Confidence According To His Will

When we ask of God in confidence according to His will, we know that He hears us.

Praise God

Here is the entire Scripture passage:

14 And this is the confidence which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14~15)

God says we can ask with confidence. But notice: we must ask ACCORDING TO HIS WILL.

This Is The Confidence Which We Have In Him

Some have taught that Bible passages such as 1 John 5:14~15 are a guarantee that God has to give us whatever we ask for. What else could it mean, for example, when Jesus said, “If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it” (John 14:14)? Or when He said, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24), isn’t that a guarantee?

Thinking that way ignores the fact that we must pray according to His will. To pray “in Jesus’ name” means praying as He did. Jesus always prayed in submission to the Father even when it meant unimaginable suffering, separation from the Father, and death on a cross:

Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

The Father alone saw the big picture. Only He was qualified to decide — then and now.

When we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, are we not praying in submission to God? We’re trusting that He is working to bring about the best possible result.

Our confidence, then, is that we are prepared to accept the outcome as being the will of God, trusting Him even when the outcome looks different than what we might have pictured. It’s about us serving God, not God serving us.

PRAYER: “Lord, make me like Job who said, ”˜Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him’ (Job 13:15). I choose to trust You. I accept Your will. You are in charge of my life.”

- Jan

 
 

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  • Jennifer 03/28/2019, 2:00 AM

    Amen!

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