1 John 5:13-21

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

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I can’t overstate the importance of John’s statement, “ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life”. It’s critical that we understand it’s possible to “know” we have a relationship with God…through Christ.

Which is why John spoke about sin in the first chapter. We know that “no one who is born of God sins”, but we understand the construction of this statement (Present, Active, Indicative) to mean “makes a habit of constantly sinning”. We also know that he who is born of God is kept safe (by God) and the evil one does not touch him.

All of this comes to us because the “Son of God has come, and has given us understanding”…something the world does not enjoy. Most of the world will tell us we can NEVER know our salvation for sure. They’re wrong… Ἀγάπη proves it…because ἀγάπη is humanly impossible.

I’m curious about John’s following statement: “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him”. So…what would a person who “loves God obediently” ask for?”

And…how could God refuse?

What we should have is, Christians constantly asking God for a more perfect obedience and God dependably granting their requests…resulting in more people coming to faith (because we know "perfect obedience" is always fruitful). This would generate a geometric progression of salvations that would easily consume all of humanity.

I can’t say I’ve noticed such a surge…probably because we’re busy asking for things that don’t lead to loving God more obediently.

So…am I part of the solution, or part of the problem? I don’t have to guess. I already know. But, guess what?  “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”…right back to chapter 1! We could recycle this Epistle in our lives constantly and do quite well.

Live boldly out there today…