Believing Makes Sense… (Part 1)
1 John 5:14, 15 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."
- We can be heard, and God wants to hear us. The only thing that prevents us being heard is if the will of God is not honored.
- If our prayers are prayed according to the will of God, we know that we are heard. This should eliminate much of the fear and inhibition that causes us to wonder if our prayers can be answered.
- If we are heard, our petitions are honored—somewhere, somehow at some time.
- This of course would apply to persons who know Him well enough to know His will. Relationship is key. We should know God well enough that we can predict His response. Ask Him what is according to His will so that you can have a track record of answered prayer.
- We should expect our prayers to be answered just because they are heard, and they are heard if they are in God’s will.
- Prayers that are prayed in His will are the, “on earth as it is in Heaven” kind of prayers. That is, the lining up of persons and conditions to match the original will of God for them.
- How do you know if something is in the will of God? Generally speaking, it is when it is the same thing that God would desire in Heaven.
Isaiah 65:24 "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."
- God showed His goodness to heathen while regrettably, His people toyed with their relationship with Him.
- God desired for reconciliation so that he could again show Himself to His people again. The above scripture indicates that God “couldn’t wait” for the reconciliation and He describes how He would respond to His people when they returned to Him.
- Amazingly, God was always in the right. One would have thought that He was wrong. Oh, but God is so serious about you and your needs.
- We need to know that God is excited about responding to His people.
- So anxious is God to answer us, that even when we are not in His will, He still responds favorably to us.
Matthew 5:45 "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
- If God is so willing to show mercy to sinners and encourages you to do the same towards your enemies, how much more willing is He to respond to people in His will? He delights in responding to you!
- God certainly has the resources, is loving, has no need for what we ask, knows what we have need of and—He awaits our words because He already has in hand what we desire.
- God anticipates our needs and petitions. (Mt 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.) He is more than able, more than willing and more than on time.
- Actually God is an early God.
Psalm 46:5 "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early."
- Unbelievers can expect God to be good to them, but the believer should expect God to almost answer...prematurely.
Mark 11:22 "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God."
- It is God to whom you pray, the One Who made all things. If we focus on Him not the problem that is less than Him.
Romans 9:21 "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"
- The fig tree is less than its Maker. Sickness is inferior to health. Light is subservient to darkness. Why should we believe in the lesser when we have the Greater? Why should we believer in the former when we have the latter? Sickness, which attacks a body is less than God Who made the body.
- Have faith in God! He is not at the mercy of our issues. He is (by choice) only at the mercy of our faith.
- We ought to make ourselves very conscious that we are God’s children and that God is responsive to us. Remind yourself of that.
- We have entered into a covenant relationship, so we are assured that God responds to us.
- Jesus wanted the disciples to be confident in their words and God’s inclination to respond to them.
- We must expect things of God that we cannot expect of men.
- When you petition men, your appeals are being taken from one court to another, one magistrate to another or waiting to be heard or processed.
- But it is God to Whom you pray. Expect that you have been heard—immediately—the first time—every time--if you and your petition is in the will of God.