5:14-15. He's expressed this idea earlier in John 3:21-22. What is really going on here? what is the right way for us to think about prayer? Look at John 15:7 - abide. What is the implication of His word abiding in us? Think of how a prayer journal might shape our conception of prayer that might be unhelpful. We might think that prayer is shaped by making requests. It might seem in this passage what is put before us is that we can have confidence when we ask. He does want us to ask. If we abide, then when we come to prayer, it's to be understood we are going more than asking. We extol. Ask forgiveness. Also, we don't see the whole picture. "According to His will." 1 Thessalonians 4:3 tells us more in the Bible - what He says. We need to pray the word and submit to His will when praying for circumstances. The God of all outcomes. His time not ours.
5:16a. Intercession here. We need to pray first.
5:16-17. This isn't special knowledge like the gnostics believe. What kind of sin leads to death? The sin that we are not actually converted. Pray "Lord, transform their heart." It's a rejection of truth - the sin that leads to death. Jesus intercedes for Peter remember.
Reads "from the valley of vision."
John concludes now with the three tests again.
Verse 18. Test of righteousness. We don't keep on sinning. "The evil one does not lay hold of us." Think of Job and Peter.
Verse 19. The test of love.
Verse 20. The test of truth.
Verse 21. Keep yourselves from fakes, false conceptions. God is not like us!
Three questions:
1. What causes us to doubt we have eternal life?
2. What causes us to doubt that God hears our prayers?
3. What causes us to doubt that Jesus leads us not into temptation?
Next: Session 9: Walk in Truth and Love
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