“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 Jn 5:14)

“Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me.” (Jn 11:41-42) Jesus prayed with deep conviction and confidence. Immediately after this simple prayer, Jesus performed one of his most astonishing miracles by making Lazarus, a man dead for four days, walk out of a tomb alive. In history, great men of God have been prayerful and great signs have followed them. Today, it is important for us to examine ourselves to see whether we have the same confidence to associate ourselves with Jesus and say, “Father, I knew that you always hear me.”

Jesus hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. David was called a man after God’s heart. Many times, before or during a battle, he would ask God what to do. When we ask someone for advice, what we are really telling them is that their thoughts are worth a great deal to us. Every time David asked God for His will, it showed how much he valued God’s thoughts and feelings. The further along we get in life, the more questions we will have about what God’s will for our future might be — questions about our academic decisions, our career, our marriage, and our family. In appreciation of how much He loves us, we will naturally consider what He wants us to do, where He wants us to go, what He wants us to be. The deeper we understand God’s heart, the clearer the answers to those questions will appear in Him.

Through deep and intimate prayers with God, we build our relationships with Him. It is in prayer that God reveals to us the things that we have to correct and change about ourselves. We are able to hear His voice clearly when we pray to Him in the Spirit. When we pray with the Holy Spirit, we may not always pray with our own thoughts and words, but allow the Holy Spirit speaking in tongue to intercede for us and edify us.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Ro 8:26-27)

In prayers, we can reflect things that happened and try to seek understanding of God’s will. When we pray according to His will, He hears us.