I’ve been looking at John 15 and surprised with wonder at the words of Jesus in verse 7:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

My response was, at first, amazement at the potential power of prayer. And yes, there is a great power in prayer available to God’s people. In fact, I’d already started to plan to teach about prayer from this passage. But verse 7 is one verse in a bigger context. I didn’t want to miss anything. (I never want to be guilty of finding a passage of Scripture to go along with my thoughts. I want to know what God is saying in the passage.)

So I began to study John 15:1-11. Yes, I have discovered that Jesus has made an incredible promise about the power of prayer,  but I also discovered something else.

I discovered (or maybe re-discovered) that my joy is found in the pursuit of God’s glory.

God actively works in His people (He prunes), so that we will bear more fruit. In bearing fruit, we glorify God and prove to be Jesus’ disciples. Therefore, God is actively working for His own glory. But Jesus also said that He was saying these things so that we would have His joy, and that our joy would be full. In other words, our greatest joy is found in the pursuit of God’s glory. God’s glory and our joy are not opposed to each other.

When we commit to make much of God in all things we are discovering the greatest joy that can be found. I don’t want to miss that joy!