1 John 3:21-24 ESV  21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

I maintain that prayer is one of the greatest mysteries in the universe. At its simplest, prayer is having a conversation with God. At its deepest level we are challenged to dig into an understanding of such theological concepts as God’s sovereignty (God’s control and rule over his universe) and human freedom. For instance, while reading and preaching on the life of Elijah, I was pondering why Elijah had to go and pray for rain at the end of 1 Kings 18, when earlier he had been instructed to go to King Ahab because he was going to send rain. Now, if God has already determined he is going to do something, why do we need to pray about it (seven times in fact!)? In Daniel 9, the prophet Daniel was reading the writings of Jeremiah and understood that the desolation of Jerusalem and the captivity would last seventy years. He immediately began to pray, asking forgiveness for the people and pleading with God to act and not delay in ending the captivity. I have concluded from my study at this time (because there is always more to learn) that God has a plan but he wants us to enter into partnership with him through prayer. If we know his will and we pray according to that will, asking him to do what he has intended or promised, we show that we believe what he has said and we are depending on him to do what he has promised. What is your thinking here?

In this passage in 1 John, we find that confidence in prayer begins by dealing with a condemning heart. We discussed in the last post that a condemning heart leads to a lack of assurance. When we do what is necessary to clear the conscience and assure the heart, we can then have unimpeded access to the throne of grace. Having confidence before God is similar to what the author of Hebrews is talking about when he says that we can come boldly before the throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help in time of need. Like the confidence a child has when approaching a loving parent, we feel no restraint or constraint to our fellowship with God. We feel confident that we are right with him and we can come before him and make our requests freely, knowing that he cares about our needs and will do what is best. We trust his answer (yes, no, or wait), and we trust his help.

Confidence of answered prayer also depends upon obeying his commands and doing what pleases him. These two are not necessarily the same. Doing what pleases him goes beyond just obeying his commands. Out of love and respect, we seek to honor him with our lives, words, and deeds. Just as a child seeks to find ways to please parents, so we search for ways to express our love, gratitude, and desire to honor him, not just doing what he says, but finding what we can do to bring him joy and pleasure. Of course, we have already discussed that obedience is a main evidence that we have a relationship with God. John, as an older pastor should, repeats himself for emphasis. One final assurance that we have a relationship with God is the presence and activity of the Spirit in our lives. Confidence is a huge benefit to our spiritual life and walk with God. We should always seek to have it and pursue it. Its not pride or presumption. It is simply an inner assurance that we are right with God and we can trust him.