This is the confidence I have in Christ: if I ask anything according to His will, He hears me; and if I know that he hears me, whatever I ask, I know that I have the petitions that I desire of Him. 1 John 5:14-15
You know how, when we were little kids in Sunday School, teachers would ask a question and we wouldn't know the answer, but we wanted to say something so bad, so we tried to figure out what they wanted to hear.
And most often, regardless of the question, the answer would either be "Jesus," "God," or "love." You've got to feel pretty good about one of those answers. No way it can be too far off, right?
This passage is troubling because of that same principle. The key to getting what we ask for is if we ask "according to His will."
O.k.
So how do we know His will?
Well, it seems sometimes like we're playing the same game I referred to above. Trying to throw out some things we know have got to be pretty close.
What are some things you believe would be within the will of God?
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While I was waiting for the blog to open this morning, I was asking God to equip me to interact with someone tonight at Bammelwood. Im pretty sure we're all agreeing that it's God's will for us to love our neighbors, and since they qualify, I should be confident that He hears me and that in some way he'll prepare me to have a part in His work this evening. Now all I have to do to make this more than just a "God answer", which means I have to actually believe Him. That's how I'll ask God to work on my heart until then.
ReplyDeleteI Thessalonians 4:3
ReplyDeleteI believe we sometimes get wrapped around the axle in trying to couch our requests, again, in ways that will get us an answer we like if not the one we really want. Sometimes instead of being like the child who bluntly asks with an innocent expectation of having it answered, we as oh-so-intellectual adults try to ask the question in a way that (we think) asks God in a way that is certain to get us a "good" answer. Kinda like Rick's "safe" answers, we use "safe" requests.
ReplyDeleteAsk away! If it is God's will for me to have that new Ferrari, I'll not limit Him sending it my way! Now, I probably won't ask for that, for many reasons. But do we likewise hesitate to ask for a "miraculous" cure from a dreaded disease? Does our lack of faith show thru when we meekly water down our requests "for God's will" without openly stating what we have on our heart? Do we think we are hiding our REAL requests somehow?
Or do we boldly ask that curing us actually BE God's will? We'll never really know if we had asked bolder, might we have received bolder?
I have started including a caveat in my prayers: that the answer will be obvious....for me, I know not only that God can answer my prayers, but I also recognize His ability to get thru my density! (and you know what? His answers have become really obvious to me lately!)
o ye (re: me!) of little faith.....
An old song from the 60s (Soft Parade, The Doors) starts off with a narrative that closes with "You cannot PETITION the Lord with Prayer!". As much as I like this song, I'm afraid old Jim Morrison got it very, very wrong. I hope that he and I can talk it over someday.
I think that one of the things that is in the will of God is us as believers being obdedient to Him and living His will out in our daily lives. I love this passage because of the humble confidence and boldness that we possessand by listening to Him.
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