We have this confidence in him
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
This implies that there are some things that, even though they are according to his will, may not come about without our prayers. Why take such a drastic step as to put the order and governance of the universe in the purview of famously fallible creatures? Why would God not just always cause his will to come about whether anyone desired it or not? Perhaps the contingent things that may or may not come about are of a lower order of goodness than that of Christians who desire what God himself desires, and that it is to make his children more like him that he shares with them the dignity of his own divine causative power.
And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask,
we know that what we have asked him for is ours.
God knows how to accomplish his plans in the world, and acts within it to bring them about. We can consider it for our perspective in which our prayers are sometimes answered and sometimes not. And from this perspective we can see that he desires to build our own desire to be more like his, rather than to fulfill our every whim. But if one contingent cause or another fails we know and trust that God has taken this into account in the back picture. Thus no failure of an individual or group is able to sabotage his plans for salvation. But from our perspective we may miss out on quite a bit, especially in terms of our confidence in his fatherly care.
If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly,
he should pray to God and he will give him life.
Among the things about which we should definitely pray are situations when we see our brother sinning. John assures us this is exactly the sort of goal that God will help to accomplish. There is, after all, no other reliable way to make an impact in the human heart where such a change is needed than for God himself to work within it to change it. John presumes that such a heart is open to change, struggling with sin, rather than surrendered to it. Such a one desires the supernatural support that Christian brothers and sisters can provide. This is why such prayers are reliably among the most effective we can make. They are in accord with God's will, and the person in question is at least open to healing and freedom. Those given over to conscious, willful sin, that is, deadly sin, are definitionally not open to God. Thus our prayers for them can't function with the same almost automatic effectiveness as our prayers for those in venial sin. We can and should pray for such individuals. But John seems to understand that there are no guarantees in this regard. Whether or not we can influence the outcome or even ever see it come about we should nevertheless entrust those in deadly sin to God's providential care. There is no such thing as a heart so hardened that it cannot be converted, and some of the hearts that were once the hardest went on to become some of God's most fervent followers.
We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin;
but the one begotten by God he protects,
and the Evil One cannot touch him.
Someone with God's seed within them cannot persist in the practice of willful habitual sin. Nor need he do so, since God protects him. An individual like this is protected by God because he has opened himself to his protection, and chosen to rely on him. However, this means that those who are not begotten by God must contend with the influence of the world and the Evil One by their own strength, strength which is often insufficient. They are still within the world "under the power of the Evil One". Our prayers to keep ourselves and our loved ones from this influence, and our prayers that those now under it be set free, are clearly of utmost importance. Sin inherently compromises our prayer by dissipating our holy desire. But our prayer strengthens us against things that lead to temptation and delivers us from the power of the Evil One. We can move from confidence to ever greater confidence in the Father's love for us.
He is the true God and eternal life.
Children, be on your guard against idols.
Our prayers protect our connection to God and keep us rooted in his gift of eternal life. This is why we must be on guard against every false god in our own lives. As Dylan famously sang, "it may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you’re going to have to serve somebody". Nothing in our lives is quite as value neutral as we might imagine. It is either properly ordered to God or it is an idol, something to which we attribute value that can only be truly found in God himself. Idols are easier to destroy when they are new and small in our lives, so we should be on guard against them. They never deliver on the their promises. It is easier to recognize this immediately rather than to try to extricate ourselves from an eventual addiction. But if serving idols of frustrating and unfulfilling, there is nothing better than loving the true God.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
Bob Dylan - You Gotta Serve Somebody
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