Aug 24, 2017
This is part two in our look at 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21. This episode is entitled, “Whatever We Ask.” In today’s verses, John is going to deal with the subject of prayer, but specifically our prayers of petition, where we ask for things from God. It would seem that some of us believe that we can ask God for anything and He is obligated to give us whatever we want. This is not only a gross misunderstanding of prayer, it reveals a serious deficiency regarding the nature of God. God does not exist for our pleasure. He is not at our beck and call, somehow required to fulfill our every wish and make all our dreams come true. We exist for God. We serve Him. Not the other way around. And while we are fully free and even commanded to come to God with our prayers and petitions, we are to do so within His will. We are to pray according to His will and in keeping with His desires for us. But to do so requires that we know what God wants. We have to know His will in order to pray according to it. Prayer is a lot less about getting stuff from God than getting to know Him, so that we can pray to Him reverently and powerfully.