Conversations With The King

Read: 1 John 5:13-15

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. 1 John 5:14-15, NIV

IN WORD

We have a very conversational King. He doesn’t offer His provision anonymously, though some receive it that way. He doesn’t fulfill orders as though He were a vending machine. He doesn’t mail out catalogs or ship from a warehouse. He likes to be asked. In conversation. It’s the Kingdom way.

He also promises that we can ask specifically and be answered specifically. Many people offer up scattershot prayers, hoping they hit anything that’s available. Many of us add “if it’s Your will” to the end of every request because we don’t have any confidence that we might know what His will is—even though He has revealed quite a bit of it. We’re tentative in our prayers and reluctant to assume an answer. But the God of the Bible promises to give us what we ask for.

John includes a caveat with this promise: that we ask “according to his will.” Some take that to mean we may or may not get what we ask for because the odds of our understanding His will are pretty slim. That may result in a theology that makes prayer unnecessary at all. If it’s His will, He’s going to do it anyway, whether we ask or not; and if it isn’t, no amount of asking is going to make it so. But God’s intent is for us to know His will, ask for it to be done (and it might not be if we don’t ask), and then see the answer. That’s the dynamic of the Kingdom, and it’s a promise.

IN DEED

Ask boldly. First saturate yourself in the King’s wisdom and ways, then ask to be filled with His desires. Let His will become yours, then pray your heart out. This is how the Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven, how the business of the Kingdom advances against the agenda of the enemy. He does His work on earth through His people, and He almost always does it in the context of genuine conversation.

ADDITIONAL READING: John 15:7-8

Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom.

CHARLES SPURGEON