Him means He is in total control. What is being a robot to the unsaved is being part of the Body to the saved!

If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned. John 15:6

Only Jesus! If we are not chosen, we will be thrown into Hell!

If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine. John 15:7-8

Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God, Romans 10:17. And faith is the evidence of things hoped for, Hebrews 11:1. We have seen through the testimony of Jesus that we were chosen by our Father to be grafted into Himself. It was His choice alone, John 1:13. We have seen that it is our Fathers responsibility to keep us clean from everything that would hinder us from being used by Him. We have seen that it is Jesus’ responsibility to have us produce fruit. And with all of these Truths in mind, go and reread these two verses.
Asking what we will, means asking what our Fathers will is. And that is all that we can do, because it is our Father Who is alive within us! Religion tries to make a separation between us and God, but there is none. So we ask because the Holy Spirit is leading us to ask, and He is our strength and guidance in this world, just as He was with Jesus! So God will use us to ask and He will use us to produce much fruit in asking, just as He used Himself to ask and produce much fruit when He was here as a man. The Truth is that it is the Anointing of God, which is Christ, is alive and in control of us, just as it was alive and in control of Jesus on the earth! So when we think of Jesus, how He lived and how He acted, this is exactly how we should think of ourselves. Because as He is, so are we in this world. In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4:17

Yeah, but if we ask amiss? Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4:3. The great freedom that we have as the chosen ones of God is this. All things work out for our good! We are assured and know that [ God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. Romans 8:28. So even if we ask amiss, it will work out for our good, because as God clearly teaches us, all things work together for our good! God knew we were going to ask amiss before we did and He had already provided a plan for it to work for our good. So ask, ask away, and watch God prune out the amiss questions and replace them with His will. And you will bear much fruit and our Father will be honored and glorified through you. The Truth of salvation is our Father causes us to win 100% of the time.

I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [[a]continue in His love with Me]. John 15:9

Jesus is God and God is Jesus. Jesus is God in the flesh and God in the flesh loves us every bit as much as He loves Himself. God loves us so much that He grafted us into Himself so that we could live exactly as He lives! It is impossible for Jesus not to abide in our Fathers love, and neither can we.

If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments and live on in His love. John 15:10

As we have studied, it is impossible for us not to continue in God’s Word, because we have become one with it. So why is it that Jesus say’s these types of things? Why does He say, if you continue and not you cannot help but continue? The Disciples wondered why Jesus always spoke in parables as He taught. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? Matthew 13:10 And Jesus told them plainly why. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Matthew 13:11. So when Jesus spoke He spoke in ways that men could not understand, because it wasn’t for them to understand. Jesus knew that it would take the Holy Spirit to bring the Truth to those who are called and chosen by God! So think of religion and how it is predominantly taught that all of the responsibility is placed on man. It is preached that we are to pray and God will act. We are to give and God will act, obey and God will act. The message is really, though never preached so boldly, that God is in our control and if we do what we should He will obey and we will be blessed. But the Truth is God will cause us to pray so that His will may be done. God will cause us to give so that His will can be done. God will cause us to obey, by continually pruning us, so that His will can be done. God is the Director and the Head. He is in control and He is the power that leads us and causes us to walk in His statutes and to keep His judgments, Ezekiel 36:27. Jesus spoke this way so that those who were not chosen would always look to themselves and those that are truly chosen will constantly look to Him. Both will quote scripture, but only one is truly looking to God while the other is looking to themselves! Many will come to Jesus and say that they did miracles and works in His Name, and Jesus will say that He never knew them, Matthew 7:23. While true Christians will come and say You Jesus used us to do mighty works and Jesus will welcome us on in!

I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing. John 15:11

Jesus told us that God will keep us. That He will produce much fruit through us. That He will cause us to always live in His love because we will always abide as one with Him. These Truths are why Jesus is happy, He can never be separated from God and neither can we. So we are one with the same joy as our Lord! We live in the same power and same reality as Jesus. For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:10-11

This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you. John 15:12

The Commandment of Jesus is that we love one another. And to insure that we do, we have been grafted into and made one with Love. He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love.1 John 4:8. God just doesn’t love, He is love. And the love Jesus has now abides within us. I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very [c]Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them. John 17:26. If there is anything that would hinder us from loving, God will prune it out of us, so that we may abound in love as He abounds in love. And through our oneness with Jesus we are able to love one another exactly as God loves each of us. We can do nothing less, how can the Body of God love any less than the Head of God? Our Fathers Spirit, Who He actually is, causes us to walk as He walks.

No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do. I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.] John 15:13-15

Jesus holds nothing back from us, what He knows we know! We have been given the Holy Spirit that teaches us all things, John 14:26. We now have the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16. As the branches are fully connected and operate under the complete direction of the Vine, so do we! We are what Jesus has ordained us to be. He is our Shepherd, our Head, He is our Vine! Jesus holds nothing back from us. He has made us one with all and Who He is.

You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as [b]presenting all that I AM], He may give it to you. John 15:16

Here is some powerful Truth. Jesus chose us. He knew who we were, how we were, and what needed done within us. He knew every fault and every weakness that we had, and He still chose us. He chose us and He has appointed us to go into all of the world and be used by our Father to preach the Truth that will set the captives free! If we chose Jesus, than there would always be doubt about our eternity. But He chose us, the Alpha and Omega chose us. He Who knows the beginning and the end and chose us. This is why we can so confidently ask. Jesus knew everything about us and He still chose us to be grafted into Him. Just as He was chosen to be our Savior, so too have we have been chosen to serve. Our Father knows exactly what He is doing and He knew what He would do before He ever created the earth, before we were ever born, our Father knew that we would be one with Him. So ask, ask and receive, and Jesus will answer our prayers and our Father will be glorified that He is able to bear much fruit through us!

This is what I command you: that you love one another. John 15:17

If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you. John 15:18

The world hated Jesus and He still loved. He could do nothing else because He is love. The world cursed Jesus and He healed them. The world persecuted Jesus and He fed them. The world crucified Jesus and He forgave them. He did all of these things because He could do nothing else. And He is alive within us today. We will love regardless of what is done to us. During the Great Tribulation, when we are being sacrificed for the Testimony of our Lord, we will love. Because it is our Fathers power to love within us causing us to love as He loves. And the power of His love will cast out all fear, 1 John 4:18. Love cast out fear and torment, and our Father has shed His love abroad in our hearts. He chose us to love, and He knew what He was doing.

If you belonged to the world, the world would treat you with affection and would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world [no longer one with it], but I have chosen (selected) you out of the world, the world hates (detests) you. Remember that I told you, A servant is not greater than his master [is not superior to him]. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word and obeyed My teachings, they will also keep and obey yours. But they will do all this to you [inflict all this suffering on you] because of [your bearing] My name and on My account, for they do not know or understand the One Who sent Me. John 15:19-21

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin [would be blameless]; but now they have no excuse for their sin. John 15:22

Not everyone that our Father leads us to witness to will be saved. There will be times when it is simply to share the Truth so that they will have no excuses. God knows who will be chosen and who will not be. But all will have had the chance, so none will be able to say that they were not given the opportunity to be called and chosen. God desires that all men be saved, 1 Timothy 2:4. All will not be saved, and God knows who will and who won’t. But just because He knows, doesn’t mean that He doesn’t desire that all will.

Whoever hates Me also hates My Father. John 15:23

If I had not done (accomplished) among them the works which no one else ever did, they would not be guilty of sin. But [the fact is] now they have both seen [these works] and have hated both Me and My Father. John 15:24

Miraculous works do testify that God is alive and real. Paul wrote that He did not preach with just enticing words, but with power and demonstration of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:4. Jesus said that if they did not believe Him for the Words that He spoke, believe them for the works that God did through Him, John 4:11. In the Book of Acts, miracles abounded and whole cities were saved. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He never changes, Hebrews 13:8. God used miracles with the Prophets, He used miracles with Jesus, He used miracles with the Apostles, and He will use miracles during the Great Tribulation, and He uses them today. God is miraculous, so His body, His flesh, has to be as well. And we are now His flesh. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Ephesians 5:30.

But [this is so] that the word written in their Law might be fulfilled, They hated Me without a cause.(A) John 15:25

They will hate us without a cause as well.

But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me. But you also will testify and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning. John 15:26-27