SEEKING GOD'S HELP WITH CONFIDENCE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. And we can be confident that He will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will. And if we know He is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure He will give us what we ask for.

1 John 5:13-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One of the biggest excuses people use for not believing in God is that He never answers their prayers. They assume that God doesn't exist because He doesn't give them everything they ask for and at the heart of this problem are two main issues.

First, people don’t understand what God’s Word days regarding what they should be asking for in prayer.

Second, they don’t know how to ask for things properly from the One capable of doing all things.  

Before we get into these two problems, we need to look at today’s scripture verses from 1 John, chapter 5 as they will provide the answers.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. And we can be confident that He will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will. And if we know He is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure He will give us what we ask for. Vv.13-15

Now, let’s go back to the matters at hand.

When it comes to what a believer should be asking for in prayer, it’s important to not approach it from a worldly perspective. This perspective would have one see God as being like a “fast food” or “ATM” or a “genie in a magic lamp”, a willing provider of anything and everything asked for.

Our scripture for today shows us that it doesn't quite work that way.

For when we read the Word of God in this fifth chapter of 1 John, we find the Lord detailing how we should handle approaching Him in prayer and the process goes like this:

First, before we ask God for anything, we need to first pray for His will to be revealed in our life. In other words, we ask Him what He needs from us before we ask Him to give us what we need. He is acknowledged as the true Master of all, the One who dictates to His creation not the other way around.

So we need to start by praying in a spirit of subordination, surrendering ourselves to what God wants and we do so with knowing that He has a plan for each and every one of us. Trust in this, He knows what you need before you even ask Him for anything. Such is His all knowing nature, often referred to as His omniscience.

So we begin by praying for what God’s will is for our life within whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. And once we do this, then the second part of this is easy. For all we need to do is pray for the Lord to give us everything we need so that His will can be done.

Note here that the focus is on God and not us. It’s about fulfilling His desires and trusting Him to provide what’s needed to ensure that happens.

When we do this, something awesome happens. For going back to our passage, we find the assurance that we can be completely confident that God will listen to our prayers, answering through giving us what we need to fulfill His will.

In the end translation, the way to effective prayer for Christian believers is through complete submission to God, trusting that He indeed works things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28) through providing everything needed to make sure His wants are carried out.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.