What Is The Will of God?

I think we’ve made “the will of God” more complicated than it needs to be.

For instance, look carefully at this verse:

This is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- 1 John 5:14 BSB

In other words, if what we’re asking is not in line with “the will of God,” God’s not even listening to us.

Some denominations have muddied the water further, trying to excuse themselves when their prayers are ineffective, saying, “It might not be God’s will for YOU to have [enter the specific request here].”

For instance, it might be God’s will that you suffer this particular sickness (or hardship) because [He wants to keep you from something you would have done otherwise; He wants to keep you humble; He wants to display your courage to others so they’ll believe on Him].

Again, these are excuses they offer to explain away their inability to get answers to prayer. Instead of acknowledging that God’s will is wholeness and health, and seeking God to understand why their prayers are ineffective, they want to blame God for the illness. (After all, who can fight God? Who are we to try to alter His will?)

Those religious philosophies make prayer much more complicated than the simplicity Jesus presented when he spoke of transactional prayer - prayer that seeks something specific from God.

And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it.
- John 14:13-14 BSB

In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
- John 16:23-24 BSB

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- John 15:7 BSB

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
- Mark 11:24 BSB

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
- Mark 11:22 BSB

Notice two common denominators:

Ask in Jesus’ name.
Believe you receive.

So, what is the will of God?

And without faith it is impossible to please God.
- Hebrews 11:6a

There it is.

Faith.

Faith is the will of God.

In today’s society we look at that word “please” and think we must to something that brings pleasure to our Father. But historically, to “please” someone is to “meet their requirements.”

Approaching God in faith meets His requirement. Approaching God with faith (in whatever we ask) is His will.

What is faith?

Assurance.

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].
- Hebrews 11:1 AMP

Where does faith come from?

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the [rhema] of God.- Romans 10:19 NKJV

And Paul solidified this concept when he wrote about how you received salvation.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this (faith) is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
- Ephesians 2:8 NIV

The very thing that met God’s requirement for salvation is the same thing that “pleases” Him when you ask for something in prayer.

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
- Romans 10:10 BSB

Now, pay attention.

When it comes to transactional prayer, most of our prayer time should be spent obtaining that faith from God. Otherwise, we will operate in whatever “faith” we can generate based on the belief systems embedded in our hearts. Instead, we should seek God for His assurance (faith) that it’s already done - the certainty that abolishes doubt and unbelief.

Once we have that (faith), we can receive because we know (beyond a shadow of a doubt) that what we ask Him for is ours - now - as our present possession.

Which brings us full circle to where we started.

And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.
- 1 John 5:14-15 BSB

What is His will?

Ask in Faith.

And what is the result?

He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.
- 1 John 5:15

Now, I know there are still questions about praying in line with “God’s will.”

What’s Next?

Next week, I’ll deal with these issues, but for no,w let me say this:

Often, our questions should not be whether what we want is His will but whether it’s His PLAN.

Or, sometimes, what we want is not the best thing for us.

When we enter into those gray areas, we can still pray to obtain Faith.

Can you guess how?

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What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered? If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- Romans 4:1-3 BSB

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb. Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- Romans 4:18-22 BSB

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
- Ephesians 2:8-9 BSB