And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
Parallel translations
- WEB This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us.
- BSB And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- NKJV Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- NASB This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- NLT And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
We have confidence that when we ask anything according to God's will, he hears us. Prayer aligned with God's will is heard by him.
Overview
John applies the believer's assurance to prayer, promising that God attentively hears requests made in line with his will. This 'boldness' flows from our relationship with God through Christ and from praying for what he himself desires. Far from limiting prayer, submission to God's will is the very condition of confident, effective asking.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- John 14:13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- Jer 29:12–13Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
- Jer 33:3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
- 1 Jn 3:21–22Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
- John 15:7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
- Matt 7:7–11Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
- Matt 21:22And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
- Ps 34:17The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
- John 9:31Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
- Jas 4:3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
- Eph 3:12In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
- John 16:24Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
- Jas 1:5–6If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
- Prov 15:29The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
- 1 Jn 2:28And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
- Heb 10:35Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
- Jas 5:16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
- Ps 69:33For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
- Ps 31:22For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
- Heb 3:14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
- John 11:42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
- Heb 3:6But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
- Job 34:28So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
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Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 5:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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