Confidence in Prayer

0:00Here's today's in-touch devotion. Today's scripture reading is 1 John 5 verses 14 and 15. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. Throughout scripture, we're encouraged to pray. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells His disciples to keep asking, seeking, and knocking, while trusting the Heavenly Father to give His children what is good. And in Philippians 4, 6, Paul urges us to respond to anxiety in this way. Pray about everything. Today's passage assures us that the Lord hears and answers our prayers. However, this promise is accompanied by an important stipulation. We must ask according to His will.

1:02Much of God's will is clearly revealed in scripture, but what are we to do when an issue is not directly addressed in the Bible? Though we'd like to feel confident that the Lord will answer, at times we may feel uncertain whether our prayers align with His purposes. If we want to pray effectively, our goal should not be to offer up quick, thoughtless or self-will prayers in hopes of receiving speedy answers. Instead, we must learn to pray wisely and wait patiently. Along with voicing our concerns and requests to God, we should also offer ourselves up in submission to our Father, as Jesus did in Gethsemane. When we're yielded and obedient to the Lord, His Spirit will guide us and provide the wisdom needed for praying according to His will.