Thank you for trusting us with these four unspoken requests. Even though you have not shared the details, God already knows each one completely. He knows what you need today and what you will need in the months and years ahead, long before you ever bring it to Him. Prayer is not informing Him of something He does not know, it is opening the door for Him to do what He already desires to do in your life without violating the will He has given you.
I am praying for you and I want to encourage you in how you pray. Scripture shows that those who become people of prayer and of the Word are the ones God uses to accomplish His purposes for His glory. God wants to bless you, not because you have earned it, but because He is good. Like Jabez who called on the God of Israel and asked to be kept from evil so that it would not bring grief, you can bring every burden to Him and trust His goodness.
The heart of true prayer is not getting your will done in heaven, but getting God's will done on earth. It begins with His purpose and His plan, and our part is to consent to it and cooperate with Him. The wisest prayer we can pray is simply, Lord, work out Your complete and perfect will in my life. That means every request is offered with the surrender Jesus modeled, nevertheless not my will but Yours be done. When we pray that way we are not trying to change God or talk Him into something with a sales pitch, we are trusting the eternal God who is looking for hearts that are fully turned toward Him.
God does hear and answer prayer. That is the basic testimony of Scripture. At the same time, not every prayer brings an answer, and when it seems nothing is happening our first response should not be to blame Him but to look at our own hearts. If we hold onto sin in our hearts the Lord will not hear us, yet He always hears the humble cry, God be merciful to me a sinner. Through Jesus we now have access into His presence, and it is not the posture of the body that matters, whether standing or kneeling or lying prostrate, but the posture of the heart before Him. Come honestly, confess what needs confessing, and worship Him for who He is. Prayer is worship, an awe filled awareness of His greatness, not just asking for things.
There are times when God answers differently than we expect. Paul prayed three times for his difficulty to be removed and the answer was, My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness. That was still an answer, and it was given in love. God does not sort requests into easy or hard, headache or leukemia. With Him there are no categories of difficulty. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, so you can bring the smallest concern and the heaviest burden with the same confidence.
Prayer that is fervent and from the heart avails much. And prayer offered in real faith can end in praise even before you see the outcome. Abraham gave glory to God while he was still waiting for the promise, because he trusted the Word of God. David often waited on the Lord and then ended his prayers with praise, confident that God had heard. You can do the same with these four matters. Bring each one by name before the Father, surrender it to His will, thank Him that He hears, and praise Him that He will do what is best.
May you find joy in this fellowship with the Father, consenting to His will and watching Him work. I am joining my faith with yours, asking that God would answer each of these four unspoken requests according to His perfect wisdom and love, keep you from evil, fill you with His peace, and give you strength to walk in His Word day by day.