Prayer Requests and Praying

"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 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

The God Who created us knows our needs and guides us to solutions found in Himself alone.  Through Paul, God commands His people to cease justifying anxiety and instead to direct our prayers to God with thanksgiving.  God knows the unspoken desires of our hearts, yet when we choose to set aside our worries and make our requests to God as an act by faith and obedience, He gives the promise of peace through Christ.  This holy union with God by faith in Him protects us against fear, anxiety and worry.  These overwhelming feelings are often not a physical malady but a spiritual issue for which God provides a certain cure and preventative in the LORD Jesus.

Requesting other Christians pray for us has biblical precedent and is a good practice--though the way we observe this done in the Bible may be different from our experience.  Here are a smattering of examples from the New Testament.  Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2:  "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, ² and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith."  We read in Hebrews 13:18:  "Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably."  Again Paul said in Colossians 4:2-4:  "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; ³ meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, ⁴ that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak."

One thing I notice about these requests for prayer is they are very specific without sharing a lot of background information.  I am also confident these requests were already being made to God by those who requested people pray.  Another thing I observe is the Bible affirms these requests were according to the LORD's will with submission to His timing and wise ways.  We can find biblical support it is God's will we would boldly speak the truth in love, would be delivered from evil, to pray with thanksgiving and live in a God-honouring manner that pleases Him.  It is good that we pray and keep praying.  Let us not confuse making prayer requests of people as praying to God, for these are two very different things.

What I do not observe here--that I have observed many times in discussing "prayer requests" with fellow believers--is a detailed discussion about other people and situations leading up to this request for prayer.  Time that could be spent uniting in prayer led by the Holy Spirit is taken up in explaining our problem, venting our troubled feelings to other people, or telling others how to pray rather than making our requests known to God.  I find it interesting all the prayer requests I found in the Bible are very brief, no longer than one sentence.  Of course there is nothing wrong with multi-sentence requests, but at some stage it becomes more a story or personal sharing than a request.  Following the pattern established in scripture, we do well to make our requests known to God with thanksgiving, seeking God's guidance, power and wisdom to live as His obedient, trusting children.

When we gather together as believers for fellowship, study of God's word and prayer, how strange would it be to talk about our struggles with one another with God looking on silently, listening, just waiting for us to pray to Him in faith so He can do a mighty work!  How ironic it would be for God to observe a prayer meeting with extended periods where people are deterred from prayer to God due to conversation and questions that amount to gossip.  Should the prayer meeting be the first place God hears us verbally admit our struggle in sharing with one another because we have neglected to make our requests known to God in private?  Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us heed the word of God and make our requests known to God with thanksgiving as recipients of the peace of God that passes understanding.  We can learn to be thankful even for trying situations, for they prompt us to draw closer to the LORD obediently in prayer.