Reading your Bible for Today December 9

December 9: 1 John 5:14-17 

KJV Key Verse: 1 John 5:14
14 And this is the confidence that we have inhim, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Devotion:
One thing we must always be doing is praying for others. When we know God is on our side, we have the confidence that He is listening to all of our prayers. When He listens, He answers. So if we have the confidence that He is listening, we must have the confidence He is answering. 

But one thing we ought to know is what we should be asking for. We need to make sure what we ask is in line with His will. God's Will is that we should all be saved: (John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.) He does not want any of us to be left out, but we do have to make our own choices: (Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.) He has made sure we have a way of having our sins cleansed from us so we may be with Him: (Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.)

One of our major flaws is that we do not always see how we are sinning. You could say this is why John wrote these words. He wanted to make sure we do remember others in our prayers. When we do see someone doing something they should not be we can pray for them. We can ask God to forgive them; so long as God knows them and they know God. That is where we come in – we need to introduce Christ to them!

Christ came to earth to make sure all of our sins are forgiven, not just some of them. He made sure He took the burden of all of our sins on His shoulders and died so all of those sins are paid for in death. When we accept Him as our Saviour, He is just to forgive us of all of our sins. That even includes the ones we don't see... But if someone does not know Christ, their sins are not yet forgiven. So praying for forgiveness is not going to work. We need to pray for their salvation too! That is the only way we can be confident that their sins will be forgiven as ours are.

Points to Ponder:
How many people in your family need forgiveness?

How many of them are you asking God to save?