The Secret of Always Answered Prayer (Part 2)
Three Promises in John’s Gospel
Everyone has experienced unanswered prayer. And yet, Jesus promised five times in the gospels that we can have every single prayer answered.
These promises are a scandal. Our experience of prayer is far inferior to Jesus’ promise. This scandal is also a clue that there is a much greater grace available to us in prayer than we have yet experienced. The bad news is we are bad at praying. The good news is that we have much to learn about walking with Jesus, and He promises that as we learn the secrets of his heart, fullness of joy is our reward (John 16:24).
In part one of this investigation, we considered the promises of always answered prayer in Matthew 21 and Mark 11. The context was unexpectedly apocalyptic. You can read part 1 here.
Part 2 is on the three promises of always answered prayer in John’s gospel.
Always Answered Prayer in John
Jesus’s last supper discourse in John 13-17 is the “holy of holies” of the entire Bible. Here, Jesus speaks plainly about the Father, the Spirit, and himself. It is the most intimate picture of God in the entire Bible. Thus, it is significant that John shares Jesus’ promise of always answered prayer three times in this section. This secret is one of the deep things of his heart.
John, the author, is very intentional about the number of times events occur in the gospel, even the number of times he uses certain words.
For instance, there are seven “signs” Jesus performs in John chapters 1-11. Jesus uses the phrase “I Am” about himself, a reference to God’s personal name “Yahweh”, seven times in the gospel. The final time he says “I Am”, he repeats it three times (John 18). Jesus says, “I am the… [door, bread of heaven, resurrection, etc.]” seven times. There are many other numeric patterns like this in the gospel. John seems to place special emphasis on the numbers three and seven, so the fact that the promise of always answered prayer is repeated three times is significant.
The promise is given in John 14:13-14, John 15:7, and John 16:23-24. We’ll go through each promise one by one, with added verses to understand the context and conditions.
Promise 1: John 14:12-17a
“Truly, truly, 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 the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth…”
First, we should note that this is indeed a promise of always answered prayer.
Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
The Greek is as plain as the English. “Whatever you ask, I will do.” Our inferior experience clutters the clear meaning.
The only initial condition given in the core promise is to ask, “In my name.” This Scripture is the reason so many Christians end their prayers “in Jesus’ name”. Our consistent experience of unanswered prayer is a clue that we may not have fully understood what it means to pray “in Jesus’ name.”
Praying to Jesus Himself
It is striking that Jesus himself is receiving and answering prayer. He says, “I will do [it].” And “If you ask me…” Jesus usually speaks of prayer being directed to the Father, but here he speaks of prayers offered to him personally. 2,000 years from his ascension, modern believers are familiar with this arrangement. However, we must understand how strange it would have been for his disciples to hear a human being sitting before them saying, “I will answer your prayers.”
While in this passage, Jesus himself is the one receiving and answering prayer, his relationship to the Father is still in view. Jesus says he will always answer prayer in his name “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son…” Answered prayer brings glory to God the Father, and the promise of always answered prayer is linked to the Father receiving glory “in the Son.”
Explicit and Implicit Conditions
As in Matthew and Mark, the promise of always answered prayer is given with conditions. Certain requirements must be met if we are to “cash in” the promise.
John 14:12 is directly related to the promise of always answered prayer. Here, the condition is clearly “believing in Jesus.”
“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 the Father.”
In John 14:13, the condition is asking “in Jesus’ name.”
“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
The connection here between “always answered prayer” and “greater works” could not be clearer. In context, Jesus is clearly referring to his miraculous signs.
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves…” John 14:11
The works that testify he is sent from God are the miraculous signs he has been performing. Jesus is not saying we will do “greater works” by preaching to more people through technology, better organization, or faster modes of travel (as some have claimed). He is clearly speaking about the supernatural power of God working through His disciples, leading to greater works than He performed when on earth. The works are miraculous signs, and the greater miraculous signs will come through always answered prayer.
“Believing in Jesus” and asking “in His name” are the explicit conditions here of always answered prayer. However, there are also implicit conditions immediately following.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth…I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” John 14:15-18
Jesus links the promise of always answered prayer to two things: “keeping his commandments” and the coming gift of the Holy Spirit, who will communicate Jesus’s own presence to the disciples.
To sum up, to cash in the promise of always answered prayer, we must “believe in Jesus”, “pray in His name”, “keep his commandments”, and receive the Holy Spirit. If we are doing these simple things, we should be able to simply “ask…and I will do it.”
Promise 2: John 15:7-12
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
This is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you.”
New Conditions for Always Answered Prayer
John 15:7 uses completely new language to speak about always answered prayer.
In Matthew and Mark, we heard “have faith in God,” “believe and don’t doubt,” and “believe you have received what you ask for.” John 14:12-14 used similar language: “believe in Jesus” and ask, “in Jesus’ name.”
Now, Jesus enjoins us to “abide [live, remain, dwell] in Me, and let My words abide [live, remain, dwell] in you.” If we make our home in him and his words make their home in us, we have only to “ask whatever we wish [want, desire] and it will be done for us.”
Once again, this is a stunning promise of always answered prayer. The only conditions given are abiding in Him, allowing His words to abide in us, making a request (asking), and “desiring” or “wanting” something.
As in John 14, Jesus links always-answered prayer to the Father’s glory:
“By this [giving us whatever we desire] my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:8
Development of the Implicit Conditions of John 14
In John 14, we saw the implicit condition of obeying Jesus’s commandments. Here, Jesus spells this condition out in greater detail. He also tells us which commandment in particular he has in mind.
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
This is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you.” John 15:9-12
To abide in Jesus means to abide in His love. As a condition of remaining in His love, we must keep His commandments. If we do this, our joy will be full to overflowing. The commandment Jesus has in mind when he calls us to obey him is the New Commandment, “Love one another just as I have loved you.” This doesn’t mean we can ignore other things he has commanded us, but it elevates the new commandment to a special place. It is a summary statement of what he looks for from us—to love other believers as he has loved us.
We cannot abide in him apart from loving one another as he has loved us, and we will not experience always answered prayer apart from abiding. Obeying the New Commandment is an essential condition of abiding in Jesus, and therefore, of always answered prayer.
Promise 3: John 16:23-27
“In that day [when I ascend to heaven and when you receive the Holy Spirit] you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”
In John 16:23, we see the final promise of always answered prayer in John’s gospel.
“…if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you.”
The condition of asking “in Jesus’ name” from John 14:13 is repeated, but with an important contrast. In John 14, Jesus himself was receiving and answering prayer. Here, the Father is receiving and answering prayer. Jesus wants to make it clear that we are “in” with the Father just as He is.
“In that day, you will ask in my name and I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” John 16:26-27
The Father himself approves of us, loves us, and will answer every prayer. It’s an astonishing promise.
As in John 15, the promise of always answered prayer is tied to abundant joy.
“ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full…”
In the broader context of John 16, we see that the promise is once again linked to the giving of the Holy Spirit. His coming to dwell among the disciples is “that day” when Jesus will speak plainly to them of the Father.
Conclusions of Always Answered Prayer in John
Each of the three promises overlaps with the others, using the circular pattern of speech typical in John’s gospel, while each also adds new information. Let’s summarize the main points we have seen in the three passages.
To have every prayer answered, we must “believe in Jesus” (John 14:12, John 16:27)
Requests are to be made “in Jesus’ name” (John 14:13, John 16:24,26)
Always answered prayer can be directed to Jesus (John 14) or the Father (John 16)
Obeying Jesus’s commandments, particularly the New Commandment to “love one another as I have loved you,” is a key condition (John 14, John 15)
Always answered prayer brings glory to the Father (John 14, John 15)
Always answered prayer brings us joy (John 15, John 16)
Experiencing the love of Jesus and the Father leads to always-answered prayer (John 15, John 16)
The gift of the Holy Spirit is essential to the operation of always answered prayer (John 14, 15, 16)
We must abide in Jesus and allow His words to abide in us (John 15:7)
We must truly want [desire] things, and we must ask for them (John 15:7)
These are the conditions and context of always answered prayer in John’s gospel. In Part 3, we will unpack the similarities and differences between the promises in Matthew/Mark and John. After that, I hope we will be ready to finally tackle our final question, “How can I pray prayers that God will always answer? How can I walk in the promise of always answered prayer?”