PT-1 "Answered Prayer" (1 John 5:14-17)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/1/2025 10:12 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  PT-1 “Answered Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  1 John 5:14-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 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. 16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.

 

            I am so happy to get to these verses at just the right time in my life, thankful to God for His gracious timing.  I do not plan to hurry through these verses, but take my time trying to understand all that I can from them.  There was a question that came up in my Sunday school class this past week over the things that I was teaching using the small booklet, Keeping a Pure Mind” written by John MacArthur that I copied parts of it each day and placed onto my Spiritual Diaries a few weeks ago, and the answer to that question I believe is seen in these verses.  This has been a difficult time for our family as I have expressed that my wife has cancer and it was my desire to read and understand from that booklet how I could make sure that the Lord was hearing my prayers for her as I certainly did not want to have any unconfessed sin in my life so that the Lord would not hear me.  A friend of mine, former Pastor and former president of a missionary agency entitle Baptist Mid Mission came up to me after our Sunday service and told me that God does hear my prayers because I am His child.  Not all of this is clear to me and so I am asking the Lord to use these verses to help me better understand this.

 

            We have just talked or written about the truth that a full experience of eternal life is awaiting all true believers when they get to heaven.  However all true believers have not jet entered into heaven as we still live on planet earth.  Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:4 the following “to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, and this gives evidence to what I have just written.  At this time while on earth John MacArthur writes that “they [believers] have access to all of God’s resources through prayer.  Parresia (confidence) literally means ‘freedom of speech.’”  We looked at this when we were covering this verse on January 21^st of this year.  “I can also be translated ‘boldness’ (Acts 4:31), or ‘openness’ (Acts 28:31).  The phrase translated before Him has the sense of ‘in His presence.’  Through Jesus Christ believers have ‘boldness and confidence access’ (Eph. 3:12) to God that enables them to ‘draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that [they] may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Heb. 4:16).”

 

            I am thankful for this verse from Hebrews, realizing that the Lord will give me grace as I confidently come to His throne of grace that I may receive the mercy that I need to find grace to help in time of need.  This verse at this time in my life speaks volumes to me.

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  The Lord is allowing my wife and I to learn from this trouble that we are going through with this unexpected cancer that my wife has, and I can say that it is my desire to have this bring glory to the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

4/1/2025 10:47 PM