Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with author and speaker Dr. Paul Cannings. In the Christian life, we encounter various levels of genuine as well as boastful claims of spirituality. Pastor Cannings, in this series on Steps to Answered Prayer, takes us to 1 John chapter 3 and brings this clear teaching about how responses to God reveal the true condition of our hearts. Challenging us about our prayer life, let's listen to Pastor Cannings as he brings this message titled, The Heart.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Folks, let's jump into this passage of scripture and guess what it's talking about: prayer. In 1 John chapter 3 verse 19, this is how it reads: "And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight."

That's how far we'll probably get this week as we study this passage together as John talks to a group of people dealing with the infiltration of false teachers, Gnostic philosophers. These individuals are people who came to the church that John is pastoring, the church of Ephesus. In the midst of that, these false teachers penetrated the church. Gnostic philosophers mean that the word of God, the emanation from God, passed its way down and it came to them. Now they're able to communicate directly from God as this information transitioned to them.

That's why John would say, "You don't need these teachers to teach you," in chapter 2 verse 21. Don't listen to these teachers; they're false. You don't need them to teach you from verse 20 of chapter 2 because the anointing teaches you—the ministry of the Holy Spirit teaches you. Then you have Docetism and all these different things that infiltrated the church. That's why he would say in chapter 2, you know the truth. You have a new and an old command that you know. Don't let these people who are teaching you these things remove from you the commitment to the truth.

Why is that huge? Because John is going to teach us in chapter 2 verses 3 through 6 that we have to come to know God. We have to have an experience of God, and that only happens when we keep his word. He would say, "Test it," because there are going to be many false teachers that come out. They're going to say a lot of wonderful things that tickle our ears, that make us feel like, "Oh, that's encouraging. That's a great word." But the Bible says if it violates the word of God in any form or fashion, that will affect our prayer life. You see that in John chapter 15 verses 8 through 10. He would say that affects our prayer life.

He's telling them to abide in the word of God. When they abide in it, that's when their prayers get answered. That's why in this passage, he's talking about the heart. That's the telltale sign as to whether or not the will of God is now my will. The heart in the Bible is the mind of the person, the will of the person. A person may have a passion for different flowers that they like in their gardens, so they respond that way. So the heart in the seat of its emotions can lead us in directions. The Bible is saying when it does that, we would know if our will is surrendered, our mind is surrendered to God by the fact that we seek him.

By seeking him, I would look for the word of God and what it has to say. When that happens, the heart gets tested by how I relate to other people. Why is it that this truth leads to this love? In 1 John chapter 2 verses 9 through 10, he says, "He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now." This person does not, in chapter 1 verse 5, walk in the light as he is in the light. If the person is not walking in the light as he is in the light, the person's will is not surrendered. Their mind is not surrendered.

When their passions go left because they can't stand somebody, they don't hold to the word of God, which means they don't walk in the light, so they walk in darkness. There's no middle ground; there's no gray area in the Bible. People say that, but it's not true. In verse 10 he says, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light." What is this light? Chapter 1 verses 5 through 7. He that walketh in the light, the person has fellowship with his brother because he has fellowship with God. This knowing... so he says there is no occasion of stumbling for this person because they walk in the light.

They can make great decisions. They can see things that other people can't see because they are living in this light. That's why he is saying coming to get our prayers answered is a heart issue. That heart issue has to do with the word "know" because of all the things I just said and more. In chapter 4 verse 7, he says, "Beloved, let us love one another." That's why if a person cannot love their brother, there's an issue with God and they really don't know. So that's a test to how their prayers get answered. By abiding in God's word, they come to know.

When they come to know what God is saying, they sense the movement of the Holy Spirit. It shows up in the way they act towards people they can't stand. That process leads them to walk in the light so they make better decisions and they experience the love of God. In verse 7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God." That's why in chapter 3 verse 19, he says, "Hereby we know." He's starting off with this word "know" because when you backtrack it through 1 John, we find that it has to do with a relationship with Jesus Christ.

If that relationship with Jesus Christ is not real, we walk in darkness. When we walk in darkness, the Bible says having our prayers answered is not going to happen. Because number one, we could pray outside the will of God because we're not walking in the will of God. Number two, if we don't know him, then when we are praying, we could pray for earthly things, like James would say in James chapter 4: "You adulteresses." In other words, the folks that left Jerusalem scattered to another place and they want the world's goods while they're praying to God.

So they're not coming to church or reading the Bible or serving God for just the pure purpose that they love him. They're doing it so they can get what they want from the world. So he says you're an adulterer, meaning you say you love God, you're committed to God, and you have a relationship with God, but you have a relationship with the world. That's why he says they can't get their prayers answered because they're double-minded in chapter 1. On one hand, they pray and ask God for wisdom, and the other hand, they try to take the information they receive and use it to gain worldly goods.

That's why the Bible is teaching us that when we are praying and we are in a relationship with God, then we're not praying—as John would say in chapter 2 of 1 John 15 through 17—we don't have a love for the world and a love for God where our desires are really for the world. Therefore he says in chapter 2 verses 15 through 17, we are not of God. That's why he is saying in verse 19 here of 1 John chapter 3, "Hereby we know that you are of the truth." This is how we know you're of the truth: not only do you know the word of God, you know the application of the word of God and you know how to make that work.

In other words, if somebody was to say to you that your car gets 25 miles to the gallon, you believe it. Then you go drive it; you learn the truth in the driving, not in the conversation. The Bible is saying the same thing. A doctor may tell you to take this medication and this will do this for your body. It's not until you take the medication you learn the truth—the side effects, whatever it may come, you learn the truth. So he's not just talking about knowing the word. He's purposely saying a person who knows the truth is a person who applies it, walks in it, practices it, surrenders to it.

That's why that person knows. Two people believe they know one another, and then they get married. Then the truth comes out about a lot of things. Sometimes people don't tell about all the bills they had. Sometimes people like the temperature high; some people like a lot of covers. Some people will drink all the juice and put back half of it, and then you look at them at the refrigerator, they're drinking it smack out the juice bottle. A lot of things happen. Some people throw their clothes everywhere. Another person neatly puts it up in the closet and there becomes a discussion about which closet needs to be your closet.

The truth comes out when we actually live with the person, not when we hear what the person is saying prior to marriage. That's why the Bible is saying when we get to the truth, it comes to an experience of knowing God. When a person knows God, he says now your hearts are assured in the presence of God. The word "before" means in the presence of God. That's why I spent so much time talking about "know," because to know, you've got to get rid of false doctrine. "Know" means you are committed to let the spirit of God teach us.

"Know" means that the spirit of God teaches us best when we're in obedience in chapter 2. So the more I walk in the word is the more the word becomes a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my path. The more I walk in that light, he says, is the more the spirit of God is illuminating the word of God so I get to know God. Because his spirit that lives in me is committed to what? His very nature is the next thing I talked about: the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. When a person comes to the truth, then they come to a true understanding of what knowing God means.

John chapter 14 verse 26, the Bible says the spirit of God will bring back the word of God to our minds. The Bible is saying he came to teach us the truth. So when we're practicing the word of God, that's when the lights come on. It drives us to relationship with God and therefore it powerfully affects our prayer life. Therefore when we come to God, Jesus Christ tells us to pray with boldness because we know we are coming before the Lord God who will respond to us because he's already committed to that process by the fact that the person who makes intercession for us is living in us. The person who is our mediator has died for us; he is deeply committed to us.

My grandson came to me and he sent me all this stuff he would want for me to buy from Amazon—what he needs to do his trip that he had to play soccer. That boldness took place because of a conversation that he showed a lot of actions to in the way he practiced, the way he disciplined himself. Because he knows that after that conversation there's a whole lot of things going on, his boldness let him send me that link to gain what he wants to have. It's not an issue of God wanting to hear from me. The issue is: are we willing to first hear from him? Stay focused.

Guest (Male): It's true, Pastor Cannings. Scripture never wavers. We're always told to love God and to love our neighbor. These are great indicators of the condition of our hearts.

I am so excited about April the 23rd through the 25th because it is a conference with lots of notes, great teachers, well-educated, well-prepared, doing what they're teaching in their churches. You cannot miss this conference. Come April the 23rd through the 25th at Living Word Fellowship Church. Come and be blessed. The conference is the way forward: how can we be productive despite the challenges ministries can experience? You go to powerwalkministries.org and you will get all the information you need. Looking forward to seeing you.

We're also excited about Pastor Cannings' new book, When We Pray. Please visit us online at powerwalkministries.org where you'll find this as well as our other ministry resources. And while you're online, would you please consider making a generous one-time financial contribution? For your contribution of $25, we'll send you a copy of Pastor Cannings' just-released book, When We Pray. You're also welcome to call us at 281-260-7402. Or write us at Power Walk Ministries, P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. And now as we leave you, remember how we respond to those around us and the circumstances we face shows whether we're rightly related to God. It's the heart that matters.