1 John 3:22 – We Receive of Him

1 John 3:22
²² And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. (NKJV)

So what are His commandments? Look at 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(NKJV). Notice it’s not the Ten Commandments or any of the law.

We receive because we believe—faith. Faith is also what pleases the Lord (Hebrews 11:6). That was the message of Jesus. (Mark 11:23-24) That is how the Kingdom works. It’s not at all that we have to do something that pleases God before we can receive anything.

We believe in what Jesus accomplished on the Cross. We see grace in His fullest measure on the Cross. We can therefore ask because we know what He has bought and paid for with His life.

The more we know Jesus, the more we find out what we already have. Because of our belief in Him, we can rest in confidence in the promises of God which are yes and amen (1 Corinthians 1:20). It is not doing things for Him that pleases Him. It is doing things from love and faith that pleases Him. And that love flows from knowing His love for us.

We don’t receive things because we do what we think pleases Him. As parents we know the things that children do that please us. We are most pleased when they simply love us and let that love work out in ways that delight us.

We have to know Jesus before we just burst out of the door to do things. And whatever we do must start in His love for us and our love for Him. Until we can get that straight we can’t love others.

We receive because we are keeping His commandment. That’s just what we do. His love flows out to others. We are people who want the world to see His love for them and to be reconciled to Him. We walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthian 5:7). That’s just what we do as believers in love with Jesus.