When is prayer according to "His Will?"

1 John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."

This passage has in its reflection a familiar text many of us quote. Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." When read through the prism of our flesh it can come across really spiritual but truly reveal self- aggrandizing. Taking a glance at social media will show the depth of self-promotion this passage is associated with as it is used incorrectly. For some reason, reading these passages bring about a view of "god, the genie" not God the Holy, holy, holy One.

Both these passages have conditions that set boundaries around the recipient of answered prayer, and desires fulfilled. The Scripture outlines the boundaries for those who will recieve their desires. The passage has made completely clear, how to know prayer is according to "his will."

1 John 3 gives an unambiguous lifestyle for the one who can know they are praying according to God's will.

1. Verse 21a "if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask..." Living with a heart that does not condemn is to have the Son. 1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

2. Verse 21b "because we keep his commands and do what pleases him." Living in Christ, is to live for Him. John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Obedience to God is to KNOW Him. This requires knowing His Word. We cannot obey what we are ignorant of.

Leviticus outlines laws about "unintentional sin." God outlined how to deal with unintentional sin. Not knowing something is sin, doesn't make us guilt-free, just ignorant. Those who are in The Son, have surrendered to His Will. They want to know what he requires and out of love they want to obey. When they learn something is wrong they repent and make it right. Those in the Son desire to please him. Verse 23a "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ..."

3. Verse 23b "and to love one another as he commanded us." There is an acronym that comes to mind to sum up all of these steps and will help us know if our prayers are according to His will. The acronym is "JOY," Jesus, Others, You. There is no room for Me-centered prayers. While God does tell us to bring our concerns to Him, that too, is conditioned. Conditioned by JOY - we bring our request with Thanksgiving, Philippians 4:6-7. Thanksgiving takes our focus off ourselves and tells God our trust, through whatever circumstance, is Him.

Now that the conditions have been addressed, and examination has been done, are your prayers according to His Will? Are you offering your prayers with thanksgiving? He also reminds us, "in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” John 16:33. This is part of what we must also keep in perspective according to His Will. His Will doesn't take pain away, it gets us through it with a testimony that brings him glory. His glory, is His Will.

We can determine by Scripture if we are praying according to his will. The Scripture also warns, we can know when we are not. James 4:2-3 gives us a peek into that awful reality. The Word does not leave us without answers to the question posed, "when is prayer according to His will?"