“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)
We must take note that John doesn’t say in his letter to an unnamed church that anything we ask we shall have given to us. He is careful to say that anything we ask according to God’s will He hears and will provide. God has a general will and specific, personal will. His general will is seen throughout the New Testament in the commands to love your neighbor as yourself, treat others as you wish to be treated, fulfill the great commission, be angry and sin not, etc. God’s will for us as individuals is crafted to mesh with the gifts He has given us. I believe His will for me entails, in part, writing. He has given me that gift and I am using it to His glory. Another person’s gift might be singing or comforting or preaching or teaching. God hears every request we utter; yet He gives us those things which He knows will benefit us the most. If we received everything we asked for, then our wants, desires and needs would intermingle. Truthfully, we don’t always faithfully decipher which things are wants and which things are needs. God has promised in His word to always meet our needs; our wants are another story.
I think we can all agree that we don’t always know what is best for us. God does. That is where trust comes into the equation. To trust in God means we are to begin to rely on Him for our everything. He offers us the intangible things that mold our character and assist us in being more like His Son. Material things have no value to God other than to be vehicles for His use. They corrupt and decay and eventually disappear from sight. What God offers us is everlasting and eternal. To know God is to know His will and the only way we could ever know His will is to work at our personal relationship with Him daily. Commune with God; speak to Him and more importantly, listen to Him through His word. Don’t read into scripture what is not there. Take it in its entire context and ask God to expand your mind to understand how it applies to you. God knows what He’s doing. Bend to His will for your life and be free of the worldly baggage that so easily weighs us down.
WALK WITH THE KING TODAY AND BE A BLESSING!
