Today, Saturday September 18
Prayer, Seeking God and His Will 1 John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 that we have asked of him.”
I’ll never forget reading a brief quote by John Wesley the founder of the Methodist Church. He said, “The devil trembles when the weakest Christian gets on his knees.” It is no doubt as we study and read the Scriptures that prayer is one of the mightiest weapons we have in our arsenal as we fight the “good fight of faith”. James said, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” How do we resist him? We stand against him with the weapons of the Word of God and prayer!
Again, there are two great promises in these two verses! One, is that we can have confidence that if we pray according to God’s will that He hears us. The second is that we can be assured if He hears us He will give the request that we are asking! How awesome is that? It’s no wonder that the devil does everything he can to keep us from praying.
Years ago I heard someone say that we live in the world filled with the weapons of mass distractions! I don’t know about you, but this is definitely true for me. I can be so easily distracted from doing the important things that matter the most, by the most trivial things that won’t make a lick of difference in the days ahead or eternity!
That’s why Jesus said that when we pray we should “enter into the closet and shut the door” (Matthew 6:6). I don’t think He literally meant to enter a small closet in the house or building to pray and shut that door. But we are to shut the door of our minds to the distractions of the world around us and concentrate on our communion and time with our heavenly Father! Prayer should be more listening to the voice of the Spirit than us to chatter away with all of our petty wants and perceived needs!
To enjoy and experience the promises in these verses on prayer we must learn to pray according to God’s will. "Thy will be done" (Matthew 6:10). Robert Law wrote, "Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man's will done in heaven, but for getting God's will done on earth". George Mueller, who fed thousands of orphans with food provided in answer to prayer, said: "Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of God's willingness."
There are times when we can only pray, "Not my will but Thine be done," because we simply do not know God's will in a matter. But most of the time we can determine God's will by reading the Word, listening to the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27), and discerning the circumstances around us. Our very faith to ask God for something is often proof that He wants to give it (Hebrews 11:1).
Let me close this chat with Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Are you genuinely seeking Him today?
God bless!