[Maximum Joy Series] Standing on God’s PromisesSample

The Promise of Prayer in Jesus’ Name
How many of us go through life looking for love, hope, and joy in all the wrong places? Jesus is the one who promised the woman at the well a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Of course, He was not speaking of a physical fountain of water, but a spiritual fountain of living water which would give everlasting spiritual life. 

What is this “fountain of life” Jesus talks about? Is it something we only discover after we die? I don’t think so. John has been talking about it with different terms in his first letter, 1 John. In the “Introduction” to his letter, John mentions that his purpose (1 John 1:3-4) in writing is that his readers might have “full joy.” The joy of the Lord or the joy of the Holy Spirit is a joy the world does not know. And it is our present possession when we practice the principles of fellowship outlined in this book: right living, right loving, and right learning. 

Now, as John begins to bring us to the end of the letter, he gives us another lesson on joy. In these verses, we see the promise of prayer in Jesus’ name (1 John 5:14-15).
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him” (5:14-15).
These verses don’t mention joy. But when we look back at the seedbed for these verses in John 16:22-24, we can see that Jesus connects present joy with answered prayer: 

“Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:22-24). 

Another way of saying it would be this: After our initial faith in the name of Jesus, which gave us our first experience of eternal life, our subsequent expressions of faith in His name (when we pray) will bring new experiences of eternal life (joy).
John openly states that if God hears our requests, we can be confident He will grant those requests. In other words, pray according to His revealed will—something we already know to be His will (for example: loving our brother or forgiving those who hurt us). If we do this, then we know He hears us, and we can be confident He will answer. 

Are you having difficulty keeping God’s commandments? Pray in Jesus’ name. Ask God to help you. If you are having trouble forgiving someone who hurt you, go to God in prayer and say, “Father, I know it is your revealed will that I love so and so. However, it’s not within me. The pain they have caused is too great for me to overcome. But I know you live in me. And I know it is your will for me to love this person. Therefore, I pray that you would love them through me. I know you hear this prayer, and I am confident that you will answer.” 

Stand on God’s promises, pray in Jesus’ name, and experience the joy that comes from doing God’s will. He will help you, and you will experience the joy that comes from “the fountain of life.”