OUR BOLDNESS
“ And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.” — 1 John 5:14,15 (R.V.) 0 ne of the greatest hindrances to believing prayer with many is this: they know not if what they ask is according to the will of God. As long as they are in doubt on this point, they cannot have the boldness to ask in the assurance that they certainly shall receive. And they soon begin to think that if once they have made known their requests and receive no an swer, it is best to leave it to God to do according to His good plea sure. The words of John, “ If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us,” as they understand them, make certainty as to answer to prayer impossible because they cannot be sure of what really may be the will of God. They think of God’s will as His hidden counsel. How should man be able to fathom what really may be the purpose of the all-wise God? This is the very opposite of what John aimed at in writing thus. He wished to rouse us to boldness, to confidence, to full assurance of faith in prayer. He says: “ This is the boldness which we have toward Him.” We should be able to say: “ Father, Thou knowest and I know that I ask according to Thy will: 1 know Thou hearest me.” John supposes that when we pray we first find out if our prayers are according to the will of God. They may be according to God’s will and yet the answers not come at once. It is to give us courage thus to persevere and to be strong in faith. It is evident that if it be a matter of uncertainty to us wheth er our petitions be according to His will, we cannot have the comfort of what he says, “we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of Him.” But just this is the difficulty. More than one believer says: “ I do not know if what I desire be accord ing to the will of God. God’s will is the purpose of His infinite wis dom: it is impossible for me to know whether He may not count some
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to the will of God and he may con fidently expect. In His Word, God has given us the revelation of His will and plans with us, with His people, and with the world, with the most precious promises of the grace and power with which through His people He will carry out His plans and do His work. As faith becomes strong and bold enough to claim the fulfillment of the general promise in the special case, we may have the assurance that our prayers are heard: they are according to God’s will. Take the words of John in the verse following our text as an il lustration: “ If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and God will give him life.” Such is the general promise; and the believer who pleads on the ground of this prom ise prays according to the will of God, and John would give him bold ness to know that he has the petition which he asks. But this apprehension of God’s will is something spiritual and must be spiritually discerned. It is not as a matter of logic that we can argue it out: God has said it; I must have it. Nor has every Christian the same gift or calling. While the general will revealed in the prom ise is the same for all, there is for each one a special different will ac cording to God’s purpose. And herein is the wisdom of the saints, to know this special will of God for each of us according to the measure of grace given us, and so to ask in prayer just what God has prepared and made possible for each. It is to communicate this wisdom that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. The personal application of the general promises of the Word to our special personal needs— it is for this that the leading of the Holy Spirit is given us.
thing else better for me than what I desire or may not have some rea sons for withholding what I ask.” With such thoughts the prayer of faith becomes an impossibility. There may be the prayer of sub mission and of trust in God’s wis dom; there cannot be the prayer of faith. The great mistake here is that God’s children do not really believe that it is possible to know God’s will. Or if they believe this, they do not take the time and trouble to find it out. What we need is to see clearly in what way it is that the Father leads His waiting, teachable child to know that his petition is according to His will. It is through God’s holy Word, taken up and kept in the heart, the life, the will; and through God’s Holy Spirit, accept ed in His indwelling and leading, that we shall learn to know that our petitions are according to His will. There is a secret will of God with which we often fear that our pray ers may be at variance. It is not with this will of God but His will as revealed in His Word that we have to do in prayer. Our notions of what the secret will may have decreed and of how it might ren der the answers to our prayers im possible are mostly very erroneous. Childlike faith as to what He is willing to do for His children sim ply keeps to the Father’s assurance that it is His will to hear prayer and to do what faith in His Word desires and accepts. In the Word the Father has re vealed in general promises the great principles of His will with His people. The child has to take the promise and apply it to the special circumstances in his life to which it has reference. Whatever he asks within the limits of that revealed will, he can know to be according
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