9 January 2016 - dangerous confidence?

[ Today's Readings ]

We have this confidence in him
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 
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.

It is unfortunately safe to assume that most of us have never experienced this level of confidence in our prayers. Why not? Yes, we can only be this confident of an answer if our prayer is in God's will. But surely every now and again we do pray in accord with his will. And still we don't experience this confidence. This can only be because we not are convinced that our prayers are his will. Believing this sounds dangerous, actually. But apparently he does want us to know his will well enough to be so convinced of it that we can be confident that any prayers along those lines will be answered. Of course, this is vastly different from assuming that our will is his will. We must instead discern. John the Baptist is a model of the attitude we need.

No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.

John does not insist of being the central focus of things. His ministry is hugely popular. But when he sees people flocking to Jesus instead of him he is willing to stand aside and let it happen. He doesn't have to play the starring role. It is for this reason that he is able to recognize God's purpose in Jesus. We can imagine that he prays for the success of the ministry of Jesus and that he does so with confidence. 

So this joy of mine has been made complete. 
He must increase; I must decrease.

Perhaps we are too central in our own discernment process. Perhaps we aren't really looking to see where Jesus is at work in our lives and praying for the success of those things. Let's try to change that. Jesus has some very specific goals in each of our lives. Just as John the Baptist saw Jesus baptizing and could pray with confidence for that so too can we look to see what Jesus is doing and pray with confidence for his success. When our prayers are well discerned in this way the lead to joy for us just as they do for John the Baptist.

How can we see what Jesus is doing? Let's allow our own self-interest to decrease and then watch with open eyes, open ears, and open hearts. We will definitely see him at work.

For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.

And there are some ways we can learn what this looks like and what it feels like. We know that he wants to help all of us to achieve holiness. If we pray for the grace to walk in that holiness he will give it to us if we truly believe it (cf. James 1:6-8). We pray in accord with what we know to be God's will. This is what John means when he talks about the one begotten by God who does not sin.

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. 

When we truly live out the fact that we are his sons and daughters we have confidence that he who started a good work in us will break it to completion (cf. Philippians 1:6). We begin to experience the joy of the bridegroom's voice.

Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;