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Eternal Life Is In The Son; We Can Be Confident That We Have Eternal Life; We Can Be Confident Our Prayers Will Be Answered If We Pray According To The Will Of God; Praying For Believers Who Sin; The Sin That Leads To Death; Reasons Why We Don’t Have To Worry About Going To Hell

God has testified that Yeshua is the Messiah and the Son of God. We are to believe God’s testimony. And more testimony has been given. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. Those who have the Son – and they have the Son when they believe in Yeshua with real faith, faith that manifests itself in loyalty to Yeshua and His teachings – those who have the Son have eternal life.

It would be horrible to live in a state of uncertainty, unsure if we have eternal life. John wanted believers to be certain they have eternal life. 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. This means that if our lives line up with what John has written in this letter, we can know that we are saved; that we are headed to Heaven, not Hell; that we will live forever.

How about you? Do you know that you have eternal life? If you’re not sure, talk to me.

Just as we can know that we have eternal life, we can be confident that the Lord will hear and answer our prayers that are prayed according to His will. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: 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 what we asked of him. To pray so that God answers our prayers, we must pray according to His will. We must pray for the things that He wills, which means pray for the things that He wants.

Most people don’t know how to pray according to God’s will. They pray for what they want, or for what they think is best, not for what God wants or what God thinks is best.

So, here’s how to pray so that our requests are answered: First, we must be saved; to be born again; to be born by God; to receive a new nature that is like God’s nature; to have the Spirit of God living in us.

When that happens, we begin to understand the Word of God. We begin to understand what we want, and what God wants, and how they don’t always match. God’s will, what He wants, starts to become more important to us than what we want. We begin to pray – not my will, but Your will be done.

And we start desiring fewer material things. We are content if our needs are being met. We get more satisfaction and pleasure from spiritual things than material things. We begin to hunger and thirst, not for more and bigger and better possessions, but for righteousness.

We become more concerned about spiritual things than material things. We are concerned that God is honored the way He deserves; that His kingdom is extended and comes in its fullness – soon; that His will is done on Earth as it is done in Heaven; that He forgives our sins and helps us forgive those who have sinned against us; that He helps us resist temptation and delivers us from evil; that Messiah’s Community is faithful to God and the Word of God; that the Gospel is preached fully and powerfully; that the Church is growing.

We find ourselves praying for people’s spiritual well-being more than their physical well-being; that the people we love and care about are saved; are spiritually on fire; are serving the Lord; are focused; single-minded; have their spiritual priorities in order; are turning away from their sins; are close to God; are full of the Holy Spirit; are growing to spiritual maturity; and are becoming like Yeshua.

These are the things we are most concerned about and pray for. These are the things we ask God to answer and these are the things that we can have confidence that God will answer.

Most of us don’t pray well. We don’t pray for the right things. We don’t pray for the best things. Many of our prayers are not in accord with the will of God.

You want to know what good prayers look like? Here are some examples from one of the greatest followers of Messiah, Rabbi Paul:

Romans 10: For the Jewish people: Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelis is that they may be saved.

Romans 15: For Messiah’s followers in Rome: May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Messiah Yeshua had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Romans 15: For Messiah’s followers in Rome: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1: For Messiah’s followers in Ephesus: I keep asking that the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 3: Again for Messiah’s followers in Ephesus: I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Messiah, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Philippians 1: For Messiah’s followers in Philippi: This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Messiah, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Messiah Yeshua – to the glory and praise of God.

Colossians 1: For Messiah’s followers in Colossae: We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

1 Thessalonians 5: For Messiah’s followers in Thessalonica: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

2 Thessalonians 1: Again for Messiah’s followers in Thessalonica: We constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.

2 Thessalonians 2:Again for Messiah’s followers in Thessalonica: May our Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

2 Thessalonians 3: He asked Messiah’s followers in Thessalonica to pray for him and his team: Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people.

Paul prayed for the salvation of the Jewish people.

He prayed for Messiah’s followers, that they would think of each other as Messiah thought of them; that they would be unified; that they would glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah;

that they would trust God and be filled with joy and peace and hope; that they would be filled with wisdom and revelation, so that they would know God better; that they would understand the hope to which God called them, and the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for those who believe.

He prayed that God would strengthen them with power through his Spirit in their inner being, so that Messiah would dwell in their hearts through faith.

He prayed that they would be rooted and established in love, and have the ability to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Messiah, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge; and that they would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

He prayed that their love would abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that they would be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Messiah; that they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness.

He prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that they would live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that they would have great endurance and patience, and give joyful thanks to the Father.

He prayed that they would be made holy, through and through. That their whole spirit, soul and body would be kept blameless.

He prayed that God would make them worthy of his calling, and that by his power he would bring to fruition their every desire for goodness and their every deed prompted by faith.

He prayed that God would encourage their hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.

And he asked believers to pray for him and his team so that the Lord would help them spread the message of the Lord rapidly and that it would be honored. He asked them to pray that he and his team would be delivered from wicked and evil people.

These are the right things to pray for. These are the important things to pray for. These are prayers according to the will of God that God will hear and answer.

We learn how to pray according to the will of God by praying for the things that Paul prayed for.

When it comes to praying for people being healed or get a better job – we seek God and try to hear His still small voice telling us what He wants for that situation, and then pray according to what we know God wants. If we’re not sure, we make our requests known to God and ask Him to answer them if it is His will.

Here’s an example of Paul praying for healing for himself and the Lord saying no. In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12).

God wants us to pray according to His will so that our prayers are answered. And He wants us to pray for brothers and sisters who are sinning. If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.

We pray for brothers and sisters who are sinning in various ways, that they repent, turn from their sins, turn back to God and are restored; but we don’t have to pray for those who are committing a sin that leads to death. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

What is a sin that leads to death? While there are quite a few interpretations, it seems to me that it’s a sin that leads to spiritual death, to damnation, to Hell; that it’s a sin that applies to non-believers, not believers; that it’s the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Mark informed us about it. Yeshua was doing miracles and casting out demons, and some of the religious experts concluded that He was getting His powers from Satan; that He was like Pharaoh’s magicians who did miracles, but opposed Moses and God.

Of course, Yeshua was filled with the Spirit of God. Anyone who saw Yeshua doing miracles that helped people and set people free from the control of the demons and came to the conclusion that Yeshua was empowered by Satan was in a very dark place. He had dug so dark a spiritual whole for himself that it would be impossible to be rescued from.

Hear the words of the Son of God: Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin. God will forgive all kinds of sins and blasphemies – bad things spoken about Him and things closely associated with Him. But, He will not forgive those who see clear demonstrations of Yeshua’s reality, and then conclude that Yeshua is evil.

Believers don’t need to worry about going to Hell – for several reasons. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Messiah Yeshua. He is the true God and eternal life.

Those who continue to sin don’t know God and will go to Hell. Those who have been born by God and have that new nature like God’s nature, will sin, but they will not continue to sin. When they sin, their new nature will be repulsed by their sin, and they will turn back to God who will help them turn away from their sin.

We don’t need to worry about going to Hell because we have the Greatest Ally to help us overcome sin and the evil one. We have the Son of God to keep us safe, and He is greater than the evil one and his fallen angel allies. The One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.

The Son of God was born of God, but that does not mean He is a created being, and that there was a time He didn’t exist; a time before He was born of God. He was always born by God. He always existed as the eternal Son, always was in the relationship of eternal Son of the eternal Father.

The children of God belong to God and are under His control. We are not under the control of the evil one like the rest of the world is, and we will not share the evil one’s future in the Lake of Fire – a future which will be shared by the world. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

We don’t need to worry about going to Hell because the Father is the true God. He is greater than the god of this world. And He is truth. He is very, very real. And He the source of eternal life. And He has given us understanding and knowledge so that we know Him and are united to His Son, who is united to the Father; and knowing the true God and being united to the true God means enjoying eternal life. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Messiah Yeshua. He is the true God and eternal life.

If we are believers, true believers, children of God, our salvation, our eternal life, is very safe, very secure, very certain. We won’t go to Hell.

John ended his letter with a final warning. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. God the Father is the true God. He alone deserves our love, devotion, our service. We must not serve any other god – the god of this world, or other so-called gods, or anything that we make into an idol; anything we serve or are devoted to more than God. God deserves our all.

Let’s pray:

Father, thank You for John, who wrote this letter. Thank You that You inspired John to write this letter, and that it contain pure truth unmixed with any error.

Help us believe everything in this letter and put it into practice.

Help us truly believe in You and that Yeshua is the Messiah and the Son of God and live according to those truths.

Help us to have fellowship, a real sharing of life and values with You and Your Son.

Help us live in the light; live according to the truth.

Help us be loyal to the truth teachers and reject the false teachers.

Thank You that anyone born by You does not continue to sin. Help us to be born by You, to be born again, to receive that new nature.

Help us to not continue in our sins.

Help us confess our sins and quickly turn away from our sins.

Help us to purify ourselves.

Help us to know Your commands and keep Your commands.

Help us to love one another.

Help us so that Your Word lives in us, and Your Spirit lives in us.

Thank You that You have given us eternal life, and this life is in Your Son, and that whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Thank You that we can be sure we have eternal life.

Thank You that Your Son keeps us safe, and the evil one cannot harm us.

Thank You that we can pray according to Your will so that our prayers will be answered.

Thank You that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know You and live in You who are true, You who are eternal life.

Father, You deserve our love, our devotion, our lives as living sacrifices, our total service. Help us stay away from idols.