Ask God in Prayer

 Matt 6:8
..your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him.

We come to God daily, not because we always need something. It is good to keep in touch daily with our heavenly Father. He does take pleasure in our petitions, and He entreats us to “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. and all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Asking God in prayer helps us to realize that we depend on Him, that our life is in His hands and we can’t do anything without His help. Volumes of books have been written on the subject of prayer, and not enough pages can be written about what God wants to do for us through prayer. The prayers of the hypocrites stem from spiritual pride and arrogance. They ask so that they may be seen for their ability to speak eloquently, and appear that they are spiritually enlightened. Their hearts are far from God, and God turns a deaf ear to their request. It is but vain repetition, without sincerity of heart. Our heavenly Father is all knowing, and already knows what we need. We don’t need to form a perfect prayer in our asking, we just need to come to Him with a humble heart and contrite spirit. Bow your head, bow your knees, but most importantly, bow your heart, and ask.

Prayers Night and Day

 2 Tim 1:3

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.

Pray for those you care for and love every day. We often keep our loved ones in our thoughts, but Paul did more than think about them, he prayed for them. It is nice to think about those we care about, but the power of prayer connects our thinking to our Father in heaven, who controls the affairs of people. He knows what others are going through, He sees the trails and stressful circumstances that they are facing at that time. Positive thoughts do not change things, it is through prayer and petitioning God that makes the difference. Prayer moves the hand of God, prayer makes it possible to see God move in the lives of people. Without ceasing, let us remember our loved ones in prayer as often as we can, trusting them over to God who is able to meet their needs when they need it.

The Spirit Utters our Prayers

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought…

Learning to pray is more that being able to say the right words. It is not the vocabulary of the words we speak that bends the ear of God, but with the heart, we are able to express our desires to Him. The infirmities of our humanity often hinder us to utter the words that need to be said. That is when the Holy Spirit takes that which was spoken from the heart and translates it into a heavenly language. This does not mean that we should not make efforts to learn how to approach the throne of God for He invites us to boldly come to His throne and make petition for our needs and the needs of others, but after our efforts are made, the Spirit takes our feeble efforts and utters them in such a way that God hears and answers.

Our Petitions to God

1 John 5:15 “ And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”- 

According to His will, His will is that all be saved, sanctified, and His name glorified. We can know that He hears us when we pray in His will. Our petitions to God for the salvation of those who are lost in sin and away from God will not go unheeded. Our petition to draw closer to God, to be set apart in holiness is the desire of our Lord. The request that we make that will bring glory to Him, God will not ignore. Whatsoever we ask, according to will, we can know that He hears us.