Confidence in prayer

1 John 5:14-15 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. The apostle John wrote something in 3:19-22 that help us understand these verses. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. Believers in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have a confidence before God. Our confidence is that all of our sins have been known and atoned for in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The resurrection is the proof of our justification wrote Paul in Rom. 4:25. “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” We know it because He lives in us. We have eternal life! Having this confidence before God gives us another confidence, namely, that if we ask anything according to His will, we know that whatever we ask, we will receive from Him. Let’s not miss what John wrote in 3:22. We have this confidence because we keep His commandments, namely, to believe in Him and love with Him. Our requests are based upon His commandments. When we ask for anything to be able to trust Him and love with Him, we know He hears us and will give us our requests. The encouragement today is this: When we live to love with Jesus, we have confidence in prayer before God. We can ask confidently, believing that we will receive the grace to trust and love as He has commanded. So we pray with confidence, Father, that you would fill us with the Holy Spirit, the presence and power of the risen, Son of God, in whom we have our lives so that we can love and trust You and love the people You put in our paths today for Your glory. Thank You for hearing us and giving us what we ask for in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. We receive your grace with thanksgiving and joy. Amen.