First John 5:14 gives us a powerful assurance in prayer: “he hears us.” This is our “confidence” John says. Yarbrough’s discussion of this truth is moving & instructive.<\/p>\n
“The loftiest attainment of errant mortals petitioning before the heavenly throne is not to gain God’s compliance but to be fully assured of his listening ear \u2013 whatever external results our prayers do or do not precipitate from God’s side. ‘If we know that he hears us, whatever we request,’ it is enough. The highest divine response to the petitioner is not to put human prayer in the driver’s seat of destiny but to assure the one who prays that all requests are duly considered and acted on so as to maximize the coming of God’s kingdom and the fulfillment of his will \u2013 the attitudinal common denominator that Jesus taught should characterize all his disciples’ prayer.<\/p>\n
Therefore, when John writes that ‘we know that we have the requests that we have requested from him,’ he is affirming that to know that God hears, to trust that he always acts in a wise and timely fashion, and to commune prayerfully with him in that settled assurance is in itself the deepest gratification of those who have eternal life in his Son (cf. 5:11 \u2026).”<\/p>\n