<p>15:7 My words- see on Job 22:27,28.</p><p><em>If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will and it shall be done to you</em>- I have suggested elsewhere that the Lord's &quot;words&quot; refer not so much to His recorded statements, those printed in red letters in some Bibles; but rather to the whole essence of His being and personality. For He was &quot;the word made flesh&quot;, as the prologue states (1:14). The reference is not to the entire Bible, but specifically to the words of the Lord Jesus. If He abides in us, we will ask what <em>we</em> will, and it will be done. Yet only if we ask according to <em>God's</em> will can we receive our requests (Jn. 15:7 cp. 1 Jn. 5:14). The implication is that if the word that is Him dwells in us, our will becomes that of the Father, and therefore our requests, our innermost desires, are according to His will, and are therefore granted. It is by the Spirit that He abides in us (1 Jn. 3:24). His Spirit, His word, His way of thinking, is His will, which is the Father's will. If we have Him within, then our will shall be the Father's, and we will intuitively ask for only what we know is His will. We will not as it were be guessing, asking for lists of things in the hope that we shall hit on some points where our will and His coincide.</p><p>In our age, the Bible is indeed a valuable source for growing in knowledge of His will. The word of the Gospel becomes &ldquo;united by faith with them that hear it&rdquo; (Heb. 4:2 RVmg.). Through the medium of our response to God&rsquo;s word, our will becomes united with His. Therefore the word was what directed and motivated David's regular daily prayers (Ps. 119:164); they weren't standard repetitions of the same praises or requests, but a reflection of his Biblical meditation. He asks God to hear his prayers because He keeps God&rsquo;s word (Ps. 119:145,173). He asks God to hear <em>his</em> voice in prayer, using the very same words with which he reflects upon how he heard <em>God's</em> voice as it is in His written word. He even goes so far as to draw a parallel between God and his own &ldquo;reins&rdquo; or inner self- both of them &ldquo;instruct me&rdquo; (Ps. 16:7). His inner self was so absorbed into the reality of God. He asks God to hear <em>his</em> voice in prayer, using the very same words with which he reflects upon how he heard <em>God's</em> voice as it is in His written word. In successful prayer, therefore, our will merges with that of the Father. His will becomes our will; and <em>vice versa</em>. By this I mean that <em>our </em>will can become <em>His</em> will in that He will hear us and even change His declared will Moses several times achieved this during the course of his prayer life; prayer really does change things. Our will becomes God&rsquo;s just as His becomes ours. There is an awesome mutuality between a man and his God as he kneels at night alone, praying and asking for the very things which are now God&rsquo;s will.</p>