JOHN'S THREE--DIMENSIONAL PRAYER !

JOHN'S THREE--DIMENSIONAL PRAYER !: (3 John 2). "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayset prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." The word translated "wish" in the King James version is "pray" in the original Greek. Therefore, John said here, "Beloved, I PRAY above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." If he was motivated by the spirit to prayed that way, that would be the desire of the Spirit of God for every person. However, you and I cannot prosper or have good health beyond our thought life ! The text says, "Beloved I pray above all things that thou may ask prosper and be in health, even as thy SOUL prospereth." Your soul, is the makeup of your will, your intellect, and emotions. When you get born again, your soul does not. You have to renew the soul which is the makeup of the mind. If you are still being conformed to this world, through entertainment, or certain kinds of music, then you are not renewing your mind with the Word of God. God's Word contains God's thoughts and ways. It is all right, then, to pray for financial prosperity, based upon the Word of God; it is all right to pray for good health, based upon the Word of God; because John said, "I pray above all things. . ." John's prayer here concerns three dimensions of our lives: Physical, Spiritual, and Material. He said, ". . . I pray. . . That thou may ask prosper even as your soul prosper [Material blessing] and be in health [Physical blessing], even as thy soul prospereth [Spiritual blessing]." Thus we see that God's desires to bless every part of the believers life. THE WILL OF GOD IN PRAYER (PART 1). If our prayer request is according to God's Word, it is according to His will. We will focus our attention on the will of God in prayer. As we look at our memory text, (1 John 5:14). Notice the words "confidence" and "heareth" : "And this is the CONFIDENCE that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will [Word] he HEARETH us." Another translation of this verse says, "And this is the boldness we have toward him. . ." Under what conditions can we have confidence that God hears us when we pray ? He his us if we ask anything according to His will [Word] ! In the next verse we read, "and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." Notice that this Scripture says, "And if. . . He hears us. . . We have the petitions that we desired. . ." It was seems from reading this that there must be something He doesn't hear. If we don't have this confidence or boldness when we pray, it must mean that the Lord doesn't hear us. If we don't fulfill our part, it won't work. How can we get confidence, boldness, and faith ? The Word of God grives faith: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God "(Romans 10:17). "The entrance of thy words giveth light. . ." (Psalms 119:130). Confidence and boldness, comes through hearing The Word of God. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalms 119:105). When we walk in the light of the Word, we are not walking in darkness. When you pray in the light of the Word you're not praying in darkness. Many times we pray in darkness because we don't know what God's will [Word] is. We don't come with confidence or boldness. We, trembling and fearful, hoping He will hear us, but that won't work. We First Need to Go to God's Word and find out what it says about our particular problem. Then we can pray in faith, knowing His will [Word] in the matter. Absolutely everything we need to pray about is covered in His Word.