Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
If we submit ourselves to the will of God and follow it in our daily lives, we can be bold in our belief that he will accept us as pardoned sinners. Without the forgiveness offered us through Christ we would dare not approach the throne of glory. Before asking anything of God we should search our hearts for any sin of omission or commission that might exist within us. But these verses neither mean that we can earn our salvation or that we will be rewarded on earth for the karma of our good works. In the context of 1 John our hearts not condemning us is an indication that we are children of God, and therefore he hears our supplications with the caring ear of a father. Again we are reminded of Christ’s commandment to love one another so that we will abide in Him, and in addition the Holy Spirit will abide in us and be the controlling factor in our lives – sanctifying us into a reflection of our Lord.
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