1 John 5:13-15 According to His Will

Introduction

Do we personally align with the work of our Lord? Most Christians know how to answer that question quickly. We are trained to say yes. We know the right language. We know the right ideas. But it is still worth slowing down and asking whether that answer is actually being confirmed in our lives.

When the Apostle John brings this part of his letter forward, he is not giving believers a vague motivational statement. He is gathering together what he has been saying and pressing it into their hearts. He wants those who believe in the name of the Son of God to know that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13). That means confidence is not supposed to rest on shifting emotions, personal performance, or the quality of a single day. It is supposed to rest on what God has revealed and accomplished in Christ.

That confidence then moves into prayer. John does not treat prayer as a separate subject from eternal life. He treats it as something flowing out of a real relationship with God. Those who have life in the Son are no longer strangers. They are no longer condemned. They are no longer shut out. They now approach God as His people, and because they belong to Him, they are meant to have confidence before Him.

But that confidence must be understood correctly. John is not teaching that believers can ask for whatever enters their minds and expect God to submit to their wishes. He says that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14). That is not a small detail. It is the very thing that guards this passage from being twisted. The confidence John gives is not confidence that God will serve our desires. It is confidence that God hears and answers what is in line with His revealed will.

That should lead us in two directions at the same time. First, it should comfort us. God has made known what He has done in Christ, and He has not left His children guessing about whether they belong to Him. Second, it should confront us. If our confidence is rooted in eternal life, then our prayers should increasingly reflect that reality. We should begin to ask whether our desires are shaped by what God has promised, or whether they are still being quietly formed by a dying world.

What Have They Been Told?

1 John 5:13

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

John says plainly that he is writing to those who believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13). His audience is not made up of spiritual spectators. It is made up of those who trust in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the promised Savior. And what he wants them to know is not small. He wants them to know that they have eternal life.

That means eternal life is not being presented here as a distant possibility, but as a present possession in Christ. John is not telling believers to hope they might one day be accepted. He is telling them that because they have the Son, they have life (1 John 5:11-12). The point is not that Christians should become careless or presumptuous. The point is that confidence must be anchored in what God has done, not in what we imagine we can do for ourselves.

This matters because both sin and death naturally produce fear. Sin tells the conscience that judgment is deserved. Death tells the body that the curse is real. But John has spent his letter showing that both of these realities have been dealt with in Christ. Sin has been answered through atonement. Death has been broken by resurrection. Believers may still die unless Christ returns first, but even that death does not have the final word. Those who are in Christ will live again.

That is why assurance cannot be separated from the person and work of Jesus. The confidence John gives is not built on self confidence. It is built on divine testimony. God has made His Son known. God has revealed eternal life in Him. God has borne witness that whoever has the Son has life (1 John 5:11-12). This is not wishful thinking. This is the testimony of God.

John’s whole letter has been building this case.

God Has Made Himself Known Personally

At the opening of the letter, John declares that life was made manifest, that the apostles saw it, touched it, and proclaimed it (1 John 1:2). Eternal life was not left hidden in mystery. God made Himself known personally in Christ. The light has come into the world, and through Him forgiveness has become possible (1 John 1:5-9).

Those Who Know God Obey Him

John also makes clear that redemption is not invisible in its effects. Those who know God do not remain unchanged. Obedience does not create life, but it does reveal it. “By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). This does not mean believers become perfect. It means that knowing God has real, visible fruit.

Those Who Know Him Have Been Adopted

John further reminds believers that they are not merely forgiven subjects, but beloved children. “Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 John 3:2). Their future is not uncertain. Though what they will fully become has not yet appeared, they already belong to Him. That adoption gives shape to Christian hope.

He Has Completed This Through Atonement

God’s love has not been shown through sentiment, but through sacrifice. He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). The wrath our sin deserved has been dealt with in Christ. The barrier has been answered. The offense has been paid for. God’s love is not abstract. It is demonstrated in the cross.

Those Who Believe God’s Testimony Have Life

By the time John reaches chapter 5, he makes the matter plain. “This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11). Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:12). The dividing line is Christ Himself.

All of this means that believers do not have confidence because they have built something impressive before God. They have confidence because God has acted, God has spoken, and God has given life in His Son. Eternal life should therefore lift our eyes beyond this present world. It should train us to see resurrection, communion with God, and the coming kingdom not as secondary blessings, but as the main treasure.

God has revealed Himself to us in Christ. Through Christ, access to Him has been opened. The wall of separation has been answered. And now believers are told that they will live again in the world to come. That raises a searching question. Has that promise become more precious to us than the things of this world, or do we still treat eternal life as a nice addition to earthly desires?

Because of These Things, Have Confidence That He Hears Us

1 John 5:14-15

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

John is not moving away from assurance when he speaks about prayer. He is building on it. Those who have eternal life in the Son are not cut off from God. They are not left outside His favor. They are not standing at a distance, hoping they might somehow be heard. Because God has given them life in Christ, they now have confidence toward Him. This is not confidence in themselves. It is confidence in the God who has acted for them, spoken to them, and brought them near through His Son.

That means this passage is not meant to create confusion in believers, but confidence. John is not laying a trap for tender consciences. He is not saying that Christians should spend their lives wondering whether they have enough faith to make God listen. He is saying that the people of God, having been given eternal life in Christ, may truly approach Him. This is covenant confidence. It is relational confidence. It is the confidence of those who belong to Him.

At the same time, John does not give a blank check to the flesh. He says, “if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14). That phrase governs the whole promise. It explains the kind of confidence being offered. John is not saying that God signs off on every desire simply because it is prayed sincerely. He is saying that God hears and answers what is in line with His will.

To pray according to His will is to pray in line with what He has revealed about His character, His kingdom, His promises, and the work He is accomplishing in Christ. God’s will is not hidden in total darkness. He has revealed enough of Himself in Scripture for His people to pray with real direction and real confidence. He has shown what He loves. He has shown what He commands. He has shown what He is producing in His children. He has shown where history is going in Christ.

So when one of His children asks for what aligns with those revealed purposes, why would He not hear? Why would He not answer what is consistent with His own work? That is the comfort of this passage. Believers are not praying into silence. They are not praying into uncertainty. They are coming before the Father through the Son, asking in accord with what He Himself has made known.

This also protects the text from being twisted. Some people hear the language of asking and receiving and assume that prayer means getting from God whatever they want. Then, when that does not happen, they conclude that God has failed, the promise is false, or their faith must not have been strong enough. But John is not teaching any of those things. He is not teaching that unanswered prayer proves weak faith. He is teaching that confidence belongs to those who approach God according to His will, not according to the demands of the flesh.

This does not mean that only highly spiritual sounding requests matter to God. Scripture does not teach that. Jesus taught His disciples to pray for daily bread (Matthew 6:11). It is not sinful to ask for provision, help, healing, wisdom, relief, or strength. The issue is not whether the request touches earthly life. The issue is whether the request is ruled by trust, submission, and kingdom priority, or by self rule, demand, and worldly obsession.

Even here, believers need humility. God answers as Father, not as a tool for our immediate preferences. That means He may answer truly without answering in the exact form we imagined. A prayer for holiness may be answered through discipline. A prayer for endurance may be answered through hardship. A prayer for relief may be answered by deeper strength before changed circumstances. A prayer for life may finally be answered in resurrection, even when earthly healing is not given in the moment desired. None of that means God has ignored His children. It means He answers wisely, faithfully, and according to His will.

That brings the reader back to the real issue. If eternal life is truly our treasure, then our prayers should increasingly sound like people who believe that. If resurrection is our hope, if the kingdom to come is our inheritance, and if communion with God is our joy, then our desires should not remain chained to the priorities of a dying world. The challenge of this passage is not simply whether we are asking boldly. It is whether our desires are actually being shaped by what God has promised in Christ.

What Are We Asking For?

This is where the teaching of Jesus helps us.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches His people to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Even the request for daily bread is placed within a larger framework. God’s name is to be hallowed. His kingdom is to come. His will is to be done. Forgiveness matters. Deliverance from evil matters. Prayer is not centered on personal appetite. It is centered on God and then shaped by dependence on Him.

Jesus also says not to be anxious like the Gentiles, who are consumed with what they will eat, drink, or wear (Matthew 6:31-32). The Father knows His children need these things. But the call is clear, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). That means earthly concerns are not denied, but they are subordinated. They are placed under a greater priority.

Then Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). In context, this is not a blank check for worldly desire. It is a call for disciples to come to the Father with persistence and confidence, seeking the mercy, righteousness, help, and good gifts needed to live under His kingdom. Jesus is not teaching believers to treat prayer as a tool for obtaining whatever they imagine. He is teaching them to come to the Father as children who know that He gives what is truly good.

That does not weaken the point of 1 John 5. It strengthens it. God is not stingy. He is not indifferent. He is not hostile toward His children. He gives good gifts. But He gives them as a wise Father, not as a servant of disordered desire.

That raises important questions.

Are we asking for mercy? For faith? For generosity? For patience? For long suffering? Are we asking to suffer well? Are we asking to become vessels through which the character of God is seen?

Or are we selfish? Are we concerned mainly with being served? Do we want God to sustain our comforts while leaving our loves untouched?

Do we really want to be more like Christ? Does that desire actually come through in our prayers? Are we asking for things that resemble His kingdom, His holiness, and His righteousness? Or are we still using the language of faith while our desires remain quietly seduced by this world?

That is one of the sharpest implications of this passage. If eternal life is really our treasure, then our prayers should increasingly sound like people who believe that. If the coming kingdom is real, if resurrection is real, if communion with God is real, then we should not pray as though this fading world is our final home.

This is not a call to pretend that pain, fear, sorrow, or material needs are unimportant. It is a call to ask whether those things are governing us more than God’s promises. It is a call to ask whether our desires are being discipled by heaven or by the present age.

Conclusion

The Scriptures in this passage are written for believers. John wants those who believe in the Son of God to know that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13). That confidence does not rest in the strength of the believer, but in the finished work and revealed testimony of God in Christ.

God hears the prayers of His children. That is not an empty phrase. It is a real promise. But it is a promise joined to His will. He does not fail His people, and He does not deceive them. He hears and answers what is aligned with His own revealed purpose, wisdom, and goodness.

So the searching question is not whether God can be trusted. The question is whether our desires are being reshaped by what He has promised. Are our prayers in line with eternal life, or are they still being quietly governed by the world?

The comfort of this text is not that God submits to us. The comfort is far better than that. The God who has given us life in His Son now hears us, and because He is wise, holy, and good, He answers His children according to His will.

That is the kind of confidence that does not rest on self. It rests on Christ.

Scripture References

1 John 5:11-12 — Eternal life is found in the Son, and the possession of life is tied directly to union with Christ.

1 John 1:2 — Eternal life was made manifest in Christ, showing that God has personally revealed Himself.

1 John 1:5-9 — God is light, and forgiveness is found through confession and the cleansing work He provides.

1 John 2:3-4 — True knowledge of God produces obedience, showing that faith has real fruit.

1 John 3:2 — Believers are already God’s children and await the full transformation that will come when Christ appears.

1 John 4:9-10 — God showed His love by sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Matthew 6:9-13 — Jesus teaches His disciples to pray with God’s name, kingdom, will, provision, forgiveness, and protection in view.

Matthew 6:25-34 — Jesus teaches believers not to be ruled by anxiety over earthly needs, but to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness.

Matthew 7:7-11 — Jesus teaches His disciples to seek the Father with persistence and confidence, trusting that He gives what is truly good to His children.