It’s easy to be confident about something you can see and over which you have total control. But neither is true when we pray to God. Prayer is an act of faith. We can’t see God. And we have no control over how the outcome of our prayer will unfold. So the question is, what must we do or what can we do to move into the realm of being confident toward God when we pray? That is what Frank King addresses in today’s episode.
In chapter 3 of John’s first epistle, he reveals that to have confidence toward God we must show love toward others. He writes, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18, NASB).
God requires us to do more than talk love. Some people are good at that. They are always talking about how much they love you, but they never come through for you when you need them to. That’s just talk. And as they say, talk is cheap.
We must not love in tongue and words but in deeds. But not only in deeds but also in truth. That means God wants us to show genuine love toward others. Not some pretentious display of love but true love. Sometimes, people do impressive acts of love, but their motivation is wrong. That is still not genuine love.
Prayer and LoveAccording to John, genuine love is the means by which we know we are of the truth (verse 19). if you are not walking in genuine love, you are not walking in the truth. No matter how much you talk love, if you don’t show it, you are not of the truth. Everything in the Scriptures hinges on love. Moreover, genuine love is the means by which we “assure our heart before Him” (verse 19b). That means it instills confidence before Him.
When our life is characterized by genuine love, our heart does not condemn us before the Lord. John writes, “If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (verse 21). This is how love promotes confidence toward God when we pray.
Prayer was never meant to be a guessing game. It was never meant to be something that leaves us wondering if God hears us or whether He will do something about what we have prayed about. What assures our heart before Him when we pray is genuine love as opposed to love in tongue and words only.
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