In this sermon, Kenneth Hagin emphasizes the importance of understanding and applying the word of God in our lives. He highlights how many people claim to enjoy good preaching and teaching, but fail to comprehend or remember what was actually taught. Hagin emphasizes that the word of God is His will for us and that we can receive the blessings and promises outlined in His word. He encourages listeners to have confidence in God's faithfulness and to pray according to His will, knowing that He hears and answers our prayers.

Welcome to From the Pulpit. Each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith and powerful sermons from modern preachers too. This week we have Kenneth Hagin with his message, The Will of God in Prayer. I would like to direct your attention today to the first epistle of John chapter 5 and we shall read verse 14 and 15. The first epistle of John chapter 5 verses 14 and 15 and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him now we want to talk about the will of God in prayer another translation of this verse says and this is the confidence instead of saying confidence it uses the word boldness this is the boldness we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us immediately our minds want to fashion upon this portion according to thy will and therefore when we pray we say lord do this or that if it be thy will other times we pray about things on which we already have God's word so we know his will concerning them to insert that expression into our prayer when God's word states that it is his will is confessing that we doubt his word and don't believe it that kind of praying will not work some have supposed that you find the will of God this way I remember a lady member of my congregation years ago when I pastored was ill she was one of my Sunday school teachers and her husband called for me in the night to come and pray for her to anoint her with oil to lay hands upon her now the Bible said you know in James 5 14 is any sick among you let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if you have committed sins they shall be forgiven him now acting on James 5 14 we went to this home knowing that you find out about people but what they say and knowing that faith must be expressed in confession you know the Bible says with the mouth confession is made unto I wanted to get a confession from this woman and find what she believed even though she was a member of my congregation a Sunday school teacher and her husband a deacon in my church I said to her as I stood by the bedside about to anoint her with oil and lay hands upon her to pray sister will you be healed now as I anoint you with oil and lay hands upon you in Jesus name she said well I will if it's his will I said how are you going to find out or know whether it is his will to heal you or not well I thought you would pray and if it's his will he'd heal me now it's amazing to me how people Sunday school teachers especially who should be a little more Bible conscious than others can sit in services week after week and hear faith taught and not grasp it I taught as a pastor something else besides faith but I taught a great deal on it still some didn't comprehend what the word says the Bible much of the time just runs off people like water off of a duck's back they sit there and say oh I enjoy good preaching and Bible teaching no one enjoys it any more than I do I sure love to go to church if you should ask what did the teacher or the preacher preach on that blank expression will come on their faces and they say I don't know but it certainly was good now that makes as much sense as to say I'll tell you I had the best meal yesterday at such and such a restaurant they had the best pie or have the best pie of any place in town well what did you have to eat I don't know what kind of pie was it I don't know now we would have reason to doubt very seriously whether you'd ever eaten there or not we get confused sometimes because we do not give heed to the word of God so let's give heed to God's word and let's know that God's word is true and know that God's word brings a blessing well this Sunday school teacher in my church never missed any of the services she enjoyed coming she would testify testimony time how much good she'd gotten out of it what a blessing it was and yet if the word had really meant much to her I don't know it she surely would have known better than that I said how are you going to find out if it's the will of God to hear you or not or to heal you or not well I thought you'd anoint me with oil and pray and if it's God's will he'll heal me and if it's not his will then he won't of course I knew under those circumstances a woman was not going to get healed I knew it would actually do no good to anoint her with oil or lay hands on her either I don't mean to be sacrilegious about it but it would do just as much good to twiddle your thumbs over her and say twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what you are that would do just as much good because her unbelief is going to stop the flow of God's healing power though she is in pain and misery one can't just stop and preach her a quick sermon I intended to talk to her a little longer and bring her attention to the word of God but she said go ahead I'm in so much pain and misery go ahead and anoint me so I anointed her and prayed knowing that she wouldn't receive anything because she wasn't believing in line with the word I stumbled through a prayer and had hardly gotten out my amen until she said to her husband call the doctor well now here's what I couldn't understand she'd just gotten through saying that if it was God's will that she be well he would heal her and if it wasn't he wouldn't she didn't get healed therefore by her own admission it wasn't God's will for her to be healed yet she's calling the doctor and paying him to get her out of the will of God now can you see that it doesn't make sense if I believe like that if it's God's will you heal me and if it's not God's will he won't heal me then I would have to believe that it isn't God's will that I be well then I would be wrong and even wanting to get well if it's not God's will for me to be well I'd be wrong in trying to get out of the will of God it would be wrong then to go to the doctor it would be wrong to take medicine people would be spending money enlisting help to get out of the will of God well now you know just as well as I know that sickness and disease not God's will that's the reason we do everything we can certainly we believe in doctors and believe in medicine and believe in hospitals and thank God for all that they're doing they're not getting people out of the will of God it's Satan that's bound people they're working against the same devil I'm working against they're just using different methods and means you see many times we've taken a superficial view of some of these verses and I'm not dug into them to see what he's saying now then I'm only using this as an illustration about the will of God in prayer many times in similar situations this is the conclusion to which people come they try to find the will of God by saying if it's his will he'll do it and if it's not his will he he won't we hear that all the time now for instance when it comes to the baptism of the Holy Ghost I run into the same thing I say to people before I pray with them to be filled with the Holy Ghost because I want to learn how they think will you be filled with the Holy Ghost now as I lay hands on you and pray I've had people say well I will if it's his will again I've said well how are you going to find out how are you going to know whether it's the will of God or not I'm thinking of one lady right now who just looked at me right in the startle she said why I thought that you would pray and if it was his will he would fill me and if it wasn't his will he wouldn't I said no I can't pray under those circumstances because you wouldn't be filled with the spirit then you would leave and say well it's not God's will because brother Hagen laid hands on me and prayed for me and God didn't fill me friends if the word of God says that this promise of the Holy Ghost belongs to you doesn't it belong to you and I asked that woman that question she said yes I said then let's read the Bible let's read the will of God you know some time ago a friend of mine's father passed away and sometime after he had passed away the family all gathered together because he was a man of some means and they gathered together to read his will they all wanted to find out what belonged to them and they found out well now if you want to find out what belongs to you read God's the word of God is his will let's find out what his word says I reached for my Bible and opened it to Acts 2 39 handed it to her and said you read that out loud she read for the promises unto you and to your children and all that are far off even as many as the Lord our God shall call I said what promise is that she hesitated a moment and I said read the last part of the 38th verse and it will tell you what the promise is and she read and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost she just simply closed my Bible handed it back to him and said yes it's for me yes I'll be filled now just lay your hands on me and pray now you see just a few moments before she was questioning the will of God and she thought now you pray and if what we're asking here is his will for me then he'll do it but just as soon you see as she found out what God's word said as she found out the provision that was made in God's word she began to believe because she knew the will of God and I laid hands upon her in fact I barely laid my hands upon her head to pray until she began speaking with other tongues and instantly received the Holy Ghost now the thing that convinced her was the word you see there shouldn't be any problem about praying in line with the will of God because it is his will for us to have and to possess and to enjoy all that he has made provision for in his word I find the answer for anything I might pray for in the word and if I don't know then I go to the word first I don't just pray because I would waste my time very often I couldn't pray in faith I would be praying in unbelief and doubt and it wouldn't work it would just be words and you know that's the reason so many people's prayers doesn't work it's just words they're not walking really in fellowship with the word of God but you know the believer walking in fellowship with the word will never ask for anything outside of the will of God and if he's not walking in fellowship with the word he's not going to have a successful prayer life and get answers anyhow do you remember what Jesus said in John's gospel turn with me to the 15th chapter of John's gospel in the seventh verse Jesus said if ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done now you know the same person is writing both of these books this first epistle of John the gospel of John are written by the apostle John here he says here in this first epistle of John our text for the series of lessons here he said and this is the confidence the boldness that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us now in John the gospel John's gospel the 15th chapter 7 verse quoting Jesus said if he abided me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will now we don't say ye and thee and thou today we say you and so he said you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you now one time John says something about his will and here he says something about your will or ask what you will and it will be done you will have what you will but under what circumstances if you abide in him and his words abide in you because when his words abide in you then you will know his will his word is his will and you are asking according to his will then you don't have to pray if it be thy will because you know what his will is now for instance we know that saving the lost is his will don't we know that how do we know that we know that because the word of God tells us is true we know that because the golden text of the bible john 3 16 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life we know that because the word of God says the Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance now there are a host of other scriptures i'm just citing these two here you do not have to pray lord if it's your will save my son or you don't have to pray lord if it's your will save my daughter or my husband or my wife or this person or that person you know his will for that ahead of time don't you now hold that in your mind and let's read this again this is the confidence the bonus that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us now did you let that soak in and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us did he hear you when you prayed for that unsaved loved one is that his will that they be saved well if it is did you ask according to his will surely well we have this confidence then that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us then he heard you didn't he all right now listen and we know if we know that he hear us well we know he heard us because it's according to his will whatsoever we asked then we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him did he hear you then well yes but they're not saved yet brother haggard well you see what you're doing you're reciting in against the word and saying it's a lie so it won't work for you you see unconsciously we give the lie to god's word i don't know i know we don't mean to but unconsciously we're taking sides against the word and saying it isn't true by our actions by a lot of things that we say we're really saying no it doesn't work no it isn't so now i want to ask you a question what if you were in need of a little extra money and you do business with a certain bank you have borrowed money there before like many of us have so you say to your banker i want to borrow 100 for 90 days he says all right you say well i don't want it today i just wanted to get it arranged because there's something coming up and if the money doesn't come in by a certain time then i'll need this all right when you need it just come and get it you can have it the banker says now you have your banker's word for it but then you say to your wife i'm afraid he won't do that well you're going to have to act on what he said believe what he said to get the money you can't take sides against what he said and not go down there go through the transaction of signing the note to get the money by the same token if you're going to take sides against the word of god and say no that's not going to work that doesn't work it didn't work i prayed but it didn't work then you're saying that what god said isn't so you are taking sides against the word and you're giving the lie to his word and it certainly isn't going to work for you and you're taking sides against it side in with god's word all right this is the confidence this is the boldness thank god we can be bold about it we can have confidence that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us now i don't know about you but i just believe that this word is true i believe that i know he hears me i know he has heard me how do i know it because it's according to his will then if it's according to his will i know he heard me and if he heard me then the text said we have this confidence that if he we know that he hear us whatever we ask we know we have the petitions we have them praise god that we desired off him i know i have them how do i know i have them because i know he heard me how do i know he heard me because it's his will how do i know it's his will because his word says so if he doesn't keep his word then he is a liar if his words no good then he is no good you know that you and your word are one and if your word is no good then you are no good we are known by our word now this is truth in the natural if a person's word is of no value when you quote that person people just laugh at you accordingly if god's word is no good when we quote his word we should just laugh at god because there's nothing to him but thank god his word is good he keeps his word we know that healing the sick is his will now don't we know that how do we know that we know that because the scripture tells us that christ bore our infirmities and carried our disease we know that because the word of god said by whose stripes he were healed now we need to get the word settled in our hearts we particularly in full gospel circles have divine healing as one of our fundamental beliefs i've read most of the statements of fundamental truths that full gospel churches believe and supposedly preach whether they do or not and they make the statement of healing and give scripture to back it up such scriptures as isaiah 53 4 and 5 which states surely hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of god and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes were healed and then again matthew 8 17 himself took our infirmities and by our sicknesses and first peter 2 24 who his own self by our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed then i found this out and really it's quite strange to me coming from a denominational background that people would state that they believe one thing and practice something else now i received light on divine healing on the bed of affliction just uh i tell folks all time an old baptist boy reading grandma's methodist bible and i received my healing i fellowship with full gospel people because they believe in divine healing and when i found out that they taught the baptism the holy ghost i was filled with the holy ghost and spoke with other tongues then in preaching in full gospel circles someone would come for healing after the service very often now i have in mind a young lady who came with a baby in her arms the baby was sick and she wanted the pastor me to pray for the healing of this child now really she came to the pastor and he said brother hagen pray with me here for this child well we laid hands on the baby i began to pray in faith believing the word that himself took that child's infirmities and bear that child's diseases so that that baby would not have to bear them i was appropriating that promise but i heard the pastor say lord heal this child if it is your will well i'll tell you i wish for the boldness of smith wigglesworth but you know i'm just not of that nature you have to be who you are you know but wigglesworth was quite bold and he would just yell right out loud stop him stop him oh god stop him right now he's charging the atmosphere with unbelief and you know that needs to be done sometimes but i'm just simply not that nature anyway a pastor uh who knew wigglesworth personally for whom when he was a young minister wigglesworth at priest a meeting said they went out to eat together and that wigglesworth asked him the pastor to pray so he bowed his head in public you know in a cafe and softly prayed and he said wigglesworth just shouted right out loud so that everyone all over the restaurant could hear him my god young man if you're going to pray pray don't just sit there and mumble over your food he jumped to his feet lifted both of his hands and started praying atop of his voice right there in the restaurant he was of the nature that he believed if you were going to do something do it and if you're not then just shut up about it well i don't know but what he's just about right about it you know what i mean he tells about one such incident in his book ever increasing faith now if you don't have one get it i've worn out four or five of them i just keep reading it over and over again because it feeds me after all i keep going to the table and eating i've had eggs for breakfast the past uh number of years i'm not going to quit eating them just because i've had them last year are you going to quit eating bacon because you had bacon last year no i ate bacon for breakfast 20 years ago and i still eat it because it's good do you see what i'm talking about don't just read these books and lay them down and forget them don't just read these bible lessons and lay them down and forget them it won't do you much good you would starve to death if you just had breaking the eggs 20 years ago and never ate any more in since then or or if you just had a meal last week and said well i ate last week and there's no use in my eating anymore i'm going to wait until next year before i eat again well you'd be dead before next year got here keep feeding along these lines that build your faith and build you up well i was talking about wigglesworth smith wigglesworth was talking in his book ever increasing faith about going to pray for a sick person there were two other ministers present beside himself he said he had just received a little light at the time on healing and that really he he didn't know too much about himself and he knew these other ministers didn't even believe in it but anyway they all went along to pray for this sick lady he asked one of them to pray and when he started praying he prayed all around the world that's the way wigglesworth put it he prayed for all of the missionaries he prayed for all the offerings he prayed for all the widows well they were in that room for it they were there to pray for the woman on the bed that's why we're not effective in our praying a lot of times because we pray all around the world and never get to the thing about which we should be praying and it's all right to pray for the missionary and it's all right to pray for the orphans it's all right to pray for the widows but there's a time for that well this lady who was sick was one of these preachers the wife of one of the preachers that was there that day the doctor said she would never regain consciousness she was unconscious and that she would die so finally this fellow said now lord here's our fellow minister his wife's gonna die you see he just accepted his final what the doctor said now pray that you would comfort him in this hour of bereavement give him grace for this dark hour ahead of him and he closed his prayer then wigglesworth said he asked the woman's husband who was a minister too to pray and he started praying oh yes lord answer our brother's prayer help me my wife's gonna die help me in this hour and wigglesworth said i just shouted right out loud stop him stop him lord stop him he's charging the atmosphere with unbelief well you know that's what he was doing they had her dead if you listen to some preachers and some people they will never get anything from god you'll never get anything from god they will have you dead before you are they will have everything just piled in on you and bury you alive wigglesworth said that he had never anointed anyone with oil for healing in his life but they knew the bible said do it so in his hip pocket he had a whole pint bottle of oil he didn't know how to anoint her so he just took the cork out poured the whole thing on her the bedclothes and all it wasn't that which healed her but it was his faith and belief in god and so he said oh lord heal her now just a short prayer that's all he said when i said that he said jesus appeared at the foot of the bed i saw him the other two preachers didn't see anything no wonder they didn't see him they were too far down the well of unbelief to see anything they couldn't even look up and see the light all they could see was the darkness this woman who was unconscious came to and she saw jesus she said there's jesus there's jesus then the lord disappeared she rose up well now that was the denomination of minister's wife who rose up well it wasn't her husband's faith because he was he was saying dear lord help me she's going to die help me in this hour it wasn't the other preacher's faith because he said now this pastor's wife's going to die help him in this hour no it was wigglesworth's faith as he believed god god manifest himself he didn't pray if it's your will he just said oh lord heal her now and it happened now i made mention about a lady young lady a young mother who came with a baby in her arms the baby was sick and she wanted the pastor and me to pray for the healing of this child now then we laid hands on that child the baby and we began to pray and i began to pray in faith believing the word that himself took that child's infirmities and bear that child's diseases so that that baby would not have to bear them i was appropriating that promise but i heard the pastor say lord heal this child if it's your will now then notice this we said to you that we know it's his will to heal the sick because his word says so and so when this young woman came with her baby for prayer i thought to myself when the pastor said lord heal this baby if it's your will i said to myself i hope she didn't listen to that pastor's prayer i didn't have the boldness to call him down and correct him and yet i suppose he should have i should have done that that however would have to be done in love because if it weren't it would do more harm than good so i said to myself i trust that she didn't listen to his prayer because if she did he injected doubt into her mind he told her through that prayer that this healing of her child might not be god's will because he said lord heal the child if it be your will again we may want to relieve herself of all responsibility we want to put all of the responsibility on god then we can say well that must not have been his will because i prayed if it be thy will you do this and he didn't do it therefore it must not be as well in other words we're putting all the responsibility on god we don't get out that easy even if we want to most of us do not want to accept any responsibility we'd rather put it up to god that's the truth but friends god has given us his word and so you see if that pastor had really known god's word as he should he would have joined right in with me in faith and the prayer of faith would have saved the sick the lord raised the child up and would have been healed but instead of that he acted in unbelief so we weren't in agreement and there's no doubt that the young mother followed her pastor and so you see they thought they were being humble by saying lord heal this child if it's your will and really didn't know that they were being stupid people often come to me and say brother hagan why won't the lord heal me then they will give me all of their qualifications sometimes for being healed but you know friends people don't get healed on their qualifications i know i had one lady come to a meeting number of years ago a denominational lady who had come into the services for the very first time never been into a full gospel service before or a meeting before where they were praying for the sick never in her life she and her husband heard me teaching on the radio on the subject of divine healing so he brought her given up to die by the doctors with only a few months to live at the best and she was gloriously healed then the following sunday night these folks came back and brought the husband's mother she had had a couple of strokes of paralysis and was confined to a wheelchair now this son and daughter had come a night or two before two nights before this was only second time for them and the first time that the mother had ever been in the full gospel church when we laid hands on her and prayed she got up out the wheelchair healed walked was all right they folded the wheelchair up carried it out she walked out to the car now as soon as the service was over a lady who was a member of the church where we were holding the meeting made a beeline at me with tears in her eyes now i'm not making fun of her god knows that i feel sorry for her with tears in her eyes and falling off of her face she said i wish you'd tell me something if you can well i said i will if i can but i don't know whether i can or not but if i can i'll tell you now she said how come god heal those denominational women and i'm full of gospel well now you see people can be wrong in their thinking to begin with god loves one of them just as much as he loves the other this is the reason some don't get an answer from god they're too self-centered and too selfish and too ignorant i mean bible ignorant in thinking that god is obligated to them because they're full gospel but he's not obligated to you just because you're anything but he will meet you if you will come on the right grounds and because of jesus he'll meet you this lady said why they don't even have the baptism of the holy ghost well friends the baptism of the holy ghost is right and fine and wonderful but the baptism of the holy ghost is not a prerequisite for healing you can be healed before you're baptized with the holy ghost and you can be healed afterwards i know that because i was healed four years before i was baptized with the holy ghost i was raised up from the deathbed and healed of almost total paralysis and two serious organic heart troubles bed fast 16 months i had never spoken with tongues not only that but i got other people healed when i began preaching that jesus heals i laid hands on people as a denominational minister and saw some of my sunday school teachers who were slated for major surgery just jump out of bed instantly healed the baptism of the holy ghost isn't the prerequisite for healing it's believing god's word and faith that's the thing that counts and this woman said why they don't talking about these two ladies who had been healed they don't even have the baptism the holy ghost and i have the holy ghost i'm a member of this full gospel church but i didn't tell her but i thought my own mind sometimes that is a detriment instead of an asset i don't mean to be disrespectful but tell you the truth about it some of these places talk doubt and unbelief i held a meeting in this church and the pastor himself would talk doubt and unbelief to me all day long well i know he was bound to preach it to his congregation so her membership could have been a a deficit instead of an asset to her anyway five years later i preached a meeting of several weeks in that same church with the same pastor and he said to me brother hagen i don't know whether you're improving or whether i'm growing but i'm beginning to grasp what you're saying in other words i didn't get it five years ago though i heard you for several weeks every single day i said well i think it's both brother i'm growing myself and i'm able to take the same subject and handle it a little more adequately but then you're growing enough spiritually that you can get a hold of what i'm saying well i'm beginning to see that he said all of us friends preachers and all are at various stages of spiritual growth just because someone's a minister doesn't make him a full-grown christian he can still be a baby spiritually the calling of god on a man's life doesn't mature him spiritually and make him a full-grown christian instantly we need more patience with one another don't we anyway this woman said how come god healed these women and he won't heal me now she's confessing he won't heal me i don't know why he won't but he won't i'm full gospel and i've got the baptism and they don't even have the baptism how come she could get healed without the baptism and i with the baptism can't get healed well one can't just stop and answer all those questions but sometimes we have to bring people to the spiritual senses so to speak just as we do physically if an emergency arose and the house was on fire you would have to get them awake any way you could if you had to snap their face or grab them or pull them out of bed so sometimes spiritually we have to shake people awake i did shake this woman some anyway when i said their sister god has done all he's ever going to do about healing you now she was saying why won't he do something about it why won't god heal me i said god's done all he's ever going to do about healing you she looked at me startled and said you mean that he isn't going to heal me i said i didn't say that i said he's done all he's gonna do about healing you do you mean he won't heal me i said no i didn't say that you said it you said why won't he heal me you see sister he's already done something about your healing all that is necessary to do about it he's already done it he laid your sicknesses and diseases on jesus for it is written in matthew 8 17 himself jesus took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses and so he's done already done something about it that means himself jesus took your infirmities i said to her and bear your sicknesses he's already done something about your healing and it says the scripture said and by whose stripes you were healed but you see friends the word didn't mean a thing in the world to this woman she said well i'm going to keep on praying i'll tell you what i believe about it but you know that's the thing that has her defeated she's going by what she believes instead of what the bible says i'm going to keep on praying seeking god and sometime somewhere in his own way if it's his will he'll heal me but you see friends it is his will because the word says it is well she should have come with confidence and boldness because the text said and this is the confidence this is the boldness that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us and this is according to his will because he's heard us well i don't have to tell you that when i went back five years later to that same church this woman was still sick now why because she's not believing the bible she's not trying to find god's will in line with his word i said he has made provision for us in conclusion i want to read let's turn right now to ephesians the first chapter in the third verse and read this verse it will help us in knowing the will of god in prayer ephesians chapter one verse three blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in christ now who has blessed us with what well blessed be god and the father god the father of our lord jesus christ blessed us with what all all all another translation says every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in christ now who is going to bless us no not who's going to who hath blessed us who hath he's already done it we would say in modern usage who has blessed us with all our every spiritual blessing that means everyone there is in heavenly places in christ now that means this that in this great plan of salvation that god planned and sent christ to consummate in him all that we'll ever need has already been provided for ever need that you'll ever have from the time you are born again until you step off into eternity has already been provided for him when we know that we can appropriate his promises we can come with boldness and confidence we know then that he is his will that ever need be met because it says with all he hath blessed us with all that that means that they're not anymore all our every spiritual blessing so we can come with confidence notice the text again first john 5 14 this is the confidence or another translation said this is the boldness that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us now it must be his will that we be blessed with all the blessings that there are now why because he's made provision for us in christ ephesians 1 3 said it has to be his will for us to have what he's provided for us and i made the statement he hath made provision for us his word is his will we read the will of god which is the word of god and find out what has been provided for us and find out what belongs to us and then you see we're not in the darkness but we're in the light you know too many times when we come to pray we pray in darkness now you know what i mean when i say that don't you i'm not talking about praying literally in the night time in the literal darkness but i mean in the darkness of the subject or about the situation too many times we don't know what god's will is the reason we don't because we don't know what god's word says we're praying in the dark we don't come with confidence we we don't come with boldness we come trembling and somewhat fearful yet hoping but that won't work but friends we can go to the word and we can find out that practically everything and anything that we may need or about which we need to pray is already covered in his word praise god for the word of god you know the psalmist of old says the entrance of thy words giveth light again the psalmist said you know thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path when we walk in the light of the word we are not walking in darkness we are not praying in darkness we know the will of god because his word is his will and what he has provided in his word belongs to us there there is no question about it we don't have to question it we don't have to ask why we just simply ask what that is what's provided for us what does his word say and if his word says it's ours then it belongs to us and we can receive according to his word remember this his word is his will it is god's will that i have what his word has promised me it is god's will that i have what his word says he has provided for me so then with what boldness this is the boldness the confidence that we have in him praise the lord you've been listening to from the pulpit this week you heard kenneth hagan with his message the will of god in prayer tune in next week for another powerful message from god's word on from the pulpit