The Confidence We Have

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God:
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14).

Much of prayer is wishful, hopeful, anxious, or desperate
praying. This text and the ones below are God’s conditions for answered prayer.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.
Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24)

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to
go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you
whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other” (John
15:16-17).

“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt,
because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-7).

“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with
wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James
4:3).

“If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would
not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”
(Psalm 66:18-20).

Here are the explanations for unanswered prayer: doubting,
anxiety, wrong motives, iniquity in our hearts.

Here are the conditions for answered prayer: confidence, the
will of God, thanksgiving, believing, abiding and fruitfulness, in Jesus’ name.

We have all experienced answered prayer when we violated all
but the last one: “in Jesus’ name.” If God is that faithful to us, then we can
lean on His faithfulness. That is what faith is—trusting in the faithfulness of
God.

The preparation for believing prayer is: 1) a clean heart,
and 2) being saturated in meditation with Scripture. (Faith comes from hearing
the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.) Then
answered prayer will not be a surprise to us, as it was in Acts 12 to the
believers then.

This post coordinates with today’s reading in the Same
Page Summer Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading
plan, please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with
us.