Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 John 5:15

"and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him." — 1 John 5:15 (ASV)

John now states that the “confidence” (v.14) for approaching God and asking him anything is absolute. A paraphrase of the text is as follows: “Since we know that he hears us whenever we ask in his will, we may also know with equal certainty that we possess the requests we have made the moment we have prayed.” That our petition is answered is not dependent on whether or not we have personally observed the answer. Some answers to prayer are recognized immediately, others later, and some are not recognized in our lifetime. But this is not the author’s point. When we pray as Jesus prayed, in full accord with the Father’s will, we can know that we have our requests because God has made them his own and his will must be done. What is required of us is simply the faith to believe that this is so and that his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and then decide to live accordingly. The author is exalting faith in the will of God and its relation to our privilege to pray. He is echoing Jesus’ own words in Mk 11:24.