“That the Father may be glorified” is THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENT of prayer. If there is any other motive, the prayer is uttered amiss. Obedience is the path to power in prayer John 15:16 (KJV) Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 1 John 3:22 (KJV) And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. “There is a danger in our evangelical religion of looking too much at what it offers from one side, as a certain experience to be obtained in prayer and faith. There is another side which God‟s word puts very strongly, that of obedience as the only path to blessing.” . . . the first sentiment that ought to animate us is that of subjection: the surrender to His supremacy, His glory, His will, His pleasure, ought to be the first and uttermost thought of our life.”
“Obedience and faith are but two aspects of one act—surrender to God and His will.” “O how often we have sought to be able to pray the effectual prayer for much grace to bear fruit, and have wondered that the answer came not. It was because we were reversing the Master‟s order. We wanted to have the comfort and the joy and the strength first, that we might do the work easily and without any feeling of difficulty or self-sacrifice. And He wanted us to faith, without asking whether we felt weak or strong, whether the work was hard or easy, in the obedience of faith to do what He said: the path of fruit-bearing would have led us to the place and the power of prevailing prayer. Obedience is the only path that leads to the glory of God. Not obedience instead of faith, nor obedience to supply the shortcomings of faith; no, but faith‟s obedience gives access to all the blessings our God has for us. The baptism of the Spirit (14:6), the manifestation of the Son (14:21), the indwelling of the Father (14:24), the abiding in Christ‟s love (15:10), the privilege of His holy friendship (15:14), and the power of all-prevailing prayer (15:16)—all wait for the obedient.”
Let us take home the lessons. Now we know the great reason why we have not had power in faith to pray prevailingly. . . . Our whole soul approves the law: obedience and fruit-bearing, the path to prevailing prayer. And with shame we acknowledge how little our lives have yet borne this stamp. “Let us seek no more with each new day to think in the first place of comfort, or joy, or blessing. Let the first thought be: I belong to the Master. Every moment and every movement I must act as His property, as a part of Himself, as one who only seeks to know and do His will. A servant, a slave of Jesus Christ—let this be the spirit that animates me. If He says, „No longer do I call you servants, but I have called you friends, „ let us accept the place of friends: „Ye are my friends if ye do the things which I command you.‟” . . . obedience to God is our highest privilege, because it gi ves access to oneness with Himself in that which is His highest glory—His all perfect will. P17