Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 130

May 10;    I John 5:14;    130/260(II);    ‘Assurance in Prayer’                                                                                                                                           

1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

 God’s will is His Word.  This has to be true or we could never ask anything in line with the will of the Lord, since we do not know His will unless He tells us.  This verse and verse 15 are such a powerful teaching on answered prayer.  First, we are told when we pray in line with God’s Word He hears us.  Until I became a Christian, I did not know that prayer required knowledge of the Word.  Because of this, when I did pray, I basically had no idea what I was doing.  In mercy, the Lord may have helped me because of His love and kindness, but Jesus wants us to become a Christian, learn the Word and learn what the Word teaches about how to pray.  Then He wants us to pray correctly, in line with His Word.  Verse 15 goes on to say that if we know that He hears us, and we do because verse 14 just told us that He did, then we know that He will answer our prayer.  The Lord cannot make it any clearer than that.  God’s Word is our prayer book.  The Word tells us exactly what is legally ours as Christians because of Jesus’ redemptive work on our behalf.  These verses cannot bless you if you do not take the time to read the Word and learn what has been freely given to you.  God’s Word builds our faith.  As we read the incredible truths the Bible teaches, our ‘general’ faith grows.  As we read and learn what is taught in the Word concerning prayer, our faith will grow in this specific area.  Prayer then becomes a ‘legal transaction’.  We find a verse or verses that cover our need and pray them back to the Father in faith, declaring, “it is written”.  We stand on the Word and our prayer until the answer comes.