“Make Your Requests Known!”

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Philippians 4:6

I have opened many beautiful invitations throughout the years. But none so beautiful as the call from heaven that says, “Come.” – “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Our Savior has always been a welcoming Savior. Never a standoffish Lord. People clamored to be near, knowing that where He is, there is help and healing. People drew near to hear His words and wisdom. But people also desired to be near because His very presence welcomed them.

What is stopping you from coming? Do you feel unworthy? Come, for none are worthy. Do you not know how? Come, for it is not the articulation of your words the Lord is seeking. It’s you. For the LORD says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

God, the Father, welcomes you to come and lay it all down: “Let your requests be made known unto God.”

Our gracious and kind God is not to be treated like a fictitious genie in a bottle. But as our Heavenly Father, He wants you to know that He is concerned about every part of your life. There is no prayer or problem, too big or too small.

What is the container of your heart holding today? At the throne of grace, there is power to release and free it.

What troubling thought is anxiously weighing you down? The Word confidently invites us to “Be careful for nothing.”

But that can only happen when we allow the faith we have in God override our natural human propensity to take on the world and try to solve it all on our own.

Faith is the key, my friend, that unlocks this door. For even when we can’t see it, we believe that as our prayers leave our hearts and our lips, God hears every one. And as He hears, we believe in our Heavenly Father to do what He sees best for His children.

There are days of general prayers. However, there are times when it is necessary to be very specific: “Let your requests be made known unto God.”

For this, we do not need a prayer plan or formula. We just need a heart of faith, no matter how small (Matthew 17:20; Mark 9:24), to come. A heart that will seek to speak with our Heavenly Father and ask for His help.

It’s not complicated. Nor was it ever meant to be. A good and loving father will always keep a door open for his children to come and talk, if need be.

Dear one, you are God’s child. Go to the prayer door of “Abba, Father,” and make your requests known.

It is true, He knows all things of whatsoever you could think to bring. But will you allow your faith, no matter how humble, to propel you forward, and come and make known those requests? The Word reminds us, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Despite what our eyes see and the words others may say, Father God knows it all; He knows what’s best, and He is awaiting your coming.

Lord, I bring it to You…

Every concern about my family. Every concern about my ministry. Every unknown that is before me. My life is in Your hands. You, who are the Creator of the ends of the earth and beyond, hold my very days, life, and times in the palms of Your strength and power. You know the beginning from the end of it all. And, You know the future you have in store for me.

So, I pray today, casting all my cares upon You, in trust and belief that all things will work together for good.

I bring You my heart. Even though I sometimes have words and thoughts that I can’t properly articulate, I come. I lay them all at the foot of Your throne of grace, where You welcome me to draw near to obtain help.

Oh, God, I need You in everything. You are my Praise, my Comfort, and my Rock. You are the reason we sing and dare to have hope. You are the Light that shows us the way, and I pray today for Your holy direction.

I need You as I lie down and as I rise in the morning. I need You in every breath I take and every move I make. I need You all day long, without exception to time, space, and subject.

There is none like You. Not in all the heavens or in all the earth. Thank You for making room for us to come and lay it all down. Thank You for Your daily, loving compassion and tender mercies; for being our very present help in the time of trouble.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Text Free Image by Arnie Bragg from Pixabay

More Inspiration:

“Welcomed”

“Come to the Garden, and Pray!”

“Upon My Knees!”

“There is Power in Prayer!”

“Put Worry in its Place!”

 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6, NKJV

Oh, for just one day without worrying.  Just one day without the embossment of what we have to deal with on a daily basis, in the mind.  The frustrations, headaches and disappointments over decisions we have to make today.  Or, the reality of decisions made in the past mixed in with the future prevailing over us.  Oh!  Sometimes we wake up in the morning feeling the weight of the world on our shoulders.  We feel surrounded by all the what-was-done, and all the what-has-to-be-done, and all the what-will-be-done.

Chaos!  Will this be done right?  Will that one make the right choice?  How far will this go before it rights itself?  Questions running rampant causing the mind to be worked up into such frenzy that we can’t help but do anything but worry.  All those who’s, what’s, where’s, how’s and why’s of the day waiting for our minds to process and find a solution for.  No wonder so many people are so stressed out.  Why even those who profess Christ feel like all this worrying has caused them to reach their limits.  “I’m done.  I can’t take this anymore!” becomes the cry of the battle.

That’s far from the victorious battle cry that God wants to hear from His people.  No wonder stress, worrying, fear and such are spoken of so often in the Bible.  These things are opposed to you getting where God wants you.  It repels you away from drawing nearer to Him and His goal for your life.  Proverbs 12:25 declares, “Heaviness in the heart man maketh it stoop.”  It’s feeling so low almost every day because the load is just too much to bear.  The weight of it all makes one feel that they are trudging up a muddy hill while pulling a cart behind you.  It’s too much!

Keeping in mind the many adverse things one can face in a single day, Paul taught the Philippians, “Be anxious for nothing.”  On a daily basis, issues seem to flow from every area of life, yet Paul says, “Forget about it.”  How can this be?  It goes against human reasoning not to get worked up about all this stuff I have to deal with.  But, Paul says, “Chill.  You are carrying unnecessary trouble because you want to; because you refuse to let go, and let God.”

“But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”  “In everything!”  There is absolutely no area in your life that God doesn’t want you to trust Him for.  He is concerned about all of it.  If it bothers you, it bothers Him.  If the waves are churning in your life, He says to give it to Me, I’ll make them behave.  I, for one, am so grateful that He is not a far-off God.  He’s up close and personal, and He cares.  So, how do you handle this?  Take it to the Lord in prayer.  Many don’t heed this very simple advice.  We have heard it so much yet have never made it applicable to our lives.  But, this is the sure-fire method you need – pray!

“Let your requests be made known unto God.”  Here is something I have never noticed before until now.  The word “requests” has an “s” on the end making it plural.  Now, I don’t know about you but I have plural problems to deal with every day.  So, when you tell me to make my “requests known” I have a laundry list of stuff that tries to overrun me.  The “s” on the end means that God can handle it all and he wants you to give Him it all!  He cannot be overwhelmed with what you are going through so why not let Him have it.

There’s an “s” on the end!  Rejoice, because you don’t have to carry it all alone.  Every trial and heartache, all the way down to every disappointment and decision, we can take it all to Him today and put worry in its place so that we can be free.

“Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.” – George Herbert

image-127

POWER THOUGHT:

“Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.” – George Herbert

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Philippians 4:6