“…ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” – John 15:7
Jesus Christ is the true vine and the believers of Jesus Christ are the branches. Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5) and if we abide in Christ we can do all things (Phil. 4:13).
In the verse John 15:7, there are two conditions:
We must abide in Christ: We can do so, by believing that He is God’s Son, receiving Him as Savior and Lord, doing what God says, maintaining communion with Christ, continuing to believe the gospel and relating in love to the community of believers, Christ’s body.
His words must abide in us: That means, we must be dwelling consistently in His word, meditating God’s word daily, hiding God’s word in our heart so that we may not sin against God (Psalm 119:11) and living our life according to His word.
If the above two conditions are met, then it will affect the way we pray. Our prayers are influenced and directed by His word and His will. We will be humble in our prayers. In fact, we will find ourselves praying for what He wants and that will ensure that they are answered.
Many have misinterpreted this verse by saying- ‘you can ask God for anything that you want, and you will receive whatever you ask.’ Prayer is not something that we should dictate to Him. Many people have made mistakes in praying to God, for their own desires and wants to be fulfilled because that is what they want. They make their own plans in their mind, and then ask God to perform their plans rather than requesting God, to reveal His plan first to us. According to 1 John 5:14 – ‘This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He Hears us.’ It is clearly understood that it must be according to God’s will.
Prayer is a humble and heartfelt expression to God of our attitude of dependency and need.