Let your requests be made known to God

Philippians 4:4-9 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Think of Excellence

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. ⁹ The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Matthew 6:7-8 says: "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”     While today’s text says:    Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. These two seem to be at odds with each other. Is this one of those things that those who doubt the Bible like to point out to say that scripture contradicts itself? God is omniscient, He knows all things. So surely He does know the things we need and the things we desire before we ask for them. Yet Paul says we are to let our requests be known to God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says we should:  ^“pray without ceasing”.

James 5:16 says: pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The key to our effective prayer, the reason we pray fervently, without ceasing, the reason we make our requests known to God is not so that we might change His mind. Prayer is powerful and can accomplish many things. But it is first and foremost a conversation we have with God. As a conversation it is more than us simply stating our demands, our needs or desires. Part of every good conversation is listening as well as speaking. If we truly understand and comprehend the awesome privilege we have in prayer, the ability to communicate and converse with the God of creation, the One who knows all and controls all, we will learn to listen to God in our prayer time. Often the first and greatest thing that is changed when we pray, when we spend time in God’s presence, communing with Him, is us.

We make our requests known to God, not because He doesn’t know already, but because by our verbalizing our request in the presence of God we begin to see if our will is in line with God’s will. That’s a key to our prayers being answered. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done”. For us to pray the will of God for our situations and circumstances is more than us listing our desires and stating the outcome we want to see and then adding but heavenly Father You know best so Your will be done. To pray according to the will of God we need to know the mind of God. 1 Corinthians 2:11-13 says:            For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³ which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.       So in our prayer we yield to the Holy Spirit who is one with God. Then our prayer becomes the combining of Spiritual thoughts with Spiritual words. If we pray the will of God, if we pray what He is thinking of the situation or circumstance then surely our prayers will be answered. Jesus says:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)

For us to do the things that Jesus did we need to live, walk and abide in His presence. The psalmist says:  Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
 Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. (Psalm 37:3-5)         Paul says:      ⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. ⁹ The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

We receive the peace of God. We know the mind of God and we get His answers to our prayers, His will in and for the circumstances of our lives and the lives of others as we delight in the Lord, as we think on what is right honorable and true. Jesus says: “truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” (Matthew 17:20)

What mountains are you facing today? When we pray, Your will be done, Your kingdom come, we pray that the realities of heaven will touch and impact the circumstances on earth.  I encourage you to pray, to make your request known to God, to pray without ceasing. Begin by delighting yourself in the Lord. Take time to listen for God’s heart, to know the will of God for your circumstance. God may want to move that mountain from your path or He may want you to climb that mountain with Him. Jesus says: "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do”,  whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.