1 John 5:14,15

The Christian's Confidence in Prayer

How do you pray? Are you a bit reluctant to bring everything to God? Do you ever dismiss the thought of praying because you doubt that God would give serious consideration to your request? Do you sometimes treat God like a stranger with whom you lack the confidence to strike up a conversation? It shouldn't ever be that way for God's children. Instead we should have the same boldness that children display when it comes to asking their parents for something. There's no hesitation in their little voices. Knowing their parents’ love and commitment for them, little children trust that they are attentive to their needs.

Now, I grant you, children don't always understand how things work for us in this world. They are confident that our bank accounts are limitless resources of ready cash. They think that our energy level is always equal to or greater than their own. Time is not considered in the calculation of what they ask of us. They simply remain confident in our ability to produce, until one day they come to know that their parents are not infinite sources of everything.

Though we are limited in many ways, our heavenly Father is not. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have gained access to him, and he is favorably disposed towards us. Jesus told us, "Ask and it will be given to you" (Matthew 7:7a). The prophet Isaiah wrote, "Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear" (Isaiah 59:1).

In Jesus, "we know that he hears us—whatever we ask." As God’s dear children, we are confident in approaching him with our requests. Our faith in Christ moves us to pray and his Word directs our prayers to seek that God's will be done in our lives. In this way, "we know that we have what we asked of him."

Guided by his Word, pray with confidence, Christian! Your Father is listening.