Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him.

1 JOHN 5:14-15

If we ask anything “according to His will.” God is a good Father. He’s not a fake out God. He’s not going to tell us to ask according to His will and not tell us what His will is.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

There’s no way around it. Want more faith? You must keep the Word before you and feed on it regularly.

Why does God say more Word equals more faith?

The more you know His Word, the more you know His will, character, and that He is a good Father. That good comes from Him, and evil comes from Satan.

The more you know these things, the more faith you’ll have because you’ll be full of the knowledge of His will thus infused with living and active confidence and boldness to pray like 1 John 5:14-15 (above).

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).

Knowing His Word for yourself, not second hand through a preacher or a teacher of the Word, is key to faith and receiving from God according to His Word. His Word is true. He cannot lie.

My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:20-22). 

His Word is alive does the work in our lives and in our faith, but because we have free will, we get to choose whether or not to pay attention to His Words, keep them in front of our eyes daily, abide in them, listen to them, study them, etc.

To keep His Word ever near is to give you life and health to your physical body. What an incredible gift and revelation!

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” (Hebrews 4:12).

God’s Word is like nothing you’ll ever read or behold. It is literally alive, spiritually alive because it is Jesus, Himself. If you haven’t already, pray you can receive this truth as revelation knowledge. Your faith cannot be left unchanged when you take in the very Word God equates Himself with.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,”…”And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” (John 1:1;14).

He IS His Word. Let His Word consume you and fill you with increasing faith and a deep revelation of His goodness, mercy, compassion, and love.

“But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

The way I see all these verses put together is that His Word is life to us in every way, and we truly can’t live the way our good Father desires us to without living by it and knowing it for ourselves.

So, we can be saved and live a life far below His will and desires for us because we never chose to take Him for His Word to get to know Him. To know His Word is to know His will. To know Him and His will increases our faith more and more, so we can pray and receive our desires by faith.

And guess what?

The more we know His Word, the more our desires line up with His because no one can be left unchanged by God when His Word truly abides or is deeply rooted in them. And what will we desire with our ever increasing faith? To heal the sick, raise the dead, love, be blessed to be a blessing to the poor, widows, and orphans, etc.

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you’” (Matthew 17:20).

His Word is the only cure for unbelief. And with that mustard seed sized faith, nothing will be impossible.

More Word. More faith. 

It’s our choice.

P.S. God is SO good, as we are going through things, He will lead you to the promises you need in His Word to stand on and take Him for. But His best is to seek the God who is His Word with all our hearts.