Believe and Receive

John 15:16 - "Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you."

Can this be true? Consider what John said in 1 John 5:14 - 15 - "Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for." Is this too good to be true? Can we just sashay up to God and place an order as if He were our personal short-order cook?

Consider some principles in this statement -

• Confidence - "the confidence we have before Him"
• Conversation - "we ask anything"
• Condition - "according to His will"
• Conviction - "we know that He hears whatever we ask"
• Consequence - "we know that we have"

If we have confidence in the character of God, His veracity and faithfulness, we will be able to come and ask Him to fulfill the request that we make. When we have that conviction, then we know that He will give what we ask. 

That is the way that most people understand this passage - however, if you go back and look, we left something important out - "according to His will." we need to live in so close harmony with God that we know and understand His will - and in this knowledge we can be assured that all our prayer requests will be in keeping with His will for us and for the situation. The only condition attached to the passage that insures reception of our request is that it must be in His will.

Today, ponder over the requests that you make to God - ask, are they His will or mine?