1John 5:13-15

Imagine you were in an antique shop and an old brass lamp caught your eye. Your decided to rub the side as a joke and fell back in surprise as a genie came out and offered you three wishes. “Your will be done, master.”

This is how some of us think about prayer, that it is a way to get God to fulfil our will in the world. We then get frustrated and think that prayer doesn’t work but prayer does work, it is because we have misunderstood prayer. John says in this passage that we can be confident in prayer and have whatever we ask for in prayer. However, there is a caveat. The prayer must be according to the will of God.

Perhaps you think that makes the prayer meaningless. If it was according to God’s will anyway then it would happen and the prayer has no point. It’s like praying for sunshine on a sunny day and then claiming that prayer works. However, that is not what he is saying either. We assume that because God desires something that it happens. It is God’s will that everyone will be saved, but they won’t. It is God’s will that all injustice will end in the world but it hasn’t. It is God’s will that we would love others but often we don’t. This is because God does not enforce his will upon us. Instead God partners with us through prayer. The more that you pray, the more that you see God’s plan for the world enfold.

“God does nothing except in answer to prayer”
John Wesley

At the start of the summer I wrote a list of people who I wanted to pray for every day. After two weeks, I got a message out of the blue from one of them: ‘I feel that I am so far from God and want to explore faith. Can you help me?’ I was mind blown. A few weeks before that, my wife was at a prayer meeting and someone felt that God wanted to heal someone’s flat feet. Emma was a but unsure as it seemed so trivial but went forward for prayer and watched as her feet grew arches. She was mind blown.

Jesus teaches us to pray, ‘Your Kingdom come, your will be done.’ We join with God in bringing his dream for this world to life. We are transformed through prayer. John promises us that every prayer is heard and will be answered. If that’s true (it is!), lets make big world-changing prayers our priority.

Reflect

• How can you know what God’s will is?
• What are some prayers that you have seen answered?

Respond

What could you pray for today that would be according to his will?