October 1, 2026
This week, I learned the magnitude of the word anything.
Like so many parents before us, my wife and I dropped our oldest son off at college—ten hours away from home. Nothing really prepares you for that experience. It feels a little like having open-heart surgery without anesthesia. Or maybe like someone rips your heart out and plays pickleball with it.
Seriously, as we finished decorating his room, one thought kept running through my mind: Does he have everything he needs? So, I repeatedly asked, “Do you need anything?”
And I meant it. Need my credit card? Take it. Need a kidney? It’s yours. Want us to move the whole family to Virginia? No problem.
Turns out all he needed was an extension cord, a few extra hangers, and a new blazer for work. My wife and I took off shopping and started throwing merchandise into the cart like Cousin Eddie Christmas shopping with Clark Griswold. He’ll need a new phone mount for his car so that he isn’t distracted. Better grab some of his favorite protein shakes. Of course he needs some swag with his school logo on it.
You see, when I said anything, I meant more than my son realized.
Before we drove away, we hugged and prayed together. I told him how much I love him and how proud I am that he is my son. Then I reminded him, “Please call me if you need anything.” On our trip home, I could not help but think that Jesus must have felt something similar when He left His disciples. Knowing He would soon die, rise again, and ascend back to heaven, our Savior said, “If you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:23).
There it is again. Anything.
Numerous passages of Scripture make similar promises. Ask and believe, and you will receive (Matt. 21:22). Ask anything in my name, and I will do it (John 14:13). Unfortunately, some are quick to rip these verses from their context and insist that God must give us whatever we request if we believe fervently enough. Such thinking dangerously shifts our faith away from God and toward our own ability to trust.
When we misapply our faith, the object of our belief is ourselves. Instead of resting in God, we recklessly depend upon our ability to know His perfect will, to resist all doubts, and to believe without wavering. Simply put, our faith is in our faith. Biblical belief is different.
The Apostle John clarified the distinction lest we be led astray. “If we ask anything according to His will,” he wrote, “He hears us” (1 John 5:14). Those four words—according to His will—protect us from misunderstanding everything God promises about prayer. Calling out to God in faith does not mean believing God will give me what I want. Rather, it means trusting the Lord to answer me according to what is best.
The relational context is key. Prayer is a family privilege for those who “believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). Through Christ the Son, we approach our heavenly Father with assurance of His love and concern. My children have never made an appointment with my secretary to see me. They freely walk into my office unannounced. They interrupt conversations. They repeat themselves until they know I heard them. Why? Because our relationship gives them uninhibited access.
Likewise, Christians can approach God with similar “confidence” (1 John 5:14). Effective prayer begins with a relationship, not a technique. Though we do not know how God will respond when we pray, we talk to Him knowing that we are welcome to do so. The freedom to ask anything of our heavenly Father does not, however, give us unlimited wisdom to know what to ask for. In fact, we are often at a loss over how or what we should pray (Rom. 8:26).
Thus, every prayer should seek God’s will even as we express our requests and preferences. Doing so is not a lack of faith, as some suppose, but a confident acknowledgment that God Himself is the object of our belief. Even Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “Not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Because no one ever prayed with greater faith than Jesus, surrendering to God's will cannot indicate weak faith. The goal of prayer is not to get our will done in heaven, but to see God’s will done on earth.
When I told my son to call me for anything, there were obviously limitations to what I would do for him. I would not give him a privilege that contradicts how he was raised, nor would I gift him a possession that might distract from why he’s away in the first place. My promise was about realities much deeper than one request. I was really saying . . .
I’m your father.
You can always call me.
I’ll always listen to you.
I love you more than you know.
You can trust me to do what is best for you.
If that is true about an imperfect dad like me, how much more true is it about our heavenly Father when we pray. He possesses perfect love, perfect wisdom, and unlimited power. The object of our faith should always be the loving Father who knows what we cannot know and sees what we cannot see.
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Dr. Adam B. Dooley is pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, TN, and author of Hope When Life Unravels. Contact him at adooley@ebcjackson.org. For more writings like these, visit adamdooley.org. This column first appeared in Kentucky Today.
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