Speaking Your Heart

What is our most frequent prayer?

prayer pre(ə)r/: a solemn request for help;  a reverent petition; to speak to God especially in order to obtain something by entreaty.

As we speak with God, phrases of thanks and of praise, of worship and adoration, will fill our conversation, as it should.

Psalm 52:9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.

We also spend equal time listening, paying attention to God, lest it simply be a monologue or a practice oration, designed for little more than public expression.

We express our own sorrows and hurts, also the burdens for others that weigh heavy on our spirits.

Psalm 39:12 Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.

When we seek God for our needs, making requests for help, offer entreaty for our petitions, do they consist of intercessions for ourselves? If they do, good. We are, and should be, a needy people, turning to God for rescue, confessing our weakness and depending on Him to do what we cannot, in a way that will express His power to the world.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Do our supplications seek God for His intervention in the lives of others, near or far, family or strangers, close or distant, known or heard of? Good. That is the spirit of God moving in our hearts, caring and compassionate for all, desiring His best for each individual created by and for God.

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

Once we have run through all the details of circumstances in our lives and people we have seen and met, exhausting the day's events, we can then shed the earthly and turn to the heavenly, stepping into the spiritual realm and, with praise and thanksgiving, obedience and submission, pray simply, as Jesus did after His declaration of His preference in Gethsemane, "Thy will be done."

Matthew 26:42 He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."

Expressing this desire with gladness and delight may be challenging at first, but when you do, all your life goes right and everything tends to work out well for you in the long run. When you are honestly trying to do God's will and humbly accepting the results, nothing can seriously hurt you.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Father, Lord of all, loving King, and gracious Savior, thank You for hearing us when we speak to You, whether from our mouth or our hearts, our thoughts or our feelings. Thank You that You send Your Spirit to make intercession for us when we don't even know how to phrase what we feel or need. Thank You for giving us audience in Your throne room before the host of heaven and the cloud of witnesses as we run the race You have set before us. Although we work at what You give us to do as though success depended entirely on our efforts, we also pray for Your will to be done as though success depended completely on Your intervention.

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