EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2025 9:19 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “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 ended up last night’s SD by writing “Praying
according to God’s will also mean confessing sin. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 66:18, If I
regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear’
Now I will look at MacArthur’s commentary on 1 John
where he writes “Again, the Lord’s promise in John 14:13-14 affirms the
requirement of praying according to God’s will:
‘Whatever you ask in My name that will I do, so that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If you ask Me
anything in My name, I will do it.’ To
pray in Jesus’ name is to pray consistent with who He is, with the goal of
bring Him glory. It is to follow the
pattern of His model prayer: ‘Your
kingdom come. Your will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt. 6:10), and His example of humble submission to
the Father’s will when He prayed in Gethsemane, ‘Father, if You are willing,
remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). The goal of prayer is not to gratify our
selfish desires (cf. James 4:3), but to align our wills with God’s purposes.”
Now
if a believer is praying according to God’s will not only bring glory to the
Son, but it will also bring joy to believers, so let us look at John 16:23b-24: “Truly, truly, I say to you if you ask the
Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My
name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” Now when obedient believers delight
themselves in the Lord, He will plant the desires in their hearts for what
glorifies Him (Ps. 37:4 and those desires will control their prayers. God’s answers to those prayers will glorify
Him, bring believers’ will into line with His purposes, and fill them with Joy.
Now
as we look at verse 16, then at first glance it appears to introduce an abrupt change
of subject. But upon further
consideration, the connection of verses 16 and 17 to verses 14 and 15 become
clear. Now let us look at these verses
again in the order that I have written above:
“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.”
““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.” MacArthur
writes “By giving one important exception, John illustrates in a contrasting
manner the extent of God’s promise to answer prayer. When a believer sees a brother (a real or
professing believer) committing a sin not leading to death, the apostle writes,
he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin leading to
death. On the other hand, there is a sin leading to death, and the apostle did
not advise Christians to make request for this sin.”
Ok
I am going to stop here because in the next SD I will quote what John MacArthur’s
views are on what the sin leading to death was, or is.
4/3/2025 9:39 PM
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