This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear Friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 1 John 3:19-22

We often forget that one of the most effective tools that the enemy uses to destroy our foundation of faith is ourselves. When looking at each part of these verses we see how the enemy works to make us wage war within our hearts and how God saves us from the enemy and ourselves so that we may boldly ask and know the truth. “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth” is referring back to the commandment of loving one another and knowing Christ mentioned in chapter 3 of 1 John. So often the enemy makes us question if we truly know the truth and he does this by making our heart condemn us and making us question every little step we take toward God.

“And how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us” refers to the constant struggle of a Christian. When we make mistakes too often we believe the enemy’s lie that we have to be perfect and when we aren’t he makes us feel like a complete failure. The enemy convinces us to hold ourselves to a standard of perfection and we must discount this because God doesn’t hold us to this standard. And so even if your heart condemns you, if you go to the Lord’s presence and can find peace though your heart condemns you, you obviously have the truth in you and this truth is the salvation you receive by the love of Christ.

“For God is greater than our hearts.” Many times what we need saving from is ourselves. Our heart sometimes believes the enemy’s lie that we must be perfect and our conscience leads us to condemn ourselves when we aren’t and so the perfect resolution to this is to reach out to God and ask for salvation from your heart’s self-destructive tendencies. “he knows everything.” We are reminded once again that God knows how our hearts and consciences can wage war on ourselves and he knows how to show you his love when you reach out to him. He knows how the enemy works and therefore can show us the enemy’s lies so that our hearts will once again be at peace in salvation.

“If our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God” If we allow God to help us to overcome ourselves, no longer will our heart condemn us and we will be able to stand before God and say, ‘Yes, I know you now and I thank you for saving me from the lies of the enemy and myself.’ This is the first part of the confidence we have in knowing God’s love the second part goes along with the part of the verse “and receive from him anything we ask.” When we are able to say to God ‘Yes, we know that you have helped us overcome our destructive, sinful selves because of what your word says’ we are also able to say ‘yes, the salvation you’ve promised has come true and therefore we follow your word again and believe when we ask that we will receive more blessings and peace from you. ‘

“Because we obey his commands and do what pleases him,” this part circles it all back to the beginning and says if we obey his commands by believing in Christ’s power to save us from ourselves, we are able to ask confidently anything of him by faith, and therefore love others and please him. It is a wonder that asking God to save you from yourself through Christ can lead us to be able to ask for anything at all and how doing this will help us to follow God’s word and that is what pleases him most!

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Dear Lord,
We pray that you will help us to follow the cycle of faith and that you will save us from ourselves. We believe in the power that Christ has over sin and the enemy and pray that you will help us to be made strong and able to overcome ourselves. We ask this in your name so that we may stand confidently before you and that our hearts may stop condemning us. We wish to serve you for all of the days of our lives and pray that by following your word and pleasing you we are able to also delight and grow closer to you Lord. In your Holy name, Amen!