Isaiah 35: 1,2 Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

• DAY 3 BIBLE READING

Matthew 17-24


• DAY 3 PRAYER DEVOTIONAL

Isaiah 35:1,2

HE SAYS THAT YOUR PRAYER WILL BE JOY-FILLED

In John 16:24, Jesus says ‘Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete.’ Andrew Murray says, ‘ The power of this promise lies in a loving relationship between us as children and the Father in heaven; when we live and walk in that relationship, the prayer of faith and its answer will be the natural result.’ He says Live as a child before God and pray as a child and… you will most assuredly be heard.

‘And what is the true child-life? The answer can be found in any home. The child that by preference forsakes the father’s house, that has no pleasure in the presence and love and obedience of the father and still thinks to ask and obtain what he will, will surely be disappointed. On the country he to whom communication with the father, and the honour and love of the father are the joy of his life, will find that it is the father’s joy to grant his requests’. Scripture says ‘As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the children of God:’ the childlike privilege of asking is inseparable from the childlike life under the leading of the Spirit. He that gives himself to be led by the Spirit in his life, will be led by him in his prayers too and he will find that Fatherlike giving is the Divine response to childlike living. As Jesus says ‘Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete.’

Beni Johnson says, intercessors should be the happiest people on the planet because they know the plans of God. God is in a good mood and he wants to give good gifts to His children. As intercessors our job is to look ahead to the good gifts that God wants to give to us and to agree with those plans. We read in Hebrews12:2 that ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’. Jesus endured so much while he was here on earth and he endured it for the promise of joy that was set before him. Jesus is into joy! Beni Johnson says ‘joy is the pulse of heaven. As we align ourselves with the will of the Father, his kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven and joy will break out! Like the crocus it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.




• Thank you Lord for your promise ‘Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete’ As it is the Father’s joy to grant his child’s requests, so teach me how to pray child-like prayers, led by your spirit, in accordance with your will and may joy break our here on earth as in heaven. Lord, teach me how to pray.

Murray, A With Christ in the School of Prayer 48-53

Johnson, B The happy intercessor 80, 84