Praying with Confidence

I’m sitting in a coffee shop. Woods to be exact. Eggnog is officially on the menu, and a hint of it is gracing my drip coffee. I’ll be here for a while as I wait for Micah and Grace to finish taking their SATs. This test is a needed “gateway” into most colleges and universities in the US. A possible gateway to the future that God has prepared for them. As I think about my kids and their future…there are so many things I pray for them…so many things I desire or have a hopeful expectation about. God knows my heart. He knows the desires I speak to others and to Him and He knows the ones that I have not given voice, but rest deep in my heart…both for my family and even for myself. 

“This is the confidence we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of Him.”  I John 5:14-15

Boy, could it be easy to “run” with that verse. To name it and claim it…seeking to turn God into little more than my own personal genie in a bottle. But that is not what John is saying; not at all. Those verses are a call to ask ourselves who our confidence is in. To reflect on who’s will we are living for and seeking…who’s kingdom we are building. 

I guess the ultimate question these verses cause me to ask is: When I pray, what am I asking for? Am I asking for God’s glory to be seen and known in my own life and by those around me? Am I asking that He would accomplish His purposes in my life and in my family…at any cost…knowing He does all things for good? Am I asking that my own heart and the hearts of those I love would be fixed on eternity? Those are the prayers that cry out “not my will but yours be done”. That is where my heart must be…or must cry out to be! 

Praise the Lord that He holds us and loves us but doesn’t always give us what we think we want. We often cry out for stones, thinking they are the daily bread we need, and He withholds in His mercy and grace, giving us what is truly bread. After all, He is the bread of life! 

Oh Lord, may we come before You constantly with confidence knowing that You hear us because of Christ’s work on the cross. May we cling to You and desire Your kingdom and purposes above our own. Take our desires, our hopes and the cries of our hearts and conform them to Your will. We know that You hear, we know that You will act in perfection and we know that You are good. May we find our rest in You…always!  In Jesus name, Amen. 


(written on Saturday 10/6)

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