Conditions for Effectual Prayer

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 3:19-24

We want to speak about the conditions for prevailing prayer. When we study the gospels, it seems the disciples asked the Lord to teach them only one thing: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Apparently they came to realize that the prayer life of Jesus was the key to the success of his ministry. They did not know how to pray, so they asked him to teach them.

Someone said prayer is asking and receiving. That idea comes from 1 John 3:22, where we read, “[We] receive from him anything we ask.” But in order to experience that type of prevailing prayer in which we receive whatsoever we ask, there are certain conditions we have to observe.

In this epistle John provides us with several spiritual tests to prove that we are indeed children of God and so have eternal life. Although it is a small book, it is very important because it gives us all the tests necessary to insure that a person truly is a child of God.

So in this passage, 1 John 3:19-24, we find the conditions for prevailing prayer. Let me here make one comment about the text: Verse 19 should read, “By this we shall know that we belong to the truth,” meaning that we are born again, “and we shall assure our hearts in his presence.” Verse 20 presents a problem because we do not know how to translate it. I believe it is a parenthetical statement. The New International Version reads “. . .whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything.” At least we know that this verse is saying something about our conscience condemning us. Then in verse 21 we read, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,” and so on.

Tests of Authentic Christianity

In John’s time, as is also true today, many people claimed to be children of God, but, in fact, they were not,. Rather, they were children of the devil because they refused to believe that Jesus was God’s eternal Son who became incarnate to take away our sins and they refused to practice righteousness.

There are two tests by which we can know who the people of God are: the doctrinal test concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ, and the ethical test concerning how we live our lives. The true people of God are known for two things: orthodoxy, meaning having correct doctrine, and orthopraxy, meaning having a proper life, the practice of righteousness. True people of God not only believe in the biblical doctrine but they also live the godly lives that the biblical doctrine demands. They do so because they are born of God, meaning they have a new nature, and they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, meaning they have new power, new dynamics, with which to live for God.

Realizing We Are in God’s Presence

First John 3:19-24 deals with effectual prayer. The first condition we must meet in order to pray effectually is that we must realize that when we pray we are in God’s presence. Just imagine if we were invited to the White House! I am sure we would get a haircut and buy new clothing for the occasion. I am sure we would take lessons in how to speak to a great man like the President and study about him so that we could say something proper when he greets us. We would put quite a bit of preparation into that ten-second encounter because we realize that we are going into the presence of a very important person.

When we pray, we must realize that we are not praying to ourselves or to any human beings like ourselves; rather, we are entering into the very presence of the infinite, personal, all-seeing, most holy, most wise God. John Calvin often used the phrase coram Deo, meaning to be in the presence of God. The first words Jesus taught his disciples to pray were, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” So when we pray we are entering into the very presence of the God who judges “the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:12-13).

What is our response when we realize we are in the presence of God? Isaiah’s response was to declare he was unclean and undone (Isaiah 6). When he was in the presence of Jesus, Peter realized he was indeed a sinner. We must understand that in prayer we are approaching the throne of grace and we need confidence to do so. In prayer we are entering the Most Holy Place to speak to our most holy, heavenly Father. So the first condition for effectual prayer is to realize that in prayer we are coming into God’s presence.

Having a Good Conscience

The second condition for effectual prayer is to have a heart that does not condemn us. If our hearts condemn us, how can we have confidence to enter God’s presence? In other words, if our own, limited conscience condemns us, what will happen when we come before omniscience? God sees all things, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, declaring that God will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. We cannot enter the Most Holy Place with a condemning heart. We need a good conscience, a clean heart.

If you are honest, you will agree that you have experienced this condemnation of your heart when you tried to pray. I have sometimes tried to pray after having a disagreement with my wife. When I went into the presence of God, what happened? My heart condemned me. I had to stop praying, go out of that place, and go take care of the problem. When our hearts condemn us, we are miserable and have no confidence before God because we know that God is accusing, not approving, us.

How many people have come into God’s presence after lying, committing sexual immorality, disobeying their parents, or being lazy by refusing to work and support their families? I remember a man who refused to support his family. When he was confronted, instead of changing, he left the church! This man still lives off of his wife, but do you think his prayers are heard by God? No! You may have been confronted by the ministers of the church about a situation in your own life and refused to repent. But you are still praying, reading the Bible, going to church, and doing many other spiritual things. Let me assure you, God will never hear your prayers as long as you refuse to deal with your sin. You may say like the Gnostics, “Oh, well, I don’t need the church anyway. I can just go to God, pray to him, and he will hear.” No, no, no! God hasn’t heard your prayer for a long time. If God had heard your prayer, you would have been transformed and done the right thing. That is what John means when he said, “if your heart condemns you.”

If we do not repent of our sins, after awhile our consciences become seared and stop speaking to us. Some people may think that if their consciences don’t bother them even if they have sinned, they have a good conscience. But it really means their consciences are no longer functioning correctly.

In Hebrews 10:22 we read, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” If there is a relational problem that is not taken care of, how can we pray? How can we say we love God when we do not love his children, whom we can see? Church life is not merely “I and God.” Yes, church life is “I and God” but it is also “I and God’s people.” We can never go to God and expect him to hear our prayer without relational harmony.

Jesus Christ himself spoke about this in Matthew 5:23. He began, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar. . .” That refers to when you come to worship and pray and meet with God. He continued, “and there remember that your brother has something against you. . .” You see, this is your heart condemning you. When you come before God, you may suddenly remember that you fought with your wife, that you disobeyed your father, that you said, “Get lost,” to your elder, that you got on the Internet and watched pornography, that you treated your brother with contempt. Now you are clothed in your Sunday best, coming to worship God, thinking that God is pleased with you, and what does God say? “No, you cannot worship me right now. Leave your gift there and get out, because you did something evil to that brother, to that sister, to the church. You cannot come into my presence and offer sacrifice and pray and worship until you take care of that issue. Get out!” Your heart is condemning you, you are brought to remembrance, and you have no confidence in prayer.

When this happens, what should you do? Jesus says, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

The church has always had Gnostics in its midst who do not appreciate this directive of Jesus Christ. What is the motto of a Gnostic? “I and God.” In other words, “I don’t worry about anybody else. I don’t want to listen to anybody else. It is just I and God, God and I, and God always loves me, no matter what I do.” Gnostics have nothing to do with the Bible. They don’t need it because they are always in direct relationship with their God and their God always loves them. But such people have nothing to do with the God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible says, “If you go have a problem and you are reminded of it when you go to worship and your heart condemns you, leave your gift at the altar; first, go, and be reconciled to your brother and say, ‘You know, I have sinned against you. I confess my sins and repent of them. Have mercy upon me. Forgive my sin, for Jesus’ sake.’ Then, with a good heart that doesn’t condemn and a conscience that doesn’t bother you, you may come into my presence and offer your gift.” The idea there is that God will accept your gift and bless you.

We find a similar directive in 1 Corinthians 11. The Corinthian church was full of spiritual gifts, but the people didn’t love one another. It was known for divisions, especially between rich and poor. The rich did what they wanted to do, the poor did do what they wanted to do, and there was no love between the two. Yet these people all came to receive the Holy Communion. To them, their sin didn’t matter. But in 1 Corinthians 11:27 Paul wrote,

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

When many people come to the Lord’s Supper, they don’t think seriously about their sin; they just come. Such people have no fear or reverence. Judging themselves by themselves, they always give themselves the best grade all the time. But it was to such people who were eating and drinking in an unworthy manner that Paul wrote, “Examine yourself. For this reason many of you are weak, sick, and die.” Whenever physical and economic hardship come upon us, we should examine ourselves and cry out, “O Lord, have mercy upon me.”

I am not saying that God demands perfection to come to his holy presence. But he demands that we confess known sins that the Spirit of God brings to our attention.

In Psalm 66:18-20 we read, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Even though we think he has heard us, God refuses to listen when we cherish sin in our hearts during prayer. The psalmist continues, “But God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” We cannot cherish sin in our hearts and come to God’s presence, start praying and expect God to hear our prayers.

In Isaiah 59 beginning with verse 1 we read, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.” Infinite, almighty God is always hearing and seeing what we do. He is able to save us, help us and come to our aid. But there is a problem: Our sins-our secret sins, our unconfessed sins, our sins that we cherished-have become a barrier between us and our God. “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear,” meaning answer our prayers. “For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue utters wicked things.”

In Mark 11:25 Jesus again instructs us about how to have a clean heart during worship. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him. . . .” You are standing in the temple and want to worship. You are praying, and remember you have something against someone. What are you to do? Forgive him! The Lord’s Prayer says, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Why should we forgive others? Jesus concludes, “so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

In 1 Peter 3 we find a scripture especially for married people about having their prayers hindered. How many prayers of husbands and wives are not heard by God because of relational problems within marriage? If a husband and wife cannot get along, how can they pray? But many people are affected by modern feminism. Although it is against divine order, we find it even in the church of Jesus Christ. There are feminists who hate men and God’s order for the family and there are passive men who refuse to do what God wants them to do. The result is husbands who do not love their wives and wives who will not respect or submit to anybody. So in 1 Peter 3:7 we read, “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” Christian marriage is supposed to be blessed of the Lord, filled with the sufficiency of God’s grace, an institution of great joy and happiness. Why is there so much misery in marriages? Because God hasn’t heard the prayers of husbands and wives for a long, long time.

God is called cardiognôstos, heart-knower. Do you think we can come to God justifying ourselves and talking all about ourselves, saying how great and nice we are, without God knowing otherwise? No. Can we claim to be Gnostics, saying that what we do in our bodies doesn’t affect our spiritual life? No! John was writing to God’s people against Gnostics. God is a heart-knower. He knows the thoughts, the motivations, and the intents of all human hearts. Thus, we must come clean into his presence by having a proper relational life and by the cleansing blood of Christ.

So we read in 1 John 3:21, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. . . .” It means we have a good conscience before God.

Pray in Confidence

The third condition for prayer is confidence before God. When we come to God in prayer, if our heart does not condemn us, we will have confidence toward God.

What is this confidence, this parrêsia, John speaks about? In the Greek it means “all speech” or “freedom of speech.” Parrêsia denoted the most valued right of a free citizen of a free Greek city to express his view freely in the city council. He could stand up and speak his mind, in other words. Slaves could not do that. A man had to be a citizen of the city to speak his mind.

To have confidence toward God means that when we come to the presence of our heavenly Father with a good conscience, we have the right as his children to speak to him in prayer concerning our needs. Otherwise, we should be quiet because he will not let us pray. That doesn’t mean we don’t pray, but God will not listen to us because we don’t have the condition called confidence.

In 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” God is our Father and we are his children. In prayer we are coming to our heavenly Father as children with certain rights. PGM What is the wonderful right we have in the kingdom of God? It is that we can speak to the heavenly Father, and he will speak to us. Prayer is not saying prayers or reading prayers or thinking poetry in our heads. Prayer is conversation with our heavenly Father as his dear children, expressing our needs to him, and he hears us. And whatever we ask, we will receive from him, if we ask according to his will in Christ’s name, believing his promises, subordinating our requests for God’s glory and to his sovereign will. In other words, when we love God and his word, his interest will be our interest and whatever we ask, we will receive.

Keeping God’s Commandments

The fourth condition for prevailing prayer is that we keep God’s commandments. In 1 John 3:22-23 we read, “[We] receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

There are three kinds of people in the world. The first group, which includes the vast majority of people, reject Bible doctrine and Bible ethics. Most people absolutely reject Christ, in other words. Go to any university, tell all the smart people about Jesus Christ, and watch what they do. I guarantee you that the vast majority will reject Christ.

There is a second group of people who are in the churches. These people don’t have any problem accepting Bible doctrine, but they absolutely reject the life that the Bible doctrine demands. In fact, they hate it and they hate the preacher who preaches it. Such people are like the married man we spoke of earlier who was an educated man but who wouldn’t work. I told him, “You have to work. The Bible says, ‘If you don’t provide for your family, you are worse than an infidel.'” What did he do? He left the church.

If you tell such people about biblical doctrines, such as the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, that he became incarnate, and so on, they will have no problem with you. But when you talk about biblical ethics, what will they say? “How dare you tell me how I should live! I am a liberated, autonomous person. I want to do what I want to do when I want to do how I want to do. Who are you to tell me what to do?” The vast majority of people in the church belong to this second group.

Then there is a third group, which is the few who love biblical doctrines and live the biblical life. I hope we will keep these things in mind to find out where we are. So the fourth condition is that we must keep God’s commandments and do what is pleasing, not in our sight or anybody else’s sight, but in his sight. Then John writes in verse 23, “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

Here John tells us there is only one command, but it has two parts. The first part is the doctrine concerning Jesus Christ: “to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ.” This is the first time the word “believe” appears in this epistle. That is the doctrine concerning Jesus Christ, which Gnostics refused to believe. They refused to believe the doctrine as well as the ethics, so, as we read in 1 John 2:19, they went out from among them because they did not belong to them.

I have seen such behavior many times. People leave a church; then they will pray, thinking that God is hearing their prayers. Oh, no-a thousand times, no! Our most holy, most wise personal God is not going to listen to the prayers of such people and bless them.

The Doctrine Concerning Jesus Christ

The first part of the commandment, then, is doctrine. Unlike the Gnostics, we must believe in the name of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The following is a summary of the doctrine of Jesus Christ that appears in this first epistle of John:

1. Jesus Christ is God’s eternal Son. We have to believe that. If you don’t want to, you cannot be a Christian.
2. Jesus Christ is true God because he is God’s eternal Son (1 John 5:20).
3. Jesus Christ is eternal life (1 John 5:20).
4. He who has the Son has eternal life. This means if we do not have the Son, we do not have eternal life. It is that simple. We can produce our own religion and do whatever we want., but eternal life is found only in the Son. He is eternal life; thus, if we have the Son, we have eternal life.
5. This eternal Son became incarnate, taking upon himself human nature.
6. By his death Jesus Christ made atonement for our sins.
7. Jesus is the Christ; there is no other.
8. Jesus Christ is sinless (1 John 3:5).
9. Jesus Christ is our advocate before the Father. Not only do we have an advocate here in the Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us, helping us in our weakness when we do not know how or what to pray, but in heaven Jesus Christ intercedes for us before the Father.
10. The incarnation of Jesus Christ was for the destruction of the devil’s work. He came from heaven into this world for one purpose: to destroy the work of the devil, and he has done it.
11. The incarnation of Jesus Christ resulted in the taking away of our sins. There is no other way of taking away our sins. Only Jesus Christ, the God/man, can deal with our sin.
12. Jesus Christ was incarnate so that we might have eternal life (1 John 4:9).
13. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and there is no other. You must believe this. Either he saves us or we are not saved. All other religions are false. There is no other savior.
14. This Son, Jesus Christ, is coming again.

These are the doctrines found in 1 John which we must believe. But to do so is simply the faith of the devil. Even the devil believes in God and trembles. When John says we must “believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,” it means, yes, we have to have propositions that we believe, but we must go beyond and trust in him. Saving faith is entrusting ourselves to this eternal Son, Jesus Christ, the only Savior. It is an act of our will. We commit ourselves to him now and forever.

In 2 Timothy 1:12 Paul says, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” What did Paul entrust to Jesus Christ? His whole life-body and soul.

Salvation Expressed in Love

Beyond doctrine, there is life, as we read in verse 23: “And this is his command: to believe in the name of Jesus Christ and to love one another as he commanded us.” If you have trusted savingly in Jesus Christ, your salvation will express itself in loving one another. In fact, it is an utter impossibility to trust savingly in Jesus Christ and fail to love the body of Christ.

In 1 John 3:16-18 we read, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth.” How do we know we belong to the truth? We love one another.

We find this idea in Acts 2 and Acts 4. The Holy Spirit came upon the believers and all of a sudden there was this amazing love manifested among them. They loved one another and shared their wealth with everyone who had a need.

James speaks about this also in James 2, beginning with verse 14: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?”

The Ten Commandments itself can be divided into two sections. In Matthew 22:37-39 he said, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” This is what John is speaking about in 1 John 3. So in verse 23 he says in reference to God, “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he [Jesus Christ] commanded us.”

We Must Love One Another!

In John 13:34 Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” No one knew what love is until Jesus Christ came and lived his life on earth. But now we have a model: the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, if we do not love our brothers, our claim to love God is a plain lie! Belief and behavior, faith and obedience expressed through love have been joined together by Jesus Christ himself; therefore, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder!

If we say that we love God but don’t care for God’s people, we are lying. If we say that we love God but don’t care for our husbands or wives, we are lying. If we say that we love God but don’t listen to the pastor, we are lying. It is a lie and falsehood to claim to believe in God without any discernible transformation of our minds, our thoughts, and our actions. The gospel is intended to transform us. Additionally, in 1 John 5:3 the apostle says that this commandment to love God and one another is not burdensome. Why is it not a burden? Because we have been born again! Many people may claim to be born again, but they are not, and for them this commandment is burdensome. But if we are born again, God has given us a new nature; therefore, we now love God, whom we hated before. Through new birth we have received a new nature, a divine nature, without becoming divine; therefore, we say we are born of God. Not only that, now God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us, which John speaks about in 1 John 3:24: “And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us to enlighten us and empower us to keep his commandments.

In 1 John 3:19 we read, “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. . . .” By what do we know this? By our love of the brothers. We lay down our lives for them. We share our material possessions with them. We love them, not in word only, but in deed. We bear their burdens.

Modern man doesn’t like that. He says, “It is just I and God.” He hates community and being connected with others. But true Christians are children of the same Father, and it is the divine demand that we love one another. And if we meet these conditions, we can pray in confidence, with a good conscience. We will have the assurance that whatever we ask, we will receive.

What About You?

What about you? Do you know how to pray effectually? Or when you come before God, do you just say your prayers or read someone else’s prayers or just have some good thoughts, expressing no need and receiving nothing? If the latter is true, I hope you will pay attention to these conditions for prevailing prayer. May God help us all to pray powerfully, effectually, prevailingly, that we may experience what is written in this passage that we receive whatever we ask of him. Amen.