He hears us
1 John 5:14 - Effective prayer means that we ask according to God’s will.
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
1 John 5:14 NIV
Today we’re diving into a verse in the first of three epistles that the Apostle John wrote to the early Christian churches. He begins by referring to “the confidence we have in approaching God”. John is, of course, referring to faith. In the verse just prior to this one (1 John 5:13), John stated that “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
With that verse, John sets the foundation for Christian faith:
belief in the name of the Son of God = eternal lifeIn today’s verse, he’s expanding the idea of faith (confidence in God) from salvation alone to prayer by saying “that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
David Guzik of Enduring Word explains this:
b. If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us: In this, we see the purpose of prayer and the secret of power in prayer. It is to ask; to ask anything; to ask anything according to His will; and once having so asked, to have the assurance that He hears us.
i. First, God would have us ask in prayer. Much prayer fails because it never asks for anything. God is a loving God, and a generous giver — He wants us to ask of Him.
ii. Secondly, God would have us ask anything in prayer. Not to imply that anything we ask for will be granted, but anything in the sense that we can and should pray about everything. God cares about our whole life, and nothing is too small or too big to pray about. As Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
iii. Next, God would have us ask according to His will. It is easy for us to only be concerned with our will before God, and to have a fatalistic view regarding His will (“He will accomplish His will with or without my prayers anyway, won’t He?”). But God wants us to see and discern His will through His Word, and to pray His will into action. When John wrote this, John may have had Jesus’ own words in mind, which he recorded in John 15:7: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. When we abide in Jesus — living in Him, day by day — then our will becomes more and more aligned with His will, and we can ask what you desire, and more and more be asking according to His will. Then we see answered prayer.
iv. If something is God’s will, why doesn’t He just do it, apart from our prayers? Why would He wait to accomplish His will until we pray? Because God has appointed us to work with Him as 2 Corinthians 6:1 says: as workers together with Him. God wants us to work with Him, and that means bringing our will and agenda into alignment with His. He wants us to care about the things He cares about, and He wants us to care about them enough to pray passionately about them.
It’s always enlightening when studying a verse brings up a question in your mind, and in this case, the question that popped up for me was “Who should we be directing our prayers to - God, or Jesus?” I’ve heard many a prayer directed specifically to Jesus; mine are usually addressed to God. God is, of course, the triune God — the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A prayer made to God is (at least to my non-seminarian mind) heard by all three.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus directed His followers to “pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,” (Matthew 6:9). He didn’t tell us to start our prayers with “Dear Jesus” (although there’s nothing wrong with that); instead, He commanded us to direct them to the Father. Jesus is our Mediator, through Whom our prayers reach the heart of the Father (see 1 Timothy 2:5).
This brings up another question that I’m sure we’ve all struggled with from time to time: “Why does it seem like God isn’t hearing my prayers?” Part of the answer to this can be found in that Guzik commentary earlier — we must be praying for something in alignment with His will! That’s why repeated prayers for money, that perfect job, a nicer home, or a good grade on a test (among thousands of other pleas) may never be answered.
Pastor Steven Cole, cited on Precept Austin, had these four observations to make about prayer:
(1) We should have confidence when we approach God in prayer. Our confidence is never in ourselves, but rather in Christ. After reminding us of our sympathetic high priest, the author of Hebrews states (Heb 4:16), “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (see also, Eph. 3:12). Our confidence is never in anything in ourselves, but only in Jesus Christ, whose blood gives us access to the very throne of God.
(2) We must come into His presence when we pray. We have confidence before Him (1Jn 5:14). Prayer is not just mumbling through a list or repeating some rote formula. Prayer is coming before the living God, humbling ourselves in His presence. If we have not come before God, we haven’t prayed.
(3) We must come confidently into His presence and ask. As James (James 4:2) pointedly reminds us, “You do not have be-cause you do not ask.” He adds (James 4:3), “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” We need to be sure to ask (not assume), but we need to ask with the proper motives, that our requests would further God’s purpose and glory.
(4.) If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us… Since God hears everything and even knows the unspoken secrets of our hearts, John means that He hears us favorably by coming to our aid. I’ve been at church gatherings where many children were playing as the adults sat eating or talking. Suddenly one mother jumped up and ran for her child. Why? Because she heard his cry. None of the other parents heard the cry, or if they did, they knew that it was not their child. But the mother knows the cry of her own child, and she responds to his need. Our heavenly Father knows the cry of His children. He hears our prayers.
Effective prayer means that we ask according to God’s will. He has control over all events (His sovereign will), He allows certain things to happen (or not happen) for His greater purpose (His permissive will), and He is much more likely to answer prayers that align with His standards of right and wrong (His moral will).
When you pray to God, go humbly to Him with a penitent heart, then make sure your requests are clearly stated, reflect God’s desires and purposes (not yours!), and understand that answers from God are on His schedule and in His way. Most of all, have faith that He does hear your prayers!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear God, I trust that You hear my prayers and I ask for Your wisdom to know Your will, so that my requests may please You. AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Commentary quotations from Enduring Word are used with the written permission of the author and reproduced here in their original format. © 1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com
Precept Austin was accessed on December 4, 2025 for commentary on 1 John 5:14