1 John 3:21-22

“Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.”

There is somewhat of a misconception in regards to verses of this sort.  For, this would seem to read that if we claim to love the Lord, we therefore should receive anything and everything we ask of Him.  This does not seem to limit this asking in any way, and Christ seems to reinforce this when He says, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”  This would appear to say that anything we desire would be done for us.  If this were the case, you would imagine that there would be millions upon billions flocking to the Lord, in order that they might receive what they desire.

Of course, we do not see this.  Yes, there are many coming to the Lord, there seems to be a great revival spreading across the nations, but this is not the driving cause.  What then could this verse possibly mean?  For we know that there is no lie contained within the Scriptures, and every word is blessed, indeed, inspired by the Most High.  The Lord cannot lie, therefore, why does it appear that these verses have failed us?  Why can we not simply name something which we should like to own, and it appears?  Why can we not pray to the Lord, ask him for whatever we desire and have that desire granted?  This is due to the fact that the context of this verse is not understood.

You see, the verse leads off my saying, “if our hearts do not condemn us.”  Which would mean that whatever we ask should not be something sinful or selfish; for if it were, then our hearts would condemn us that we are using the Lord for selfish ends.  Of course, the Lord does not bless those who desire wickedness, and surely if one asks for something in His Name that is evil, that draws nigh unto blasphemy.  For the Lord Jesus never asked anything selfish, and the Lord gave to Him all that He desired.  Therefore, this slides wicked desires off the table.  If we cannot ask for wicked things, may we at least ask for carnal delights?  Perhaps your object of questioning would be a nice car or perhaps a house or a job.  This is where it gets murky.  For we cannot directly ask for wicked things, but these things are only wicked if used for wicked ends.

We must acknowledge, of course, that only the Lord truly knows the motives of our hearts.  We may claim that we know ourselves, but we cannot completely know what it is that we desire.  Yes, we may think that we desire something out of holy motives, but those motives could be wholly misconstrued, misdirected.  No no, if we ask something, we must be sure that it is filled with the command of the Most High.  if we ask anything sinful, or something that may be used to sinful ends, for these would go against the incontrovertible will of the Most High God, the Almighty Creator of the Universe.  Indeed, to even suggest that the Lord give us something that is against His Will is to set ourselves up as god above the Most High, and therefore idolize ourselves.

What then are we to ask?  If we cannot ask for things of this world, what then?  Ah, that is where we must be careful, very careful.  For I did not say that we cannot ask for anything of this world, but rather that our motives must be pure.  If we desire something, then we must be assured that it is within the bounds of the Will of God.  And in this is the rub.  For everything that we ask from the Lord must be within this Will.  If we desire something, then it must be of the Will of God, if we should ask for something and hope to receive it, then it must be part of His plan.  How can we know this great plan, you might ask, in order that we might ask for the things of holiness?

Indeed, who can know the Will of God?  It is higher and more lofty than anything which we should ever be able to imagine, therefore, I much doubt that we can ever understand it.  There are many things about the Lord of Hosts that we shall not be able to understand, but that is the beauty of the Lord.  For we are so carnal, so wicked, so filled with our own pride, that we hardly can figure out much of anything about the Lord.  For us to know anything about Him, He was the one to initiate and write a book, that being, of course, the Bible, in order that we might know a single thing about Him.

Therefore, for what are we to ask?  This question is a difficult one to answer, because I know the Will of God no more than you or anyone else does.  However, we do know that the Lord desires all we do to be in holiness, which, therefore, I imagine, would mean that anything that “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,” should be the object of our prayer.  These are the things which the Lord will bestow upon His children, because these are the things of the Lord.

For He desires nothing more than to bless His obedient servants, and the greatest way in which He can bless us is through the doling out of His holy gifts.  All these things, all the things of holiness and righteousness should be the object of our desire.  These should be the very things which we ask the Lord to supply.  Do not bother with the things of this world, that fade away, that turn to dust.  For they do not bring joy in the slightest, but rather seek after the things of the world to come.  The Lord is always ready, willing, and able to bestow upon His children wisdom and insight into everything.  We can never go wrong, when asking Him for things, by asking for wisdom.  Therefore, beloved, do not ask for the things of this world, but rather the things of holiness.  Not the things of evil, but of righteousness.