What is the significance of "if we ask anything according to His will" (1 John 5:14)?

John says, "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." Now how are we to know the Lord's will from our own fancies and imaginations? By His word. If I go and pray for a thing not founded on the knowledge of the Lord's will as revealed in His word, I cannot have confidence about it. Were He to grant me what I desire, He might very likely only be answering my own foolish, corrupt will. If my flesh is at work, and my soul is not brought into obedience and subjection to the word, I cannot be "praying in the Spirit." The first thing the Spirit would do would be to humble me by the word into a sense of the condition in which my soul is. Supposing, for instance, I am walking carelessly and inconsistently, and yet am beginning to ask, as a very great Christian, for things only suited to the state of such an one; if the Lord were to answer my petition, it would only tend to make me a hypocrite. The first thing the Spirit would do in such a case would be to make, me humble under a sense of my real heed. Prayer in the Spirit is always from a humble sense of need; then be it but a sigh or a groan, it is prayer in the Spirit. If we know our spiritual need, and cry to the Lord under the sense of it, we may always reckon on an answer. If our desires are according to God, they cannot be according to the flesh: The very thing the Lord would ever have us to learn is our real need; and He would have us do this in order that we might draw out of His fulness for its supply.

In the gospel of Matthew another aspect of prayer is presented — "All things, whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Matt. 21:22; see also Mark 11:24.) James too speaks of the necessity of faith in asking, and adds that a waverer must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Now faith can only spring from confidence in God about the thing sought, and this confidence in God will only follow upon the conviction that what is prayed for is according to God's will; and, it may be added, the assurance that we have the mind of God can only be produced by the Holy Spirit, and by the Holy Spirit, speaking generally, through the written Word. Once having this assurance, we await with the certainty of expectation the answer, according to that word of the apostle John: "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything 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." (1 John 5:14-15.) This passage is important as showing that faith finds its sure foundation in the knowledge of God's will — a will that is unfolded to us in the Scriptures.

In the gospel of Matthew another aspect of prayer is presented - "All things, whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Matt. 21:22; see also Mark 11:24.) James too speaks of the necessity of faith in asking, and adds that a waverer must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Now faith can only spring from confidence in God about the thing sought, and this confidence in God will only follow upon the conviction that what is prayed for is according to God's will; and, it may be added, the assurance that we have the mind of God can only be produced by the Holy Spirit, and by the Holy Spirit, speaking generally, through the written Word. Once having this assurance, we await with the certainty of expectation the answer, according to that word of the apostle John: "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything 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." (1 John 5:14-15.) This passage is important as showing that faith finds its sure foundation in the knowledge of God's will - a will that is unfolded to us in the Scriptures.

In the next chapter our Lord gives us further teaching on the same subject. "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). We may connect with this another scripture: "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Here it is according to the will of God, thereby excluding everything which is not of this character. But our Lord says, "What ye will"; and this brings before us a very important aspect of prayer. In this case it is conditional: "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you"; that is, abiding in Christ, ever remembering our dependence upon Him for everything, that without Him we can do nothing; and His words abiding in us, moulding us after His own mind, forming Himself in us, we of necessity express His own thoughts and His own desires, and consequently "what we will" must, in such a case, be "according to His will." It will be seen, at the same time, that the power of our prayers depends upon our spiritual condition. This is an unfailing principle. It is stated by St. John: "If our heart condemn us not, [then] have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John 3:21-22). St. James also tells us, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). This is of all importance; for neglecting our spiritual state, and thereby losing present communion with God, our prayers become cold and lifeless, degenerate into a repetition of known truths or old phrases, and thus, losing all significance, pass over into dead forms. The words are uttered to satisfy conscience; but expressing no heart-felt needs, and no outgoings of soul after God, they find no response, and bring down no blessing. Beware of such a state, which is often the commencement of the backslider's path, and which, unless checked by the grace of God, will land the soul in open shame and dishonour, to the name of Christ.

"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14,15). We have already seen that the formative power in the heart, of the words of Christ dwelling there, and an upright uncondemning heart with confidence in God, are the conditions of successful prayer. In the present verses, all that is assumed. It is supposed that we are asking according to His will, and what we have here is that, so asking, God always hears us. "He is not like man, often occupied so that he cannot listen, or careless so that he will not."[5] It is a precious and wonderful thing for the creature, man, notwithstanding the fall, to be so restored to moral harmony with God as to be able, under the guidance of the Spirit, to ask according to His omniscient will. We do not read that angels have this privilege. They "do His word, heeding the voice of His word" (Ps.103:20), but the intimacy with God which prayer affords is, apparently, conferred upon man only. Surely this bestowment is a proof of God's desire that man should enjoy communion with Himself. Do we prize this privilege as we should?

1910 58 4. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything 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 desire of him" (1 John 5:14-15). We have already seen that the formative power in the heart, of the words of Christ dwelling there, and an upright uncondemning heart with confidence in God, are the conditions of successful prayer. In the present verses, all that is assumed. It is supposed that we are asking according to His will, and what we have here is that, so asking, God always hears us. "He is not like man, often occupied so that he cannot listen, or careless so that he will not." It is a precious and wonderful thing for the creature, man, notwithstanding the fall, to be so restored to moral harmony with God as to be able, under the guidance of the Spirit, to ask according to His omniscient will. We do not read that angels have this privilege: They indeed "do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word" (Ps. 103:20), but the intimacy with God which prayer affords is, apparently, conferred upon man only. Surely this bestowment is a proof of God's desire that man should enjoy communion with Himself. Do we prize this privilege as we should?

"And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us." Here is a confidence in God that applies itself to all the details of life through which I may be called to pass. This is the confidence we have in Him: His ear being open to us, we have what we ask for, when we ask according to God's will. How wondrous this is, that God's ear is ever open to us; for surely we should not desire to ask for anything contrary to His will. "And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." I am so made to know the love that, if I ask, I shall have. If I am really in earnest to do God's will, to preach the gospel for instance, and there are hindrances in the way - Satan in the way - I have only to ask, and I have all God's power at my disposal, His ear being open to me. If you know what conflict and difficulty are, what a blessing is this, to have God's ear open to you, and to know, if you are doing God's will, you will always succeed in doing His will.

303 "And this is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us." There is a confidence in God that applies itself to all the details of life through which I may be called to pass. This is the confidence we have in Him: His ear being ever open to us, we have what we ask for, when we ask according to God's will. How wondrous is this, that God's ear is ever open to us, for surely we should not desire to ask for anything contrary to His will! "And if we know that he hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." I am so made to know the love that, if I ask, I shall have. If I am really in earnest to do God's will, to preach the gospel, for instance, and there are hindrances in the way - Satan in the way - I have only to ask, and I have all God's power at my disposal, His ear being open to me. If you know what conflict and difficulty are, what a blessing is this, to have God's ear open to you, and to know, if you are doing God's will, you will always succeed in doing His will.

(Vv. 14, 15). This confidence in God finds its expression in prayer in the every-day life — “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” And if we know that He hears us, we also “know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” He, according to His perfect love and wisdom, reserves to Himself to answer our petitions in His own time and way. In the confidence in God that is the outcome of the new life, it is our privilege to make known our petitions to God, but not to dictate to God as to His answer. He may see fit to keep us waiting, but in the meantime we have the consolation of knowing that He listens to everything that we ask that is in accordance with His will.

Verses 14, 15. "If we ask anything according to his will he heareth us." Our souls are sometimes much exercised before God as to prayer; for God, who in His goodness grants us all things that are good for us, reserves to Himself the choice, the means, and the time. However we have the comfort of knowing that God always hears us. He is not absent nor too high to listen to our prayers. But more than this: "we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." What mercy! God is willing to hear the requests which such feeble creatures as ourselves send up to Him. God perhaps does not answer at once. This exercise of patience is blessed to our souls, and is often more salutary than an immediate answer. It acts upon our intercourse with God, it moulds it, and teaches us dependence. It is well for us to know that we should not pray with the idea of dictating to God. But the faith which has prayed nevertheless feels sure that God has heard, and this confidence consoles and sustains.