Today's Reading:  2 Samuel 14-15; Luke 17:1-19

Today's Thoughts:  Asking in Confidence

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

When we teach on prayer, we often use these verses as references. Regardless of the audience to whom we are speaking, almost everyone is familiar with these verses. In the gospels, Jesus tells us to "ask" for things. Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Emphasis added) A few chapters later, Jesus says, "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:22) When you study the gospels, you will notice that Jesus makes it clear that asking and believing go hand in hand. In other words: when we pray, we need to pray (or ask) in faith. John gives us a clearer picture of that faith by using the word "confidence" in how we approach God in prayer.

At a recent seminar on how to use a prayer journal, we discussed this word "confidence." How many of us come to the Lord in confidence? It opened an enlightening discussion about what confidence before the Lord really looks like and how can we have it. One of the many areas discussed was how confused we get over praying "according to his will." Many people feel that if they are not praying God's will, then they cannot approach Him in confidence. They try to figure out what God wants them to pray before they come to Him in prayer. That approach is confusing and can lead to misguided, fruitless prayers.