“If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:14, NASB)
How often do you make what feels like a good swing and look up to find the ball heading nowhere close to your intended target?
Recently, I was asked to give a good friend of mine a lesson. I had him warm up with a few swings and then told him to let me know when he was ready. I saw some obvious things right off the bat with his swing that needed work. However, when I was given the green light to make some suggestions, I had to ask an important question first: “What are you aiming for?”
He pointed at a flag that was about 30 yards left of where his feet and body were pointing. I put a club down his feet line and asked him to step back and look at his alignment. He was surprised that he was that far off, but he could not believe me when I actually got him aligned properly. “Really?” he said. So, we kept his 3-iron down at his feet the rest of the time (which is all a 3-iron is really good for anyway) and worked on his swing.
By the end of our session, he was hitting it great. His swing made tremendous improvements; although, all of that would not have mattered if we did not first get him aimed in the right direction. His good swings would not be rewarded.
Renowned pastor Andy Stanley has written a book and taught a sermon series called, The Principle of the Path. It is summed up by one statement: “Direction, not desire, determines destination.” Just as we know how true this statement is for golfers, it is also true and arguably much more important for our faith.
If what you ask for is in alignment with the character of Jesus, then he says he will do it.Where will you end up? Wherever you are headed—despite hard work or good intentions to the contrary. If your eyes are firmly fixed on Jesus and your desires for his kingdom, then your outcome will end with him, too. But if your prayers seem to rarely come back answered with a yes, then it is quite likely that they are just not aligned with him and the Father.
At the Last Supper, as his disciples were struggling to believe some of the things Jesus was saying, he replied, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works” (John 14:10). Then, he challenged them to put him to work even after he had gone to be with the Father. “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
We must become lifelong learners and students of Jesus if we want to be in alignment with God’s will. It is necessary to know if we are going in the right direction. Based on today’s verse, our prayers are probably a good place to start checking our alignment. God desires so much to give you what you ask him for, but he cares more about you becoming like his Son, who is the way.
If what you ask for is in alignment with the character of Jesus, then he says he will do it. I don’t know about you, but that motivates me to know his heart and mind better. Because “not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21).
Like all good instructors, Jesus emphasized alignment. And you’ll want to find his fairways, which are immaculate, and his greens… well, let’s just say they are heaven on earth.
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Josh Nelson
December 8, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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