The Secret to Powerful Prayer: John 14:1-14

On the night Jesus was betrayed, the gospel of John records Jesus’ last conversation with the disciples before He would be taken from them and ultimately put on a cross. We began looking at this conversation last week, and over the next few episodes, we will move through this conversation and focus in on some of the big things we can learn from it.

For this episode’s portion of this conversation, John records Jesus opening with a promise. Let’s read it together. Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 14, and we will be reading from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. ³ After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. ⁴ You know the way to where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t even know where you are going! How can we know the way?”

⁶ “I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus answered. “Without me, no one can go to the Father. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known the Father. But from now on, you do know him, and you have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”

⁹ Jesus replied:

Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don’t you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn’t said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things.

¹¹ Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do. ¹² I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. ¹³ Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. ¹⁴ I will do whatever you ask me to do.

Let’s stop reading here, because what Jesus has just finished sharing is really powerful, and we might miss it if we kept going.

Jesus opened by promising the disciples that He is going to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house, and that when it is ready, He will come and take us home to be with Him. After facing the question about not knowing the way, Jesus reminds and emphasizes that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can go to the Father without Him.

If you don’t believe in Jesus, then you might think His statement here is incredibly arrogant, selfish, and egotistical. In some ways it is, but it might also be true. If Jesus lied elsewhere in the gospels, you could make a case for this being deceitful, but if Jesus spoke truthfully everywhere else, then it is likely that even with the selfish implications in this statement, Jesus is simply sharing truth.

After then being asked to show the remaining disciples the Father, Jesus then draws their focus onto the oneness of the Son’s and the Father’s relationship. In every way that matters, Jesus showed us the Father. This Oneness leads into probably the biggest promise that Jesus gave to His followers. This promise seems like a blank check for prayer.

Jesus gives us two angles for faith that we can use to have a powerful prayer connection with God. The first angle is faith that Jesus is One with the Father. This might be challenging to wrap our minds around, but if it were easy to understand and see, then not much faith would be needed.

The other angle we can base our faith on is on the things Jesus has done and is doing. Right now, Jesus is in heaven negotiating on our behalf and looking for every possible angle He can use to save us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, and when we have faith in Him, He is more than willing to stand in our place and cover our sins with His sacrifice. This is the other foundation we can build our faith on.

Jesus doesn’t seem to make a distinction between which foundation is better or worse, so feel free to pick either or pick both. What matters is that we have faith in Jesus.

Is faith like this the only thing necessary for this blank check for prayer? Almost, but there’s one additional piece of faith hinted at in this passage we must pay attention to.

In the first part of verse 12, Jesus tells His followers that, “I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing.” Once we have based our faith on Jesus using one or both of the foundations He gives to us, we must live this faith in a visible way. We must do the things Jesus would have done. This means loving others, helping those in need, and pointing people towards giving glory to God.

Jesus never lived His life to seek glory from people, but everything He did was to show people God’s love and to give them reasons to give God glory. In Jesus building up to the amazing promise, we have the foundation of faith in Him that leads to living like He would live if He was living on this earth today. When we have these two pieces of the puzzle of faith in place, then He is more than willing to answer our prayers, because what we pray for will be for God’s glory – and Jesus loves giving God the glory.

In this passage, we discover both a blank check for prayer, and the pen we must use to write our request. When we live our faith in Jesus in visible ways, and when we live and love like Jesus lived and loved, we will pray prayers that ask for God to be glorified, and Jesus will always answer huge prayers that point people to God.

All too often, we pray small and selfish prayers, but hopefully this passage has challenged you like it has challenged me to pray differently, and on the foundation of faith in Jesus for who He is, what He is doing, and for what He has given to each of us through His sacrifice on the cross.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and live your life in a way that leads people to Jesus and to give God glory. When our lives are pointing people to Jesus, our faith in Him is visible, and He is happy to answer the prayers we pray.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal connection and relationship with God. Other people can give you great things to think about, but only you can grow a personal relationship with God!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!