Providing Clarity to Doing Greater Works than Jesus (John 14:12-14) Conclusion

In this, our conclusion, we'll continue examining the objective of Jesus' promise and conclude with the result of the Lord's promise. Many times people will ask me to pray for someone who is sick and I ask, "What should I pray?" The person that asked will more often than not, look at me very strangely, thinking, "Pray that the person will be healed, of course!" But here's the point. Healing may not be God's way of being glorified! Recall the objective of Jesus' promise was "that the Father may be glorified in the Son." What does God desire to do in this person's heart? Maybe the illness is to teach the person the brevity of life so that he'll live in light of eternity. God may be glorified by teaching the sick person to trust Him through bodily weakness. God may be glorified through the person's joy in the Lord as he dies. According to this passage, the aim of the Christ follower in prayer should be that the Father would be glorified in His Son. Let's turn our attention to the result of Jesus' promise. It's found in the phrase, "I will do it." The result of our praying should be that the Lord does it! The Lord has the power to answer whatever we ask. This should encourage us to pray in line with the will of God as revealed in the Bible. This is where it gets a little tough because we may be thinking that our prayers are about furthering God's kingdom, but God has not done it. This is because we don't understand all that God is doing! I often think about whether John ever understood why the Lord delivered Peter from prison, and certain execution, but allowed James the brother of John to be executed (Acts 12:1-17). Could not James have been used to further the kingdom of God had he been delivered? I believe so, but that was not the will of God for James. Your move. Be encouraged!