Daily Bread 2011 - 1 John 5

Concluding Affirmations
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

What Does This Mean?
We see John’s ultimate purpose in writing His gospel and also his letters to the churches. He says that he writes these things that those who believe in the Son of God may know they have eternal life. Notice it did not say “hope they have eternal life”, but “know they have eternal life”. God does not want us to go through life wondering where we are going to spend the rest of our eternity. The bible calls this “confidence”.

Some might say, “Well how can you know for sure you are going to heaven.” The appropriate answer is because of what Jesus has done for us and our faith in what He did on the cross. Christianity is not a scorecard that at the end of the day we will total up our points and hope to make it into heaven. Christianity is a card that has a stamp on it that says, “Paid in full by the blood of Jesus.”

And then the John goes on to tell us that the same confidence we have in “knowing” that we have eternal life is also applicable to our prayers we ask according to God’s will. Importantly we do not ask for anything but anything according to His will. As we read the scripture and listen to the Holy Spirit we learn to ask things according to His will and we know God will hear us.

What Does This Mean For Us?
It means God does not want us to worry about where we will end up after we die. God wants us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are headed to an eternity with the Father and the Son and the Saints. As we are confident in our destination we can be bold in praying according to God’s will know He will hear us and act.

Let me ask you a question that is a very important one. Please don’t go to bed without having confidence in your answer. If you were to die tonight would you have full confidence that you are going to go to heaven? If the answer is yes, thank God that He has given you belief in His Son. If you are not sure, do you want to be? Believe in God’s Son Jesus. Believe in His name and trust in Him for your eternal life. Ask Jesus to come into Your life and be born again in the power of the Spirit. God will always answer that prayer because that is why He made you to have fellowship with Him and to be with Him and enjoy Him forever.

Heavenly Father I pray for anyone out there today/tonight who does not have the confidence of where they will spend eternity. I pray that you might give them faith to believe in Your Son for the forgiveness of all their sins and that they might receive the Holy Spirit and be born again into Your Holy Family. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer or want to pray it, let me know I would love to pray with you some time as you wish.

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