March 24
The Assurance
of Answered Prayer
1 John 5:14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Daily Steps
A life lived by faith is intimately connected to a vibrant prayer life. For a new believer, uncertainty about the future often manifests as doubt about prayer itself. This verse gives you powerful assurance and peace regarding the effectiveness of your prayers.
The peace in this promise is two-fold:
Confidence in His Hearing: We can approach God with "confidence" because we know that if we ask "according to his will, he hears us." The key boundary here is aligning your desires with God's established will (what the Bible teaches is good and right). When you pray according to His will, the question shifts from if He will hear to how He will respond.
Assurance of Possession: Because you know He hears prayers aligned with His will, you can operate in the assurance that you already "have what we asked of him." This means you can live in the present moment with peace, before the answer is visible, because the spiritual reality is already secured by God's promise.
Living by faith means exchanging anxious waiting for confident living, knowing that your requests, when aligned with God's purpose, are already answered in the spiritual realm.
Reflective Question
Is there a specific prayer about your future that you are currently doubting? How can you check that request against God's will (Scripture), and then approach it with the confidence that the answer is already secured?
Prayer
Lord, I thank You that You are a God who hears. I confess my doubt and the lack of confidence in my prayer life. Strengthen my faith today, helping me to align my requests with Your perfect will.
I claim the assurance that You hear me, and I choose to live in the peace of knowing my prayers are already answered in the spiritual realm. Amen.
