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. If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. — 1 John 5:14-17 (NIV)
I remember hearing someone who had served in Vietnam tell an interesting story. In the process of his training, he had met another soldier who did not believe in God. He had no interest in spiritual things at all. They shipped out together and both joined the war effort in Vietnam. After they arrived, they were separated. This soldier didn’t see his friend for some time. During that time, they were both actively involved in some fierce fighting. Then one day he bumped into his friend. He noticed that his friend now had a chain around his neck that had several religious symbols hanging from it. He said to his friend, "I thought you didn’t believe in God?" His friend replied, "I believe NOW!"
It has been said that there are no atheists in foxholes or on crashing planes. In those situations, even irreligious people will resort to prayer. But while almost everyone prays in a crisis, our society as a whole generally believes in prayer. In a Gallup survey, people were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: Prayer is an important part of my daily life. An amazing 76% agreed that prayer was an important part of their daily lives. In another Gallup survey, people were asked to choose which activities they believed most strengthened the family. Praying together ranked third highest on the list and beat out taking vacations or going camping together by three to one. Incidentally, the activities that ranked number one and number two were attending church or religious activities together and eating at least one meal together each day. We see that prayer is something that most people engage in on a regular basis.
Now, it should go without saying that Christians certainly engage in prayer. We have been taught to pray. We have heard sermons on prayer. We have prayed for all kinds of things. But I suppose the most difficult thing to handle about prayer is unanswered prayer. Unanswered prayer is frustrating, to say the least. Why aren’t all our prayers answered?
Well, the answer to that question should be obvious. In fact, even Garth Brooks sings a song entitled "Thank God for Unanswered Prayer." Some of our prayers don’t need to be answered, except by a NO! Ruth Graham, Billy Graham’s wife, once said, "God has not always answered my prayers. If He had, I would have married the wrong man several times!" There is no doubt all of us have asked for things which, had we gotten them, would have caused us more hurt than help. At the time, they seem like a good idea. But, looking back, we see now that we were far better off without them.
John deals with the subject of prayer in our text today. In it, he gives us both a general principal concerning how to be effective in prayer and a specific real life illustration that challenges us to be involved in praying.
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. — 1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
John tells us that we can have confidence when we pray. Who wouldn’t like to have confidence in prayer? I suppose that the reason why we do not pray more boldly is because we lack this confidence in prayer. But we can have confidence. We can have confidence if we understand the basis upon which God answers prayer.
In telling us why we can have this confidence in prayer, John also gives us the fundamental and essential principle of answered prayer. This fundamental principle is the key to answered prayer. And the key to answered prayer is praying according to God’s will.
In verse 14 we read: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. God hears us when we pray according to His will. Knowing and praying according to the will of God, then, is the key to getting God’s attention.
Now when I say that praying according to God’s will is the way to get God’s attention, I do not mean to imply that God is somehow inattentive. No, God is extremely interested in everything about our lives. God desires to give us those things which will help us and bless us and enable us to follow Him. What John is saying is that our challenge is to discover what God wants to do in our lives and in our circumstances and then pray according to His will and desire for us.
You see, prayer is an exercise in discovering God’s will. Through prayer, we come to know and understand what God is doing. You see, prayer is essentially talking to God. Prayer is building a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s how we build relationships with one another. That’s how we build a relationship with our spouse or our children – we talk to them. We spend time with them. We communicate. And in that communication we discover exactly who they are and how they think. And the same is true for our relationship with God.
Indeed, John told us this in his Gospel. In John 15:7, Jesus is speaking, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." We see an important principle expressed here. It is the principle that through our abiding relationship with Christ we will be able to pray effectively because His words abide in us and motivate our prayers.
This is really what it means to pray "in Jesus’ name." I remember, growing up, always hearing people add that phrase to the end of their prayers. At the conclusion of every prayer, they would say, "In Jesus’ name I pray – Amen." I was taught to always pray "in Jesus’ name." So I concluded that to pray "in Jesus’ name" is simply to add that phrase to the end of a prayer. Jesus said that if we ask anything in His name He would do it. So why don’t all the prayers that we pray in that way get answered? It’s because that is not what it means to pray "in Jesus’ name."
To pray in Jesus’ name means that we are aligned with His purposes. To pray in Jesus’ name means that we have surrendered to His desire and will for us. It means that His priorities have become our priorities. It means that His will has become our will. To pray in Jesus’ name does not mean that we simply add a phrase to the end of our prayers as some kind of magic formula. If this were indeed the case, God would have committed Himself to answer all kinds of greedy self-serving prayers. "God make me a billionaire. God, give me this thing or that thing." But God has never consented to be our spiritual vending machine. God has a plan for our lives and He desires for us to discover that plan and communicate that discovery to Him in prayer. Then we will see some results.
So we see that the real secret of effective prayer is praying according to the will of God. It is not simply ending a prayer with a phrase, rather it is praying according to what we truly believe God desires to do in our lives. In fact, you could change the phrase at the end of your prayers from "In Jesus’ name" to something like this: "Lord, I am praying this prayer because I truly believe that this is your will." That is what it means to pray "In Jesus’ name."
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. — 1 John 5:14-17 (NIV)
When they pray, most people pray for themselves. And praying for yourself is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with that. But the focus of our prayer should also be outward. There is a real need for intercessory prayer.
Intercessory prayer is praying for other people. This means that we speak on their behalf to God. And John tells us that we need to be engaged in this kind of prayer.
He uses the example of praying for people who are engaged in sin. Now, this passage has been a difficult one to understand. In it, John speaks of a sin that does not lead to death and a sin that leads to death. He doesn’t really say anything to define what kinds of sins these are. So we are left to speculate as to what exactly he is talking about. We can only speculate on what the sin that leads to death really is.
There are several views as to what this sin is. One view says that it is some specific sin like the "mortal" sins defined by the Roman Catholic Church. These are the grosser sins — like murder or suicide. Another view is that it is the sin of apostasy. Apostasy is basically the denial of Christ and the renunciation of the faith. And another view is that it is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This was the sin committed by the Pharisees. It was a deliberate rejection of the truth concerning Jesus Christ. And Jesus Himself said that there was no forgiveness for this sin either in this world or the world to come.
While we cannot say without certainty exactly what John was speaking of here, it seems that this last view is the most correct. Based on Jesus’ words, and on the nature of the sin itself, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be the only sin that it would be futile to pray for. It would be the only sin that would ultimately result in eternal damnation. You see, if you reject Christ as your Savior, there can be no forgiveness for that. So, for that person, we would not pray that they would be forgiven for that sin but that God would change their hearts. They don’t need forgiveness. They need repentance — a change of mind and heart.
But we must not allow the debate over what is the exact nature of these sins to deflect us from the real point John is making here. The point is that we should be engaged in prayer for one another. We should be involved in intercessory prayer. We are interconnected in the church of Jesus Christ. We are one body. We are interrelated in such a way that one life impacts another. What you do makes a difference to someone else. What they do makes a difference to you. And so, we must never see ourselves as independent agents. We must see ourselves as dependent upon each other. That is why we need to pray for one another. That is why, when we see someone struggling with sin, we need to pray that God would grant forgiveness. That is the real point John is making here. This is a practical illustration of the need to put prayer into practice by praying for one another.
It should also be an encouragement to pray for those who do not know Jesus Christ. You see, as long as they have not finally rejected Jesus Christ, they may come to know Him. And the difference may be your prayers. In this regard, we do know how to pray. You see, God has told us that it is not His desire that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So when we pray for a lost friend, or relative, or co-worker, we can pray boldly that they would come to know Jesus Christ. At the end of that prayer we can certainly say, "Lord, I am praying this because I know that you love this person and you don’t want to see them perish in their sins. You have said that you desire to see them come to repentance. I pray this because I know that is what you desire. I pray this, because I know this is your will." Now that’s exciting! That gives us real incentive to pray for those who do not know Jesus Christ yet.
The key to effective prayer is praying according to the will of God. The key to praying according to the will of God is to maintain that abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. And the real need for prayer is intercessory prayer. As we pray for others, God will meet their needs and also take care of ours as well.
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