Boldness in Prayer

1 John 5:14-21 is a section of scripture that describes the “boldness” we have toward God. Verse 14 states that if we ask in prayer anything that is “according to his will” that he will grant that request.

Then in verse 16 the author gives an example of what we can pray for “according to his will”. If we see a fellow Christian committing a certain type of sin… (fornication, drunkenness, pride, etc.) we can pray for them, whether or not they are sorry, and God will give them time to repent. And that’s the kind of prayer God will answer 100% of the time because it is “according to his will”.

However, there is a type of sin that a fellow Christian can commit which we should not pray for and expect a positive answer. In the text that sin is called “ a sin unto death”. Let me suggest that this is the sin of Blasphemy. In the broader context you have Christians teaching that Jesus Christ was not the actual Son of God and that he had no deity existing in him. That is the sin of Blasphemy… insulting God by saying He is not God.

Christians were not supposed to pray for these Anti-Christ Christians… because they were guilty of Blasphemy. Oh we might pray for them but don’t expect God to perform like he promised to for Christians who sin but are not blasphemers.

We have great boldness as Christians because we can pray for other Christians and God will give them time to repent. That is a powerful gift and a powerful weapon against Satan and there is no time limit on it. We should be boldly praying for the souls of our fellow Christians who occasionally stray every single day.

Remember the example of Jesus as he was hanging on the cross…. Father forgive them because they don’t know what they're doing.