Ask In His Will (1 John 5:14-5)

Today's scripture: 1 John 5:14-15

So many people look to verses like Matthew 7:7-9 and say they’ll get anything they ask for, and then when the answer is “no,” they claim God isn’t who the Bible says He is.

And then there’s the “name it and claim it” gospel. People name what they want, claiming it’ll happen. Again, when the answer is “no,” many turn away from God because they don’t get the answer to prayer they want.

If only they’d read verses like today’s. John is very, very clear that we need to ask “according to His will.” We are not God (I know, that surprises some of you!). We don’t see the whole picture. Only He knows how everything works together.

So when we pray, we need to always—always—ask for His will. And the beauty of it is, we can ask for anything. Absolutely anything. He will hear us in “whatever we ask.” But when we ask in His will, “we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

When we’re walking intimately with our Father and Lord, we begin to seek His plan, His will. And as we do so, our prayers begin to echo His desires for us.

That’s why it’s impossible to be in true relationship with God and live in habitual sin. Because living in sin is not God’s will for us. Instead, we become more and more aware of our sinful behavior. And when we do fall into our sinful habits, we confess much more quickly.

Because we want to be in His will. And we want Him to only do those things in us and through us that are His will.

And when we do ask? We can be confident that whatever He answers is right and good.