17 and 18 > When God Says No

  * Here is a point where many people have failed to grasp the entire meaning of the Lord's message!
This mainly because of three things:
1) Ignorance of the Word of God in their life!
2) Putting selfish desires and ways to dictate their prayer request!
3) Living with a sinful heart and evil intentions!
   Seek The Lord God - but realize that His way is Blessed and best for all involved!
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17. 1 John 5:14

Now this is the confidence we have before Him: whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  —  1 John 5:14

This verse and the next offer one of the Bible’s best definitions of prayer. It’s easy to memorize when you notice how the verses unfold and expand. The meaning and marvel of prayer grows deeper and more practical as phrase builds upon phrase. Prayer is...

• Coming before Him.
• Coming before Him with confidence.
• Coming before Him with confidence and asking.
• Coming before Him with confidence and asking according to His will.
• Coming before Him with confidence and asking according to His will,
• Knowing that He hears us.

Writing near the end of the Bible and at the end of the apostolic age, the apostle John wanted us to know something about the biblical promises related to prayer.
They are all conditioned by God’s will. In his Gospel, for example, John quoted Jesus as saying,
 “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:14 NIV).  
Anything is a huge word, and perhaps some of John’s readers had taken it a bit too literally.
 So in 1 John 5:14, he reminds us that the promise of answered prayer is dependent on the phrase “according to His will.”
Sadly many even Christians seem to miss this point!   

From the perspective of infinity, our God knows what’s best from beginning to end. He sees the outcomes of every chain reaction in life. He knows how the dominoes fall and how the cookies crumble. His perfect, providential oversight makes no mistakes and always results in the best for His children.

Our vantage point is as limited as a person who’s fallen into a hole and can only see a circle of sky above him. We don’t always know the landscape, and we can’t see distant vistas. So we pray earnestly and ask God for our needs, our wants, our wishes, and our desires. But we always pray with the attitude, “if it be Your will.” In that we can have total confidence.

Sometimes when I purchase roses or plants from a nursery catalog, there’s a little box on the order form saying, “If we are out of the item you want, may we substitute one of equal or greater value?”

I always say no, because I don’t think the workers in the warehouse know what’s best for my garden. But with the Lord we should always say, “Yes, Lord! You may substitute. You may grant an alternative answer of equal or greater value. I trust You with substitutions.”

The purpose of prayer is to get God’s will done.... The greatest prayer any one can offer is 

“Thy will be done.” It will be offered in a thousand different forms, with a thousand details, as needs arise daily. But every true prayer comes under those four words. —S. D. Gordon

18. 1 John 5:15

And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for. —1 John 5:15

The Bible is full of facts about prayer; it’s the world’s greatest textbook on the subject. Here, near the end of Scripture, are two verses that seem to sum up the subject—1 John 5:14-15. Notice the sustained repetition that drives this passage into our hearts.

• This is the confidence... we know... we know.
• Whenever we ask... whatever we ask.
• Anything according to His will.
• He hears... He hears... we have.

Archbishop Trench said, “We must not conceive of prayer as an overcoming of God’s reluctance but as a laying hold of His highest willingness.”
It’s great to pray spontaneously throughout the day, before meetings, at stressful times, prior to responding in tense situations. But we need a regular time each morning and/or evening for a daily scheduled appointment with God. There we praise Him, confess our sins to Him, and bring to Him our needs. God often says yes to our requests.
Sometimes it’s no or wait. But this is our confidence: He hears.... He hears.... We know.... We have.

When God Says No

• Abraham earnestly prayed that Ishmael would become the son of promise and the heir of his legacy, but God said no. He had something better, a line of descent through the boy Isaac.
• Moses earnestly prayed to cross the river Jordan with the children of Israel, but God said no. He had a younger leader named Joshua and a better promised land for the aged Moses.
• David prayed earnestly for the joy of building a temple to the Lord, but God said no. He had something better—for David to plan the project and for his son Solomon to do the work.
• Jonah prayed earnestly that he would die, but God said no. He had something better—for Jonah to learn the lessons of compassion and write it down in a book that would thrill the ages.
• The healed demonic in Mark 5 prayed that he could travel around as a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, but the Lord said no. He had something better—that he go home to his friends and tell them what great things the Lord had done for him and had shown him mercy.
• The apostle Paul prayed earnestly to be healed from his disease, which he described as a thorn in the flesh. But God said no. He had something better—for Paul to discover the all-sufficiency of His grace.
• Jesus prayed earnestly that the cup of suffering would pass from Him, but God said no. He had something better—that a fountain would be opened for all the world for the forgiveness of sin.

I never prayed sincerely for anything, but it came, at some time... somehow, in some shape.—Adoniram Judson

* 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart.