DEVOTION – DAY 334

I John 5:14-15 “Confidence When We Pray”

1 John 5:14-15 “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.”

Have you ever prayed to God and wondered if He will answer your prayers? If you have, you will find these verses helpful. The verses tell us that we can be confident of God’s answer if we had been praying in accordance to His will. He will hear our prayers, He will answer whatever we ask of Him. We know that if we pray and ask God to give us great wealth, this would be a prayer that is not in accordance to His will for us. This is because wealth often replaces God in our hearts and it comes between us and our relationship with Him. Thus, God will never answer prayers like that. But if we pray for the salvation of a family member, God will grant us opportunities to share the gospel and lead the person to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a prayer that is within His will.

A few years ago, I was visiting a relative in my hometown. During my visit, I was told of a sad case of two children who were born in Malaysia. Their father was Malaysian but their mother was a foreigner. Their parents had omitted to register their births with the Malaysian authorities. Soon after their births, their father had died and their mother could not remain in Malaysia. The children were adopted by our relatives’ family. The problem was that the children were considered stateless by the authorities. The family that adopted the children had applied for their citizenship and had been rejected. I offered to seek the help of someone we knew, who had some influence in government departments. We committed to God in prayer that this person of influence would agree to help. God answered that prayer because he agreed to help. All the relevant papers and documentation were prepared and given to our friend. We were told later that the process may some time, as there were many cases of stateless children. We kept praying. God is All powerful and nothing was impossible for Him. The adoptive parents of the two children were Buddhist, and they had been praying to Buddha but their prayers came to nothing. I told them I am praying to God. I prayed that God’s glory be revealed as He answered our prayers and as He triumphed over idols. We prayed for several years. God heard our prayers and we received confirmation recently that the children’s application for citizenship was finally approved. That meant that the children could finally continue their further education and have a chance of a decent career and future. We thank God indeed for answering our prayers.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, you are gracious and you hear our prayers. Thank you for the great privilege to be able to approach your throne and submit our prayers. Help us to always pray in accordance to your will. We pray this in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Questions

  1. What are some examples to praying in accordance to God’s will? Share.
  2. How has God answered some of your prayers? How have you given Him the glory for answering your prayers?
  3. What are some prayers that God have yet to answer and will you continue to pray continually to God?