1 John 5:14 – This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
This verse is similar to what we have already covered this month. But unlike the last time we studied this line of thinking, we have an addition – according to His will. It is not the first time we have had instruction from the Word regarding approaching God with confidence in our requests. In James 1:6 we see that you must believe and not doubt, when you ask. In John 14:14, we see Jesus telling the disciples, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
As we pointed out on day 1 this month, praying for “anything” is a big ask. It is not likely going to result in the response you are expecting. Otherwise, we’d be asking for things that might cause trouble in our lives and may result in us falling into sin. Just because we want something and pray about it, doesn’t mean that we should receive it. We need to be asking for things according to what HE wants for us, HIS will in our lives. And when we pray we need to be listening for His response to us.
God is not a genie in a bottle, granting every request we have, but He DOES have a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11) and He does want what is best for us. Because we know He loves us, we can have confidence in the fact that He hears our prayers and cares. But we also need to understand He is not a vending machine, spitting out everything we ask for. He acts according to HIS will. If our requests are things that go against His divine plan for us, we can expect He won’t answer the way we want Him to. Knowing His will is a mystery to us (Deuteronomy 29:30).
Don’t fall victim to the “I want” way of thinking. Our prayers should not be selfish (James 4:3). They should be kingdom focused and aligned with God’s Word. Today let’s shift our focus from ourselves and back to God and His will for our lives. Pray, ask, but do so remembering that our requests should be “according to His will.”
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