I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

1 John 5:13 – 15

John makes it clear that he is writing this letter, not to convince unbelievers to believe, but to confirm the believers in what they do believe.

What they believe gives them confidence as they relate to God.  They believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  God himself declares it.  As God declares that Jesus Christ is His Son and that through faith in Him we have eternal life, we agree wholeheartedly with God and we look at all reality through His eternal eyes.  There is no insight more powerful in all of life.

To unbelievers, John seems to be playing with words.  He is not.  He is reflecting exactly what God says (we might say, what God believes.)  If God declares that Jesus is His Son, we do so as well.  This is the life-changing belief that believers have.

So, my soul, praise God that you believe!  This is, in itself, a miracle of grace.  It makes all the difference. As believers we rely completely on God for our hope and salvation.  And our hearts respond heartily to the invitation to just believe.   This seems to be prosperous but even more so is the promise that if we believe with our whole hearts, without reservation or desire to control, we have what we ask God for, in the name of Jesus.  John writes, “We have.” In the asking is the receiving.  Only a believer can understand that.  It is a mystery, indeed, but the most powerful reality that can be imagined.

I need this confidence in the grace of God, the hallmark of all believers through the ages.  I praise God that I even want to believe, and more so that I do believe.

So John closes his letter with an assurance in the love and mercy of God that satisfies the soul, and delights the mind. I need to grasp this wonderful reality.