Untold sorrows and hidden cares are not hidden from God, who beholds the heart. You have brought your request, veiled though it is, and offered thanksgiving, which is itself a mighty act of faith. Prayer is a great weapon, an impregnable wall, a tower unshaken against the tempest and storm of every day’s battle. Whether your need is for deliverance, provision, or the breaking of some inward chain, know that the very act of seeking, coupled with thanksgiving, opens the door for grace.
Yet remember what is required on our part. Do not say within yourself, "What need have I of prayer?" For it is precisely because we think we have no need that we need it most. Even if you strive to be watchful and alert, never place yourself in a position to say you lack need of another’s prayer or of God’s constant help. We require both our own striving and the grace from above, our own part and God’s part, to be duly saved. Your faith, together with prayer, brings no small power; it fights against the incorporeal powers.
Therefore, be confident. The Lord does not need your words to know the matter, just as He needed no prayer to raise the dead, but He seeks the posture of your trusting soul. He allows us to ask so that we might learn confidence in Him. Stand fast, then. Do not sleep in the matter, but be on the alert, and know that this very prayer you have offered, grounded in the name of Jesus, secures for you a defense that no enemy can breach, if wickedness does not prevail over your watchfulness.