Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing these four unspoken requests. You do not need to explain them in detail for God to understand them, because He already knows what you need before you ask Him.
Prayer is not giving God information He lacks. He searches the heart and knows your thoughts completely. We can fool ourselves about our own motives, but we never fool Him. That is why the psalmist prayed, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wrong way in me. It is a good prayer to pray as you bring these four matters to the Lord, asking Him to show you what is in your own heart and to create in you a clean and pure heart. Jesus said the pure in heart will see God, and God looks not at outward appearance or at the words we use or the posture of our body, but at the condition of the heart.
That matters because Scripture teaches that if we hold onto sin in our hearts the Lord will not hear us, yet He does hear the prayer of a sinner who cries, God be merciful to me, a sinner. So come honestly and openly. You do not need a perfect speech, only an honest heart. Tell Him your troubles not so He can learn about them, for He knows every problem you are facing, but so you can share your heart with Him as a child with a Father who loves you. Often as we do that, His Spirit brings comfort and assurance even while we wait for an answer.
Remember also what prayer is for. It was never meant to be a way to get our wishes granted or to change the purposes of God. True prayer begins with God and His will, and it is a way we cooperate with Him to see His will done on this earth. What He has purposed in love He will do, and when we pray for what is right according to His will, we find He had already planned to give it. His chief concern is not only our temporary relief but our eternal good, and He knows what you will need months and years from now as well as today.
You can be confident of this, that God does hear the cries of His people. The psalmist said, I cried to God with my voice, and He gave ear to me. There are times when we seek Him and the problem remains for a season, and in those times we are tempted to blame Him. Instead, let those times be an opportunity to ask Him to test and reveal what is in our hearts, and to teach us to seek His face with our whole heart.
I am praying for you now, that the Father who knows these four requests before you speak them would search your heart, cleanse you through the blood of Jesus Christ, and keep you from wandering from His word. May He show you His will in each of these matters, give you a heart that says in response to His call to seek Him, your face, Lord, I will seek, and work in your life according to His covenant mercy and for your eternal good. May His will be done in each request as you walk before Him with a sincere heart.
Prayer is not giving God information He lacks. He searches the heart and knows your thoughts completely. We can fool ourselves about our own motives, but we never fool Him. That is why the psalmist prayed, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wrong way in me. It is a good prayer to pray as you bring these four matters to the Lord, asking Him to show you what is in your own heart and to create in you a clean and pure heart. Jesus said the pure in heart will see God, and God looks not at outward appearance or at the words we use or the posture of our body, but at the condition of the heart.
That matters because Scripture teaches that if we hold onto sin in our hearts the Lord will not hear us, yet He does hear the prayer of a sinner who cries, God be merciful to me, a sinner. So come honestly and openly. You do not need a perfect speech, only an honest heart. Tell Him your troubles not so He can learn about them, for He knows every problem you are facing, but so you can share your heart with Him as a child with a Father who loves you. Often as we do that, His Spirit brings comfort and assurance even while we wait for an answer.
Remember also what prayer is for. It was never meant to be a way to get our wishes granted or to change the purposes of God. True prayer begins with God and His will, and it is a way we cooperate with Him to see His will done on this earth. What He has purposed in love He will do, and when we pray for what is right according to His will, we find He had already planned to give it. His chief concern is not only our temporary relief but our eternal good, and He knows what you will need months and years from now as well as today.
You can be confident of this, that God does hear the cries of His people. The psalmist said, I cried to God with my voice, and He gave ear to me. There are times when we seek Him and the problem remains for a season, and in those times we are tempted to blame Him. Instead, let those times be an opportunity to ask Him to test and reveal what is in our hearts, and to teach us to seek His face with our whole heart.
I am praying for you now, that the Father who knows these four requests before you speak them would search your heart, cleanse you through the blood of Jesus Christ, and keep you from wandering from His word. May He show you His will in each of these matters, give you a heart that says in response to His call to seek Him, your face, Lord, I will seek, and work in your life according to His covenant mercy and for your eternal good. May His will be done in each request as you walk before Him with a sincere heart.
