Objection: “If It Be Your Will” Must Always Be Implied – If You Could Literally Ask for ANYTHING, You Could Ask to Become God

I agree with the objector that the “blanket” promises in the Bible are limited by the terms in the Bible itself.  So you can’t ask to become God, because then the Bible would be a lie when it says that there is only one God.  You can’t ask for your neighbor’s wife or possessions, either, as that would contradict Scripture.  (The lady preacher who tried to get people to “agree” for a certain faith preacher’s wife to die so that she could have him was obviously wrong and God didn’t answer her prayer.)

So asking “what you will” still has to be within the confines of Scripture.  Besides, Jesus’ promise of asking what you will and receiving it was for those who abided in Jesus and had His words abiding in them (John 15:7).  If the Word abides in you, you know better than to ask for some things.

So to a large degree, I agree with the objector.  Where we diverge is that he would have us believe that receiving ANYTHING must have an implicit “if it be Your will” attached to it.  That is the opposite of how faith works.  You cannot pray in faith until you are CERTAIN of what God’s will IS in the matter.  Otherwise, you could not be sure that He would give you what you’re asking for.  If we take this objector’s argument where he wants it to go, any request for healing would have to be made with “if it’s God’s will” implicit – yet such a prayer won’t be answered!  You cannot receive healing or anything else if you pray a wavering prayer where you don’t believe with 100% certainty that it is God’s will for you to have it.  Your prayers will be double-minded and you will receive nothing (James 1:5-8).

The objector gets close but misses the mark by saying that a prayer must have an implicit “if it be Your will.”  The objector and I would agree that God will answer prayers that line up with His will, but the real idea is to FIND OUT what God’s will IS – before you pray – by reading His Word.  DO NOT attempt to pray about any matter unless you know that the Word backs you.  DO NOT pray to ask God what His doctrine is – unless you’re asking Him to show it to you from His Word.  You get your doctrine only from the Word, NEVER from what you think God is saying to you in prayer.  If anything is really from God, you will find backing for it in the Word.

You would NOT ask to become God because you know that isn’t His will.  You WOULD receive healing when you pray once you know from the Word that it is His will.

Once you know what God’s Word has to say about something, there is no implicit if it be Your will in the matter!  Instead, there is faith that receives from God’s already-open hand.

Even the objector would have to admit that his assertion is incorrect because someone who wants to be saved would never be expected to approach God with the prayer, “Save me if it be Thy will.”  In fact, if there were even an implicit “if it be Thy will” in the prayer, the sinner would not be coming in faith and he would not be saved.  Now you could point out that God’s will is KNOWN from His Word in that particular matter – that He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4).  So the sinner would be guaranteed an answer when he comes believing what God’s will is.  So, you see, knowledge of the Word in a matter ELIMINATES the “if it be Your will” element from your prayer and replaces it with faith.  Once you know what the Word says about healing, you pray with just as much confidence to receive your healing as a sinner could pray to receive the new birth.

So in summary, answered prayer depends on God’s will in the matter, but you can know God’s will before you pray in matters like the new birth and healing – from His Word.  That will replace the question marks in your prayers with exclamation points!