1 John 5:11-15 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
vs 13-These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
This is all pretty clear to me. You either have life or you don't.... It is up to you to decide. God provides a way for you to KNOW.
vs 14-And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
Confidence in Him
We ask...according to His will
He hearth us
We can't ask for much more than for Him to hear us. But, the most important part here is the 'according to His will' part. We need to be willing for His will over ours.
vs 15-And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
If we know He hear us...how can we know?
Same as we can know "that ye may know that ye have eternal life". Vs. 13
We are just trusting Him at His Word.
...we have the petitions that we desired of Him
This doesn't mean we get what we ask for...this does mean we have these petitions we have brought before Him. I think the key is in vs. 14, if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us. We must be willing for His will and not our own. We must trust that God is in control and allow Him to work things out in His timing.