Sharing is Caring

  ‘You may know that you have eternal life.” (7) [1 John 5:13-21]         The Apostle John clearly shows an illustration of praying according to the will of God in 1 John 5:16-17: “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.” In this example, the Apostle John exhorts that if anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray to God (‘ask God for forgiveness’). Here, what is the sin that does not lead to death? (vv. 16, 17) I believe that one of the sins that does not lead to death is the sin of not loving one's brother. My thought is based on 1 John 3:14 – “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does ...

‘You may know that you have eternal life.” (6) [1 John 5:13-21]         The second assurance is the assurance of answering prayer. In other words, it is the assurance that God will hear our prayers if we only ask according to God's will.         When you pray to God, are you confident that your prayers will be answered? On November 8, 2020, while meditating on the words of Psalm 55:16-17, I would like to share what I wrote under the title ‘Why am I not sure of answers to my prayers?’: Why am I not sure of answers to prayers? Why am I praying to God, but not convinced that God will hear me? Perhaps the reason is because I am being led by a situation when I am praying to God. So, when the situation seems to be getting better for me, I seem to have confidence in my prayer in the thought that God is hearing my prayer. But if the situation is getting worse in my opinion, I cannot have confidence in prayer. Maybe that's because right now ...