A prayer without faith is like a key without a hand to turn it.
In John we find some great truths about prayer:
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.Let's read it again and look at some key words. "This is the confidence." Or, this is the faith. We have this confidence in Him, that if we ask any thing, according to His will, He hears us. "And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."
(John 5:14-15)
Notice that two key words here are anything and whatsoever.John said you can ask anything that you desire and have whatsoever you ask. If we know that He hears us, we know that we have whatsoever we desired of Him.
If God hears you, if you get an audience with Him, you already have granted to you as your present possession what you ask.
Ask According
Now somebody says, "Yes, but that's if it is the will of God for you to have it." Well let's look at verse 14 again. This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything. Now why would he say any thing, if it has to be His will before it will work?
Let's say it this way so you can see it, "If you ask according to His will for asking." His Word is His will. This passage is not dealing with God's will for you to have or not to have a certain thing. This is not even involved in the verse of scripture. Many have thought it was and it has held them in bondage for years.
They said, "If I pray for something that is not God's will, then I won't receive it."
Therefore they didn't take time to find the will of God, but prayed saying, "Lord, if it be Your will." There was no faith in that prayer. No need of praying that prayer. You are wasting your time. You do not know whether God has heard you, so you cannot release faith in your prayer. That prayer will not produce for you because it does not qualify on the basis of God's rules for asking. Answered prayer is governed by spiritual law (God's Word).
Many times our prayers have gone unanswered because we did not determine the will of God before asking. Therefore we could not release faith in that prayer. Then on other occasions we have prayed beyond God's ability to answer. If He did do what we ask, He would violate His Word.
God's will concerning your having or not having is not involved in verse 14. Now don't misunderstand me. I am not saying you should pray just for anything whether it is God's will or not, but you can do that. The Bible says you can. If you know He heard you, you will have whatever you requested right, wrong, good, bad or indifferent.
It is very dangerous for a person to pray for something assuming that it is God's will. You can believe and receive things that are not God's will. Israel received a king to rule over them. It wasn't God's will, but they requested it.
by Charles Capps
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers