And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. – 1 John 5:14
Are you discouraged? Did you pray for a certain outcome during the coronavirus pandemic only to see something entirely different happen? Did you ask the Lord to deliver certain people to positions of power, only to see others installed in office? Have you lost confidence in prayer? Few Christians will admit that they’ve lost confidence in praying—perhaps because of religious devotion or pride. But a person may lose confidence in prayer.
The first epistle of John was written primarily about false teachings that undermine your faith and offering proofs so that believers can have confidence in their experience with the Lord. The apostle wrote to restore their confidence. John says the practice of prayer is dependent upon having confidence in God or in understanding His will for that person’s life. So prayer becomes primarily asking God for what He wants, not for what you want. He is often more ready to listen to your prayer than you are to offer it up. Even if He gives an answer of “no” or an answer that is not immediately apparent, He still hears and is working out His will.
To begin the restoration of confidence in prayer, you might begin by praying what David did: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24). Ask in your prayers that your requests be according to His will, then rest confidently in Him to do the right thing. Pray that members of the administration would seek the will of God in all they do and increase their understanding of the value of prayer.
Today’s Verse: 1 John 5:14
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Psalm 139:1-18, 23-24
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
