Don’t see the audio player? Click here.
A genie is a mythical character that does whatever you want it to do. Some people think of God as a genie—Someone to give them what they want when they want it rather than what is best for them. They don’t bother to cultivate intimacy with God to know His will. To them, God’s job is to give them what they want. Jesus urges us to pray, to bring our requests to our heavenly Father. In John’s gospel CH 14, Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray. He said, “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Jesus said this to assure his disciples that they would do greater works than He did. While no one can improve on the quality of Jesus’ works, with the Holy Spirit’s power we can multiply the outcomes of His works; such as when Peter preached one sermon and 3000 people responded. Jesus also said effective praying is asking in His name. This is not just saying, “I pray in Jesus name.” This is asking to glorify Jesus, to fulfill Jesus’ purpose. Mature believers know that God always answers prayer. His answer is Yes, No, or Yes but not now. So we pray fervently, then we wait for our loving, powerful, and wise God to answer in His way, in His time.
