WWUTT 447 That You May Know You Have Eternal Life?

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The letter that John has written, that we know of as 1 John, he has written to his readers so that they would know that they have eternal life.

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This is the promise of a loving father when we understand the text. You are listening to When We Understand The Text, an online

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Bible ministry so that we may know all the riches freely given to us by God. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Today, we are reading 1 John 5, verses 13 through 21, and we'll remain in this section between today and tomorrow as we finish up our study of the book of 1

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John. The apostle writes, I write these things to you, who believe in the name of the

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Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will,

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He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.

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If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.

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There is sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that.

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All wrongdoing is sin. But there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning.

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But he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

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And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know

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Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true

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God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

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We come back again to verse 13 here. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the

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Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is something that I've been repeating over the course of the whole letter, and finally we get to this verse, that John has written these things to his hearers so that they would know of the eternal life that they have in Jesus Christ by the love of God the

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Father. He wants us to know that we are saved. And there are many denominations, teachers, churches out there that will say that God doesn't want you to know that you are saved, because if you know, then you're probably going to go, oh, well,

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I'm fine, and then go sin, and God doesn't want you to do that. So He wants to leave you in mystery.

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That way you'll remain steadfast in the faith, always wondering if you're doing enough or doing the right thing.

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Am I actually saved? And so by being left in mystery that way, you're more likely to strive to maintain a salvation.

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But that's simply not our work. Getting saved was not our work, and staying saved is not our work.

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We are, from beginning to end, saved by the power of God and Him alone.

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It is God who saves, and it is God who keeps us saved. Therefore, He does indeed want us to know of the security of salvation that we have.

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The Calvinistic doctrine, of course, that goes along with this is the perseverance of the saints, that when a person is saved, they will persevere in that salvation.

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They will continue in that. They will grow and be disciplined, and they will remain steadfast.

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They will progress in holiness. You know, as we have the statement in scriptures to walk with God, Micah 6, 8, that's one place where it says, what does the

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Lord require of you, O man, but that you do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your

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God? Well, the whole concept, the whole idea of walking with God signifies a progression.

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If you're walking, you're getting somewhere. And so as we continue this walk of faith, we're going to grow in faith.

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We're going to grow in matters of holiness, in maturity, in understanding and knowledge of the things of God according to His word.

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These are things that should mark a Christian life, a progression in growth and understanding.

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And so this comes with John's statement in 1 John 5, 13, that you may know that you have eternal life.

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And one of these evidences that we have of eternal life is the progression of faith that we are in.

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That was kind of suggested yesterday as we were looking at the section in 1 John 5, verses 6 through 12, where it says that there are three that testify, the spirit and the water and the blood.

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And these three agree, the water being the purification of Christ. If we are reflecting the purity of Christ, then we're growing in holiness.

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So this is a witness to us that we know that we are saved when we can observe in our own lives a progression and a growth in holiness.

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So God, our loving, benevolent Father, indeed wants us to know that we are saved.

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An analogy that I've used related to this in the past is what kind of father would leave his kids in mystery?

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Bye, kids. I'm going to work today. Hope you have a great day. Daddy will see you later. Maybe, maybe

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I'll be home later. Never can tell. Maybe this is the last time you're ever going to see me.

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Maybe I'll just decide I'm not going to come home anymore. I found another family. I decided I want to go off and do another thing.

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I don't know. Well, guess we'll just wait and find out. What kind of loving father would say something like that to his kids?

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To keep them in constant mystery, to never know that they're securely in the love of their own father.

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And just as an earthly father would not treat his kids that way, at least not a loving earthly father.

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So our loving, benevolent, holy, heavenly father would never leave us in that kind of mystery either.

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Furthermore, the kind of love that God has for us, we can be more certain of that love than we can be of the love from our own earthly fathers.

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I'm ashamed to admit, but I have a tough time following through with my word to my son.

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There are times that I'll say something like, hey, buddy, when I get home from work today, I'll sword fight with you. He's got these

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Nerf swords, it's a daddy son thing we like to do. We like to sword fight. And then I'll get home from work and forgot,

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I'll forget that I said that to him before we left. And then it comes down to bedtime and he'll say, oh, daddy, you said you were going to sword fight with me when you got home from work.

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That's right. I did say that. And that I seem to do that with Zeej more than I do with even my daughters say that I'll do something with him and then forget and don't follow through with it.

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So that's that's tough. And that eats at me when I realize I have said to my son that I would do something with him that I end up not doing.

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And so God is even better at following through with what he says he will do for us than we are even able to do with those whom we love.

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And we say to them, hey, I will do this for you. And then we don't always follow through with what we say that we're going to do.

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Well, God is is a better promise keeper than we are.

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He wants us to know of the salvation that we have and wants us to be confident of that salvation, as John goes on to mention in verse 14.

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And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

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Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 32, says the following. Recall the former days when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those who were likewise treated.

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For you had compassion on those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your own property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession, an abiding one.

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Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised for yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.

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But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

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But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

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Our perseverance in the faith is one of those marks of assurance on our lives of the saving faith of Christ that we have.

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Do not let go your confidence, it says in verse 35, which has a great reward.

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Hebrews 10 35. And this isn't this isn't an interpersonal confidence. It's not something that you have that's like a personal characteristic that you're cocky and arrogant and prideful.

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OK, not that kind of confidence, not something that resides in you. It's a confidence in Christ. It's a confidence in knowing that God will deliver on the things that he has said that he will do.

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And when we have that kind of confidence in God, not in ourselves, not in anything of this world, we have assurance and we know the love that he has for us in Jesus Christ, because God is faithful to himself and as he is faithful to do the things that he has said he is going to do.

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We know that we who are included in that divine plan have nothing to fear of the coming judgment, but that we will be delivered from the wrath of God.

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We will be delivered from the futility of this world into the eternal kingdom of God forever with his son.

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We know these things because God has promised them and he is faithful to himself.

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He did not forget his son, leave him in the grave. You will not let your holy one see corruption, the scripture says, or abandon his soul to But after dying on the cross and purifying the people of God of their sins,

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God showed that he received that sacrifice, that it was acceptable and pure by raising

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Christ from the dead. And then Christ ascended into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the father.

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God is faithful to his promises. He is faithful to his own son. And so we who are in the son know that we have the promises that have been given to the son.

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All of these things playing into the assurance that we have in our faith promised us from God.

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And this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

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You ask anything from God according to his will and it will be given to you. And notice the qualifier in there.

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If you ask anything of God according to his will, you know, this is a great verse to remember and memorize.

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First John 5 14. Lest you encounter anybody from the word of faith or name it and claim it movement who is going to tell you that God is just simply going to give you whatever it is that you ask for.

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I was I was even listening to a sermon yesterday from the Potter's house, which is

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T .D. Jake's church down in Dallas, Texas. Don't ask me why I was doing this, but I brought this sermon up.

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It was not Jake's who was preaching. It was another guy at his church. His name escapes me now, but I wasn't familiar with him.

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And so I pulled up a sermon at the Potter's house from this particular guy. And you know what?

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I'm going to go ahead and play a clip of it. You can kind of hear what I'm talking about related to the name it and claim it sort of theology.

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So today, God, I want you to move up and down these aisles. It's not about Shane Perry.

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It's not about my preaching ability. It's not about who I am as a person, but it's all about you.

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And I want you to speak through me to your people today. And I decree and declare that not one person that came in this building shall leave the same way they came.

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I decree and declare healing over this house in the name of Jesus. I decree and declare freedom over this house.

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Liberty to rest ruling about in this place. And God, we give you the praise for it right now in Jesus name.

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Now, come on, release that hand and put your hands together and let's give God some praise in here.

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Now, let me say this because I understand that many times praise has become a warm up before preaching.

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But one of the translations for the word praise is barah, which means the ability to create, which means when you give

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God praise, you create space for him to bless your life. Now I'm trying to get delivered from saying touch your neighbor too much.

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So listen, y 'all give me, can I get 10 touching neighbors a day? I'm going to try to only do five, but I want to give myself some wiggle room.

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All right. So I'm going to take one of them right now. Touch your neighbor and say neighbor, give me some room.

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Cause I'm about to give God a praise and make space for my next level.

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Now, come on, put your hands together, open up your mouth and give him some praise in here.

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Come on, shout hallelujah. Anyway, you get the gist of all of that.

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He actually goes on from there to lift up praise to TD Jake's and then tells the congregation to praise

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Jake's wife. And then he praises his own wife. And it's like, oh man, give it a rest.

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Somewhere in there. He probably gets to preaching, but I don't know. I stopped watching at that point. I saw his name,

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Shane Perry. I had no idea who he was. So I pulled up a sermon to listen to something of his and that's what

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I got. And then I deeply regretted it. But you heard in his prayer there, the name it and claim it.

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I decree and declare this. I decree and declare this. And then he tells the congregation, the word praise means this.

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And so when you praise, you create space for God to bless you. So lift him up, lift up praises so that you can create space for him to be able to bless you.

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It's that whole name it and claim it thing. And oftentimes when you've got folks that believe that way, they're throwing at you verses like John 14, 14.

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If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Or Mark 11, 24. Therefore, I tell you whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

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Well, a great way to respond to those who misuse and misapply those verses in that way is with first John 5, 14.

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And this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us not just asking for anything in his name, according to the will of God.

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James 4, 3 says you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.

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We ask of God according to his will, what will glorify God and praise his name, not what will benefit or glorify us.

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I have a funny story. This is just kind of a side note here. But I remember passing by a church sign one time that said, ask me for whatever you wish and I will give it to you.

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Mark 6, 22. I had to crack up at that sign because Mark 6, 22 is

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Herod talking to his daughter. It is not Christ talking to us.

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Ask me for whatever you wish and I will give it to you. Somebody just like Bible gateway that passage and they came up with that and we're like, oh, hey, that would look good on our church sign.

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And apparently they thought it was Jesus saying that to his disciples.

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No, it's Herod saying that to his daughter. Anyway, random thought, random comment there. But this is how we ask rightly of the

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Lord. When we ask according to his will, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

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And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him again, according to his will, not just anything.

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God, give me this house. God, give me this car. God, give me prosperity. God, give me health. That's not what we're talking about here.

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We're talking about that which is glorifying God. So give me an example of that.

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Brother Gabe, what are you talking about? Asking something according to the will of God? Well, asking that you would have more faith, asking like the man who asked of Christ to heal his daughter and said,

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Lord, I believe now help my unbelief, asking the Lord God to give you understanding, to help you understand a passage, to give you an opportunity to share the gospel with somebody else, to give you wisdom, to know how to answer each person.

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As the apostle Paul talked about in Colossians chapter four, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, knowing how to answer each person.

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Ask the Lord for that. How can I know how to answer another person with the questions that they ask of me so that I might be able to respond the way that we're instructed to respond in 1

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Peter 3 .15. In your heart, set apart Christ as holy, always ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you, but do this with gentleness and respect.

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God, give me an ability to do that. Praying the scriptures because the scriptures are the will of God.

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What is God's will? Read the scriptures and then you know the will of God and then pray according to what the scriptures say to you and ask that of God so that his will would be done in your life.

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Praying the Lord's prayer. Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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That's asking for God's will to be done according to his will.

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And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask and we know he hears us because, as we read previously in 1

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John, we have an advocate before God, the father, and that is in his son, Jesus Christ.

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And as we read it also in 1 Timothy chapter two, he is our mediator who is taking our requests before the

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Lord God in heaven. And so we know all who are in Christ are loved by their father in heaven.

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We can call upon him as father because we've been adopted into the family of God through the son,

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Jesus Christ. So anything that we ask for in his name, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him because we are his children.

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And if we are his children, we know the mind of the father. And if we know the mind of the father, we will ask according to the will of the father.

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Remember again, 1 John 3, 1, see what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called the children of God.

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And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

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Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared.

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But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.

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And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

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Let us have a confidence in Christ Jesus. Let us pursue holiness and righteousness in the name of Jesus Christ, our

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Lord. And if we ask God for these things, according to his will, he will give it to us because we are his children and he loves us.