Hearing His Voice #176

We are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

1 John 5:14-15

For most of us, the normal pattern of prayer is to ask God to accomplish certain things and then wait to see what He does with our requests. There’s nothing wrong with that approach; any kind of conversation with God qualifies as prayer. But those petitions are almost like shooting an arrow and hoping it hits the bull’s-eye. Is it His will, or isn’t it? We’ll have to see when—and if—the results come in.

According to biblical promises, God means for our prayers to be more confident than that. His Word tells us that a prayer of faith often is answered when a tentative prayer would not be. But in order for us to pray in faith, we have to know up front whether our petitions are consistent with God’s will. When we pray and only hope He will answer if the request happens to fit within His will, it’s hard to pray in faith. We trust God, of course, but we don’t have much confidence that our prayer will be answered. In order to have specific faith for what we ask, we need to know that what we ask fits God’s purposes.

This is one of the areas in which it is crucial for us to hear God’s voice. We know His general purposes through His Word—clearly we can be confident about some requests that further His Kingdom. But the personal requests about direction, provision, healing, and more—not to mention the deep longings of our hearts—are always tentative unless we’ve heard from Him. He invites us to ask what His will is—and then, when we’ve heard, to pray that His will be done. Confidently.

Father, if you tell me my prayer is consistent with Your will, I will maintain unwavering faith until the answer shows up. Help me pray Your desires and mine in confidence.