Jesus invites us into something more than occasional, desperate prayers—He calls us into confident asking that is rooted in relationship with Him and aimed at joy that is finished, not fragile. The promise is startlingly open-handed: come, ask, receive—and let joy be made whole.

Asking in His Name, Not Just Saying His Name

“Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” (John 16:24) Asking “in My name” is not a spiritual signature at the end of a request; it’s coming to the Father on the basis of Jesus—His character, His work, His purposes. It’s prayer that leans on who Christ is, not on how persuasive we feel.

That changes the whole tone. You’re not trying to talk God into being good; you’re stepping into what Jesus already opened for you. “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7) As His words shape your wishes, your prayers start sounding less like panic and more like partnership.

Receiving That Completes Joy

Jesus ties receiving to joy—not as a gimmick, but as a gift. Sometimes we think joy will come when life is controlled, predictable, and easy. But Scripture insists joy is found deeper than circumstances: “In Your presence there is fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16:11) Answered prayer is one way God trains our hearts to locate happiness where it belongs—in Him.

And even when the answer looks different than expected, prayer still does real work in you. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God… will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6–7) Peace is not the consolation prize; it’s the guarding presence of God that keeps your joy from collapsing.

What Keeps Us from Asking—and How to Step Forward

Sometimes we don’t ask because we’ve learned self-reliance, or we assume God is annoyed, or we quietly believe nothing will change. Scripture is blunt: “You do not have, because you do not ask.” (James 4:2) And it’s also honest about mixed motives: “When you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” (James 4:3) The solution isn’t silence; it’s surrender—bringing the real desire into the light and letting God purify it.

So come boldly, not arrogantly. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence…” (Hebrews 4:16) Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking (Matthew 7:7), and let His will steady your requests: “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 John 5:14) Today, don’t just think about prayer—choose one specific need, one specific person, one specific next step of obedience, and ask in Jesus’ name.

Father, thank You for welcoming me through Jesus; make my joy complete as I ask and obey today—teach me to pray boldly, purely, and persistently. Amen.

DEEP INSIDE EVERY MAN there is a private sanctum where dwells the mysterious essence of his being. This far-in reality is that in the man which is what it is of itself without reference to any other part of the man's complex nature. It is the man's I Am, a gift from the I AM who created him.

The I AM which is God is underived and selfexistent; the I Am which is man is derived from God and dependent every moment upon His creative fiat for its continued existence. One is the Creator, high over all, ancient of days, dwelling in light unapproachable. The other is a creature and, though privileged beyond all others, is still but a creature, a pensioner on God's bounty and a suppliant before His throne.

The deep-in human entity of which we speak is called in the Scriptures the spirit of man. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11) . As God's self-knowledge lies in the eternal Spirit, so man's selfknowledge is by his own spirit, and his knowledge of God is by the direct impression of the Spirit of God upon the spirit of man.

The importance of all this cannot be overestimated as we think and study and pray. It reveals the essential spirituality of mankind. It denies that man is a creature having a spirit and declares that he is a spirit having a body. That which makes him a human being is not his body but his spirit, in which the image of God originally lay.

One of the most liberating declarations in the New Testament is this: The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23,24) . Here the nature of worship is shown to be wholly spiritual. True religion is removed from diet and days, from garments and ceremonies, and placed where it belongs-in the union of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God.

From man's standpoint the most tragic loss suffered in the Fall was the vacating of this inner sanctum by the Spirit of God. At the far-in hidden center of man's being is a bush fitted to be the dwelling place of the Triune God. There God planned to rest and glow with moral and spiritual fire. Man by his sin forfeited this indescribably wonderful privilege and must now dwell there alone. For so intimately private is the place that no creature can intrude; no one can enter but Christ; and He will enter only by the invitation of faith. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

By the mysterious operation of the Spirit in the new birth, that which is called by Peter the divine nature enters the deep-in core of the believer's heart and establishes residence there. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, for the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God (Romans 8:9,16). Such a one is a true Christian, and only such. Baptism, confirmation, the receiving of the sacraments, church membership-these mean nothing unless the supreme act of God in regeneration also takes place. Religious externals may have a meaning for the God-inhabited soul; for any others they are not only useless but may actually become snares, deceiving them into a false and perilous sense of security.

Keep thy heart with all diligence is more than a wise saying; it is a solemn charge laid upon us by the One who cares most about us. To it we should give the most careful heed lest at any time we should let it slip.

And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour; and Solomon his son reigned in his stead. - 1 Chronicles 29:28

Joseph might have said when he lay dying: "Well! Perhaps I made a mistake after all. I should not have brought this people down here, even if I have been led hither. I do not see that I have helped them one step towards the possession of the land." Do you remember the old proverb about certain people who should not see half-finished work? All our work in this world has to be only what the physiologists call functional. God has a great scheme running on through ages. Joseph gives it a helping hand for a bit, and then somebody else takes up the running, and carries the purpose forward a little further. A great many hands are placed on the ropes that draw the car of the Ruler of the world- and one after another they get stiffened in death; but the car goes on. We should be contented to do our little bit of the work: never mind whether it is complete and smooth and rounded or not; never mind whether it can be isolated from the rest and held up, and people can say " He did that entire thing unaided." That is not the way for most of us. A great many threads go to make the piece of cloth, and a great many throws of the shuttle to weave the web. A great many bits of glass make up the mosaic pattern; and there is no reason for the red bit to pride itself on its fiery glow, or the grey bit to boast of its silvery coolness. They are all parts of the pattern, and as long as they keep their right places they complete the artist’s design. Thus, if we think of how one soweth and another reapeth, we may be content to receive half-done works from our fathers, and to hand on unfinished tasks to them that come after us. It is not a great trial of a man’s modesty, if he lives near Jesus Christ, to be content to do but a very small bit of the Master’s work.

Moses dies; Joshua catches the torch from his hand. And the reason why he catches the torch from his hand is because God said, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." Therefore we have to turn away in our contemplations from the mortality that has swallowed up so much wisdom and strength, eloquence and power, which the Church or our own hearts seem so sorely to want; and, whilst we do, we have to look up to Jesus Christ, and say, " He lives! He lives! No man is indispensable for public work, or for private affection and solace, so long as there is a living Christ for us to hold by." We need that conviction for ourselves often. When life seems empty and hope dead, and nothing is able to fill the vacuity or still the pain, we have to look to the vision of the Lord sitting on the empty throne, high and lifted up, and yet very near the aching and void heart. Christ lives, and that is enough. So the separated workers in all the generations, who did their little bit of service, like the many generations of builders who laboured through centuries upon the completion of some great cathedral, will be united at the last; "and he that soweth, and he that reapeth, shall rejoice together " in the harvest which neither the sower nor the reaper had produced, but He who blessed the toils of both.