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“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

— 1 John 3:21-22

The key to pleasing God is, keeping His commandments. If you keep His commandments, your heart will be confident before Him, and you will receive whatever you ask. What a powerful promise! It’s almost unbelievable, but that’s exactly what John said.

It begs the question, what are the commandments you’re supposed to keep? He gives us the answer in the next verse.

And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 1 John 3:23

Believe In The Power, Character, and Authority of Jesus Christ

It’s not the letters J E S U S that you are to believe in, it’s His power, character, and authority you are to believe in. Specifically, believe in those things in light of His sinless life, sacrificial death, and resurrection, which implies His power over death and the grave. As well as the fact that He inherited the keys to God’s kingdom. And received all authority, over all things.

I’d say that’s a pretty powerful “name.” Take a moment and remind yourself exactly who Jesus is. He deserves all glory and honor, He is worthy to be praised!!!

Believing in the name of Jesus and loving people helps your heart stay confident toward God. When you’re confident toward God, your heart is in a position to receive from Him. It’s also true that your heart is not in a condition to receive from Him if you are not confident toward Him.

The issue is not God’s willingness to give you what you ask/pray for, it’s the confidence of your heart that makes the difference. To put it simply, living God’s way brings confidence.

It’s important not to be over-confident and slip into self-righteousness. It’s also important to notice that keeping His commandments isn’t what causes Him to give you what you ask for. Receiving from God is a matter of the heart. Jesus teaches this same idea in Mark 4 and Matthew 13, the condition of your heart determines the degree to which you will receive from Him.

A Kingdom Key

This nuanced understanding of a confident heart and receiving from God is enlightening. If you approach this concept from a different angle, you can apply it this way. If you are having trouble connecting with God and feel like He doesn’t hear your prayers, you can take a step toward confidence and “open your heart” a bit more by intentionally keeping His commandments.

Meaning this. If you are struggling and are having a hard time allowing God to lead you, or you are falling back into a sin habit, you can intentionally keep His commandments and realign your heart with God.

The issue is on your side of the equation, not God’s. You can not earn or qualify for God’s blessings through believing in the authority of Jesus and loving people, but you can adjust your heart back to a posture of trust and faith toward Him. You can repent (change your mind) and remind yourself of who Jesus is.

Repentance is remembering that Jesus is your advocate and your propitiation, as John wrote earlier in his letter. It’s about acknowledging that Jesus is your sin offering, as well as the whole world’s sin offering. It’s easier to love people when you see them through the lens of Jesus’ actions toward them. He died for them too, no matter who they are, what they’re doing or who they vote for.

Keeping the commandment of believing in the power, character, and authority (name) of the Lord Jesus Christ should always result in confidence in who He is in your life and your circumstances. It should be a daily exercise to believe in the fulness of who Jesus is. This not only pleases God, but it teaches your heart to be confident toward God.

If you’re honest with yourself, you lose confidence in God from time to time. You lose that confidence because you believe in the name (power and authority) of the problems in your life. A simple adjustment of focus, back on the power, authority, and character of Jesus, helps you regain confidence in Him.

“Oh yeah, that’s who Jesus is in this situation. That’s His promise. That what He paid for. That’s what He promised me. That’s who He will be in me.”

A Second Kingdom Key

The other “secret” revealed in this passage is that loving people also helps your heart remain confident toward God. For me, when I seek to help/love people, I’m often reminded that I can do very little for people. They must engage God for themselves and allow Him to bring them to a place of wholeness. Loving people somewhat forces me to recapture confidence in Jesus because He’s the only answer I have for people.

Loving people aligns your heart with God’s heart.

When you know His love for you, and you allow that love to spill out onto others, your inner man reaps the benefit of conformity into the image of Christ. You don’t earn this image, you don’t gain more of that image, you merely align your heart with God, and the byproduct is transformation.

God isn’t angry with you or even unhappy with you if you lose confidence in Jesus from time to time. He’s not holding it against you if you are not a kind and loving person, He just can’t do much for you when your heart is not confident toward Him.

A confident heart toward God isn’t afraid of Him. It’s more receptive to His leading and instruction. It’s more willing to turn away from sin and embrace His transformative grace. You need grace, you need God’s favor and divine influence in your heart to continue to walk in love. God doesn’t expect you to be able to keep His commandments on your own. He gives you the very faith to believe. But you MUST respond and allow that grace and love to manifest through your heart into your mind and actions.

Do you want to receive everything you ask for from God? Believe in the power, character, and authority of Jesus and love people. In doing so, your heart will be in such a place of confidence to not limit what God can and will do through you.

Love On Purpose

What is love? As a reminder, here are the attributes of love. Commit them to memory. See yourself as this kind of person. Ask God to empower these character traits in the appropriate situations. Commit to walking in love, and watch your heart grow more confident toward God. From 1 Corinthians 13:3-8.