How then should we pray?
1 John • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 5 viewsFrom these couple of verses and the surrounding context of John's letter, we are able to answer the question, "How then should we pray?" Our prayers can be offered: confident in the Lord, expectant for them to be answered, if we humbly pray according to His will. Such prayers can only be accomplished as we understand His will, by His Word for His glory and praise.
Notes
Transcript
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
1 John 5:1
How then should we pray? Confidently!
How then should we pray? Confidently!
Confident toward the Lord!
We only approach God confidently and boldly, because of our assurance of Eternal life, which is spoken of throughout John’s letter, and the rest of the Scriptures.
The confidence that is spoken of here is not in OUR prayer. Our confidence is not in our petition, but rather our confidence is in God.
Our confidence, our faith, our trust and assurance is in the fact that God is able to do anything.
Because our confidence is in GOD and nothing else, we do not need to doubt, or worry, or be anxious, or fret. If our trust is placed upon anything else, in all of creation, we would have and should have a reason for doubt, fear, worry and discouragement.
In fact, if we turn that around, we may find that all of our doubt worry, anxiety, discouragement and negativity in general is likely the result of our lack of complete faith in God, and the existence of a misplaced faith.
5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jer
God is able to do anything that is holy, good, just, loving, gracious, merciful and true.
His ability to do all that is holy, good, just, loving, gracious, merciful and true, is not constrained by time, place, or level of difficulty.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
How then should we pray?
How then should we pray? Expectantly!
How then should we pray? Expectantly!
God will hear every request and will answer and we will have what we have asked for.
15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
1 John 5:
Have you ever sent a text, letter, email, message by carrier pigeon or other means of communication and you wondered if the message was recieved. Maybe it took some time for the recipient to receive your communication, (their phone unexpectedly dropped into the sink and wasn’t receiving messages, the mailman was chased by their dog and inadvertently lost the letter you sent, or the pigeon was wounded by some little kid throwing stones, before it arrived to their location.
That never happens to us when it comes to prayer.
Isn’t it exciting to think that anything we ask, whatever we ask, we know that He hears us and if He hears us, we will have the requests that we have asked.
Does this mean that God is like a genie in a bottle, who is required to fulfill all that we ask of Him? The answer to that question is maybe. But wait, you may be thinking, didn’t you just say we have confidence in God and therefore ought to pray expectantly, and now you’re saying there is only a possibility of our prayer requests being granted.
Yes, we pray confidently in Him and expectantly to be heard and granted, with one not so minor stipulation.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
How then should we pray? Accordingly!
How then should we pray? Accordingly!
There is a major stipulation, that is placed upon how we should pray in these verses. How then should we pray? According to His will.
Thelema= Will, intent, plan, purpose-
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matt
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf;
John 14:13-14
,
How then should we pray? Humbly!
How then should we pray? Humbly!
We can only truly know God’s will, through His Word or if it has taken place already. Therefore, the things we can pray about, confidently and expectantly are those things which He has promised in His Word, and testified of by His Spirit.
The blockbuster hit movies “Back to the Future” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” illustrated the dangers of messing with the past, as they demonstrated a swath of circumstances that are effected on an ongoing trajectory of the future. Those particular illustrations only exemplified the changes that would potentially occur in one person’s lifetime, consider the severe impact one simple altered event have as we project that into eternity.
James
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 4:
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
How then should we pray?
How then should we pray?
Confidently
Expectantly
Accordingly
Humbly
So pray, confidently in the ability and character of God, expectant that He will here and do what is holy, good, just, loving, gracious, merciful and true, at all times, everywhere perfectly. Pray confidently, expectantly, according to His will with all humility.