And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
I John 3:22 KJV
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him…” is pretty plain language. That means that God will give us anything we ask.
Anything? Yes! If ...biggest two-letter word in the English language… we “keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
Aah, there are stings attached!
That’s one way to look at it. Unfortunately, God cannot trust most of us with anything we desire because we have a tendency to desire all the wrong things. We can’t help it. It’s simply in our flesh. However, if we are keeping His commandments, then we’re living a life of obedience to God.
So we’re supposed to live by the Ten Commandments? But that’s the law. I thought we were no longer under the law.
We’re not, but that doesn’t mean that the Ten Commandments are no longer applicable.
Mark 12:30-31 says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
If we love God as we should, we would work hard to obey him in all areas of life. If we love our neighbor like God commands us, we won’t steal from him or kill him or hurt him in any way. So if we simply obey these two commandments, we will be striving to keep the Ten Commandments.
However, in John 13:34, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” These are the commandments that we’re to keep in order to receive “whatsoever” we ask.
So if we keep his commandments “…and do those things that are pleasing in his sight,” then we will only desire God’s best for our lives and we will only pray for God’s best in our lives. Hence, we will only ask for things that God wants us to have. That’s how God can make that promise to us.
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his command-ments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”