The Lord Jesus took this very approach with God when He said, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me” (John 17:24). Joshua used it during the moment of his greatest victory, when he lifted his spear toward the setting sun and cried aloud, “Sun, stand still” (Joshua 10:12). Elijah employed it when he stopped the rain from heaven and started it again after three and a half years. Martin Luther followed it when, kneeling by his dying colleague, Philipp Melanchthon, he forbid death to take its victim.

This is a wonderful relationship that God invites us to enter. We are certainly familiar with passages of Scripture like the one that follows the above verse: “My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts” (Isaiah 45:12). But knowing that God invites us to command Him to act reveals a surprising change in our normal relationship!

What a distinction there is between this attitude and the hesitancy and uncertainty of our prayers of unbelief, to which we have become so accustomed! The constant repetition of our prayers has also caused them to lose their sharp cutting edge.

Think how often Jesus, during His earthly ministry, put others in a position to command Him. “As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho,” Jesus stopped and responded to two blind men who had called out to Him. “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:29, 32). It was as though He said, “I am yours to command.”

Could we ever forget how Jesus yielded the key to His resources to the Greek woman from Syrian Phoenicia because of her reply to Him? In effect, He told her to help herself to all that she needed. (Mark 7:24–30.)

What human mind can fully realize the total significance of the lofty position to which God lovingly raises His little children? He seems to be saying, “All my resources are at your command.” “And I will do whatever you ask in my name” (John 14:13). F. B. MEYER

Say to this mountain, “Go, Be cast into the sea”; And doubt not in your heart That it will be to thee. It will be done, doubt not His Word, Challenge your mountain in the Lord!

Claim your redemption right, Purchased by precious blood; The Trinity unite To make it true and good. It will be done, obey the Word, Challenge your mountain in the Lord!

Self, sickness, sorrow, sin, The Lord did meet that day On His beloved One, And you are freed away. It has been done, rest on His Word, Challenge your mountain in the Lord!

Surround the rival’s wall With silent prayer, then raise— Before its ramparts fall— The victor’s shout of praise. It will be done, faith rests assured, Challenge your mountain in the Lord!

The massive gates of brass, The bars of iron yield, To let the faithful pass, Conquerors in every field. It will be done, the foe ignored, Challenge your mountain in the Lord!

Take then the faith of God, Free from the taint of doubt; The miracle-working rod That casts all reasoning out. It will be done, stand on the Word, Challenge your mountain in the Lord!

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

I will come again, and receive you unto myself.

He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe . . . in that day.

We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation.—He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, . . . they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.—Then he shall send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth, to the uttermost part of heaven.—If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee.

The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet be Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth . . . No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Thou shalt have treasure in heaven: . . . come and follow me.—I am . . . thy exceeding great reward.

Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.—They shall reign for ever and ever.

Ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.—The crown of life.—A crown of righteousness.—An incorruptible crown.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me.—So shall we ever be with the Lord.

I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Fear not; . . . I am he that liveth.—Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.

We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.—He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.—Ye are complete in him, which is the head.

Forasmuch . . . as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil: and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

He died for all.—Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

He . . . liveth to make intercession for them.—I go to prepare a place for you.

I will come again, and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also.—Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.—Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

We love him, because he first loved loved us.—The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but to him which died for them, and rose again.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

Thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.

He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him I will give power over the nations.

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.—Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.—The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love.

The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.—Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.