Praying the Will of God

“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.” (1 John 5:14-15)

Why this verse? Because God promises when we pray His will, He’ll answer. Most of us feel we don’t have enough time for prayer. But even one minute is enough time to pray a powerful prayer, if we pray a prayer we know God will answer. The best way to do that is to pray God’s Word, which expresses His will. In 60 seconds or less it’s easy to paraphrase as many as 10-15 verses in our own words.

The better we know the Word, the more we naturally include it in our prayers. But those who are just beginning to learn the Bible can still pray powerful prayers, using verses they write down for themselves, or that have been provided in written prayers such as this:

“Help each of us who serve with e3 to love You with all our heart, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to love each other as Christ loves His disciples. May we live with clean hands and pure hearts, surrendering ourselves to You, abiding in Christ, and living in His love and in Your presence. Teach us to hear Your voice, to follow You, to trust You and not worry.” (Matthew 37:27, 28; John 10:38; Psalm 24:4; Romans 12:1-2; John 5:7-8, 9; Psalm 91:1-2; John 10:4-5; 14:1)

This prayer has 14 verses and can be prayed in less than a minute. Read it again, and ask yourself, would I like these things to be true for me and those I love? Then pray it. Pray it now, pray it often. He will answer—not overnight, but beginning right away—because these verses express His will and He promises to answer. Lord, help us to pray Your will.