I John 5:14 “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
The “confidence that we have in” our Lord is “that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”. The criterion is that “we ask … according to his will”. Because the Spirit of the Lord dwells within us, we lovingly know Him and our greatest desire and yearning is that we conform and confine ourselves to His Holy “will”, even over our natural desires. Therefore, “we know that he hear us” because we subordinate our “will” to His “will”; furthermore, when we sincerely “ask … according to his will” “we know that he hear us” and that “whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”. Such sincere prayer is satisfying to our soul that is so often troubled in this present world. To have this “confidence” in our Lord is to trust His infinite wisdom and judgement in all matters. Our Lord is perfectly aware of our personal tribulations and needs in this life and He is also perfectly aware of the tribulations and needs of the great institutions, powers, and governments of this present world. He also knows all about the pathway in which He is leading us, even those things that lie ahead of us, beyond our sight. Our God-given faith compels us to trust his greater “will” and judgement. Thus, we joyfully scope our prayers to His “will”, when we prayerfully declare, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)!