#242: Coming To God With Confidence

The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast

Let me ask you a question. Do you have confidence in God when you pray? I have talked with people who told me they hoped God heard their prayers. They hoped he would answer their prayers. When I asked a guy if I could pray for him, his response was, “Go ahead. It can’t hurt.” That doesn't really demonstrate confidence, does it?

I want to remind you today that our God can be trusted. He keeps his word. He fulfills his promises. You can come to God with your needs and with your prayers, and you can do so with confidence that not only does he hear, but he cares. God always answers prayer.

He may not answer when you want him to. His response may not be the answer you are looking for, but God always answers prayer. Like a good Father, he knows and does what is best for his children.

Hebrews 10:35 says, “do not throw away your confidence in God; it will be richly rewarded.”

Let this verse inspire you today…whatever you are going through. Do not throw away your confidence in God.

We all know we should pray frequently. We know the people who make the biggest impact for the Kingdom of God are those who pray the most fervently. We know prayer is the key to intimacy with God. That said, we must confess that prayer is often a struggle.

Do you ever wonder why we struggle so with prayer? Is it because,

•We don’t feel adequate; of we feel like we are doing “it” wrong?

•Is it because this is the area where Satan attacks us knowing if he can keep us from praying, we will have a limited faith in God?

•Is it because we feel like our prayers don’t do any good?

•Or is it because we resist the idea of being dependent on God?

Let me share some great verses with you from 1 John.

1 John 5:13-15 – “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 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.”

First God hears us. Sometimes we feel like a husband or wife who is talking to a spouse who isn’t listening. We pray but wonder if God is hearing our prayer. John says, the child of God can know that God is paying attention.

It is said sometimes in the political arena, that a person “has the ear of the President”. It means the President listens attentively to what these people say. In much the same way, John is telling us that we have “the ear” of God. He is listening.

Second, John tells us that we not only can know he hears us but we can know that we have what we have asked of him. That’s quite a statement. There are other passages in the New Testament that say, “If you ask, you will receive”. It is straightforward and seems to guarantee that we will receive whatever we ask to receive.

John mentions that we must pray according to God’s will. Practically this means that we are praying with a true heart of God. We are to pray with His perspective. But how do we gain that perspective? We gain it from God’s Word and from God’s Spirit that resides within us.

Our focus should not be on whether or not we are praying as much as someone else. This is not a contest; it is a relationship. We should delight in prayer because it is time spent with the Father who loves us. We should delight in prayer because God is listening to us. Our goal in prayer is not to get what WE want but to become what HE wants.

Today’s Challenge: Remember this truth: God wants you to approach him with confidence. We don’t pray with arrogance ordering God around, but we do come to him with a humble confidence knowing that we are loved by our Heavenly Father. He delights in blessing his children.