Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The apostle John nails down some good news logically: "If we ask anything [in prayer] according to [God's] will, [1] He hears us. And [2] if we know that He hears us, [3] whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14, 15). We "have" them--that is, on deposit credited to our personal account in God's Bank in heaven; when we need them most, we'll realize them. (John's context is ministering salvation to your needy "brother." That's always "according to His will"!)
We can pray a thousand times for something that isaccording to God's will--Paul's prayer in Romans 12:3: "I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." Lord, save us from arrogance, from pride, from making fools of ourselves! King Nebuchadnezzar strutted about saying, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built ... for the honor of my majesty?" "That very hour" he was brought down to the level of a cow (Dan. 4:30, 33). Apparently that was the level that he ought to think. After 7 years of insanity he realized that every breath was given him by the grace of God, and he thought of himself correctly (vss. 34-37).
But how lowly should I "think of myself"? Am I "nothing"? A "worm"? (Psalm 22:6). Paul says: "think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." As Christ my Savior hung on His cross in the darkness, forsaken by everybody including God (Matt. 27:46), He thought of Himself as "a worm, and no man." That hurt! But He went through that experience so I might never have to think of myself as a "worm." God does not want me to think of myself as nothing but as someone redeemed by that costly sacrifice of the Savior. Now, "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). By His grace, this miserable arrogance of the love of self is crucified with Him.
Said John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress: "He that is down need fear no fall, / He that is low, no pride./ He that is humble ever shall / Have God to be his guide." He breathed the atmosphere of heaven, says one wise writer.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 9, 2004.
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