In 1 John 3:19-24, John introduces the idea that love does
three very important things for the Believer: It exposes a
doubting heart, it gives confidence and effectiveness to prayer, and it
gives evidence that the Believer is being filled with the Spirit. Yesterday,
we considered the first of these three: Love exposes a
doubting heart. Today, we will take up the second: The love of God gives confidence and effectiveness to our prayers.
In 1 John 3:21-22, we read,
"21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him."
Like any relationship, when we do not increase our interaction within the relationship, the relationship will suffer. Of course, when we talk to God, that is called prayer. Prayer is the expression of our dependence upon God. And the
Christian life is greatly dependent upon talking to and listening to God in prayer.
Notice the connection that John makes between prayer and our confidence. If you and I fear someone, our involvement with them will be limited. Of course, the opposite of this is true, as well. If we feel accepted by them, we will draw ever so closer to them. It is no different with God. Prayer grows out of correct understanding of God's love. And if we have received his Son's gracious gift, our acceptance before Him can not be improved upon. As a result, we seek Him more and more in prayer.
Recently, our family was asked by my sister in law's family to watch their dog while they made a weekend trip out of town. We met my sister in law and her family to take the dog home with us. When we first saw Genevive, she was quite reluctant to come to us. In fact, she cried all the way back to our house. By the end of the weekend, one would have thought that she was our dog. We grew to be so close with her because we loved her and expressed that love to her. And she, as a result, reciprocated that love. This is a picture of what the Apostle John is getting at here in v.21.
Tomorrow, we will consider in more detail v.22, "and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him."
