1 John Chapter 5 Verses 14 – 15

· Ok first comment here. Truly it is by God’s grace and love for us that He does not grant us our petitions that are outside of His will! God is perfect, good, holy, righteous and just. So, for this first point, let that describe His will. Makes sense. How many times have I prayed asking for something that is not those things… Many times…

· On my worst day, how many times have I prayed for what is opposite of those things? Many times… Imagine for a moment and world filled with the answered prayers of the unjust. Wow, wait a minute, this world sort of seems like that already. I don’t know if that deconstructs the illustration or supports it as we live in a fallen world who today is puppeteered by the prince of the power of the air…, the god of this age…

· But the point is that God’s will is good. It is perfect, just and right…, and so I’m going on record saying now that any prayer that includes exiting what God desires for me, I’m glad those prayers get the “No,” from on high. Because I trust the Lord over my, well really, my whatever…

· Honestly, have you ever even considered a world where every prayer is answered! It would be ridiculous, really weird, and VERY different. There’s be no sports. Both sides would always win. Praying for that win. There’d be no point! There’d be no gyms, supplements, fitness coaches… You know why? “Bless this food to our body!” HA! Everyday would be a snow day for highschoolers! Doctors? Lawyers? Judges? Pharmacists? Dentists? Psychiatrists? Taxi Drivers? No need! Everybody would be lottery winners! Stupid illustration but man probably the number one complaint in the Body of Christ is about unanswered prayers…

· Back to the will of God, second thing to consider with this is what is, and I’m talking specifics now, what is God’s will? How can we know exactly what is the mind and intention and ways of God? The answer is perhaps simpler than you think. It’s not the will of God if it goes against the Word of God. This is a guidepost of truth to remember… It is not the will of God, if it goes against the Word of God…

· If someone wrote a book on effective prayer, that book could be the shortest book ever written. HA! First, pray! James says in James 4:2, “You do not have because you do not ask.” That thing you’re dealing with, that you’re facing, that you’re concerned about, that you hope works out…, on and on…, have you prayed about it? There’s a big word in these verses in 1 John and that word is “anything!” So, first sentence in the book on prayer…, we should pray!

· Second sentence, filter and align your prayers through the knowledge of the Word of God AND your heart to trust the Lord. Jesus said in John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” It’s amazing that folks can be praying and praying and then read their Bibles and they either get the answer or they get the reason why their prayers are being, well, unheard… So, pray and know the Bible. The end. Not sure it would be a best seller. Folks want something easier than that and I get it…, ha.

· It really comes down to this. Prayer is not designed to be a means of casting our wishes into heaven but rather a source of confidence and faith-strengthening as our approach to God is intelligent and informed, being rooted in the understanding of the will of God and His promises according to His Word. Then we pray, we pray about everything, and God hears us AND is faithful to His Word… We see it, we perceive it, we know He is trustworthy…

1 John Chapter 5 Verses 16 – 17

· Welp, that was weird! HA! What? What is John talking about!? Super odd verse set if we don’t slow things down a bit and look at how John worded this. First, he uses the word, “brother.” So, we are talking about someone in the faith. Someone that knows the Lord, has accepted salvation through Jesus Christ, and yet is in some sort of sin. So, what are we, and this is a bit enlightening and also a bit convicting, when we see a brother in sin, what should we do?

· Correct them! Call them out! Convince them using the Bible that what they are doing is sinful. John isn’t saying not to do those things but he is telling us what to do first. First, we should take it to the Lord. We should pray for that brother! God has sent us to correct, rebuke, exhort and teach and to go into the whole world and make disciples, teaching folks to observe the words of Jesus…, BUT, how much more amazing, effective, great if we see a brother in sin and GOD does the correcting!

· PLUS, we have not the right heart to correct a brother until we’ve prayed for them! Do you know that!? I hope you do. If we do not love them, we should never correct, rebuke, exhort or teach them. We just simply aren’t qualified. This is straight from the throne room of heaven, are you ready for this. If we can’t learn to love them then we should learn to be quiet. And in that quiet…, pray.

· This comment about life is a comment of the heart and essence of God. God Himself is the originator of life and in Him is life itself. And so, you pray for that brother and God abides in you…, and by the work of the Holy Spirit, that same life goes after that brother in sin. That is a promise here! I truly believe that I can drop the most incredibly awesome knowledge on someone and yet the Holy Spirit ministering directly to their heart for a mere second will be eternally more effective!

· Now, that is sin not leading to death… John, (and there are many ideas about this, this is just mine), John says that if the sin is leading to death (and this is physical death – not spiritual death), then without delay, without hesitation, without a day a week a month of waiting on the Lord, realize that if someone is on the brink of destruction and you see that, YOU are God’s answer to prayer. Go after them…

· Look at what Jude says and this really is revealing…, Jude 16 – 22, “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”

1 John Chapter 5 Verses 18 – 19

· This is a positional statement that in Jesus Christ my sins are forgiven, forgotten, withdrawn from my account before God and therefore I stand before God sinless, just as Jesus is in heaven, because Jesus stood in my place on the cross, representing and in the place of mankind on earth…

· And, whoever is born of God ultimately finds great difficulty, even impossibility, to continue on in habitual lifestyle sin. Why? Because the Spirit of God within convicts and corrects. If you can go on in some sort of offensive heart or lifestyle to the Holy Spirit then you’re either miserable or you’re just simply not born of God.

· But he who has been born of God keeps himself, total personal radical accountability…, not waiting on God to deliver you…, God has already provided everything you need for every struggle you’ll ever face…, its up to me to walk by faith… In the light of truth, we aren’t really struggling, what we’re doing is delaying obedience….

· Keeping myself , walking by faith over feelings, understand there is a promise here, a truth of God’s word, that in that state, the enemy can’t touch me. As a Christian, understand, for the enemy to touch me at all that has to go through God…, because I am His. And if I am walking in the flesh, perhaps the best thing for me is to get a glimpse of hell to set me straight…

· And the promise is that as I walk with the Lord, hey, the environment might stack against me, Satan is the swayer of the whole world, but he himself…, or better said, me, I’m off limits… Now the inverse of that reveals a truth. For those that are not God’s, unsaved, rejecting of God, there’s a hint here that there is essentially no protection upon them from the wicked one…

1 John Chapter 5 Verses 20 – 21

· Understanding comes from God. Understanding of the truth is not something to be achieved or attained, it is given only by and through relationship with Jesus by faith… And after a great revelation of who Jesus was and is, John gives us the simplest and most complete exhortation, “Be little, be simple, be humble, be grateful, be receivers…, little children, and keep yourselves from idols. Stick with only and close too the single Truth of and in Jesus Christ!”