God Hears Our Prayers
1 John 5v14-15
17th November 2023
In verse 13 John repeated his purpose in writing this letter:
1 John 5v13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so
that you may know that you have eternal life.
John wrote this letter to true Christians, who had been hurt and confused by false Christians, so that we may know we have eternal life. The true Christian can have full assurance of his salvation. He can be confident that God welcomes him and loves him. More than that, John goes on to say to every true Christian:
1 John 5v14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what
we asked of him.
Whatever state you're in, whatever you've been doing, however you've been living, a Christian can always come to God in prayer, and he'll always be welcome before God's throne. Hebrews 4:16 urges us, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need".
It's not for nothing that God's throne is called "the throne of grace". Whenever a Christian comes to God in prayer, he can always receive God's mercy. Sometimes, when we know we've really messed up, we can be acutely aware that we need God's mercy. And God's mercy is always there for us. God never withholds His mercy from his children. We always have God's grace. God's grace is often described as God's unmerited favour. God loves us, and accepts us, and helps us, even though we don't deserve it. Sometimes we're more aware that we really, really don't deserve God's grace, but it's always there for us.
Some of us may have drifted away from God a little, or a lot. perhaps we don't go to church, or pray, or read our Bibles, as much as we once did. Perhaps we don't feel as close to God as we once did. Without the encouragement of Christian fellowship, without singing together, and praying together, and without our private times with God, our love for God can grow cold. We can be tempted to let our ethical standards slip. Has that happened to you? Then come, confidently, to the throne of grace. Put your relationship with God right again. His mercy and grace are always there for you.
John reminds us that, every time you pray according to God's will, God hears you. And every time you pray in accordance with His will, He will give you what you ask.
Some people may be puzzled by this. Some may think, "Big deal! So God will do what we ask, but only if he wants to do it anyway! So what?" But let me ask you, do you really want God to do something He doesn't want? Since God is perfect, we know that God's will is perfect. A true Christian wants whatever God wants. Since God's mind is perfect, why would you want to change God's mind? Jesus taught us to pray "Your will be done" (Matthew 6v10).
Prayer isn't about changing God. It's not about persuading Him that your ideas are better than His. That would be utterly absurd, wouldn't It? We don't pray to bend God's ear until He does what we want. Here's why we pray:
Firstly: we pray because it's good to talk to our heavenly Father. It's good to deepen our relationship with Him. Prayer isn't primarily about getting God to do things; it's about knowing God better.
Secondly: we pray because prayer changes us. As I've already said, we don't want to change God, because God is already perfect. But we need to change. And as we spend time literally or figuratively on our knees before God, as we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us again, as we meditate on the Bible, as we sit silently and allow God to speak, we change.
Thirdly: there are things in our hearts that we need to articulate, to say out loud, to somebody trustworthy and loving. And there is nobody as trustworthy and loving as our heavenly Father. Sometimes, we need to speak to another fallen human, but always we need to speak to God.
Fourthly: Although we will never change God's mind, and we should never try, it is nonetheless true that God sometimes waits for us to pray before He acts. God likes to answer our prayers. He likes us to ask. And it's so encouraging for us when God does answer. In this way, God includes us in His purposes, making our prayers the catalyst for His own actions. He doesn't need to do things this way, but He wants us to work with Him, so He chooses to wait for our prayers, and then answer them.
Sometimes I pray and God doesn't do what I ask. If my conscience is clear before God, I know that He would have done what I asked, if my prayer had been in accordance with His will. So when God doesn't do what I ask, I can be sure that either He will do it in His good time, which might not be straight away, or it's not what He wants to do. And if it's not what He wants to do, then I can be confident that it's best if He doesn't do it. His will is perfect.
That can be really, really hard, when I'm praying for a loved one in pain, or a friend who doesn't yet know Jesus. But since I claim to trust God, and to believe that God is perfect, I must accept that His will is perfect, and He knows best. Sometimes I wonder how His choice to act in a certain way, or not to act in the way I request, can possibly be best, especially when I see a member of my church struggling going through a difficult time, but I can still believe that God's understanding is greater than mine.
God knows what He's doing.