Whenever I pray, I bring up some of these passages from the Bible to my memory:-

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” Matthew 7:7-11 NASB

And,

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?” Luke 18:1-7 NASB

And,

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:7 NASB

So, as I take out my prayer mat, my mind gets busy bringing these passages and others so my heart goes into prayer being full of hope and faith.

I mean, think about it. Prayer is kind of “a foolish act” for a person who does not believe in the existence of God. It will be like talking to themself. Pointless, isn’t it?

But for a Christian, prayer is the most meaningful, wonderful, and life-giving activity. It is the way we get intimate with the word of God and grow in Christ.

The Bible says, “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 NASB

And it says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 NASB

Yes, I want my desires to be fulfilled! Just think about the day God answered your prayers in the way you desired and how you went to God and said, “Oh, Abba, I am so happy and thankful! I don’t know how to praise You, and thank You!” And you go on singing and worshiping God, not out of duty but out of joy!

But, do all our prayers get answered the way we desire them?

Jesus prayed a few minutes before He was betrayed by Judas and handed over to His killers like this:-

“And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”” Matthew 26:39 NASB

Wow! So, Jesus willed for the cup to pass from Him! This one verse can tell us the magnitude of sufferings and pain the Son of God endured.

What about us? How many cups of sufferings have we too willed to pass from us but they hadn’t. But after we went through them all, we humbly came to God and said, “Thank You for not answering my prayers. I am thankful and grateful that You did Your will in my life because everything turned out to my own good.”

Then, like how a baby learns to walk and talk, we learn to pray and wrap up our prayers by saying, “yet not as I will, but as You will,” declaring the Sovereignty of God in our lives because one thing becomes crystal clear to us: we don’t really know what is good and best for us. Only the Sovereign LORD does!

Then knowing this Sovereign LORD should be our number desire, we learn to pray like:

“Abba, one thing I desire from you: I want You! I want to know You. I only desire to know You. I only desire You. Abba, please help me. Satisfy me in finding and knowing You.”

No wonder the Bible says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

After all, He created me Himself. So, my loudest knock must be, “LORD, I need YOU! I want YOU! I want to know YOU!”

He promised that when I knock, He will open. When I know Him, all my prayer requests start to align with His will. My number one “bread and fish” I ask of God is the Heavenly Bread, Jesus Christ. When I knock, God opens. When I ask for Bread, God does not give me a stone, but hallelujah, the Bread of Life that I am asking.

Is this something we need to pray about once or twice throughout our lives?

Jesus Christ is too big a God to be known in a year or two but throughout eternity. So, we do not stop knocking, we do not stop seeking and we do not stop asking. All other prayer requests fall under this huge prayer. Maybe that is why the Bible says, “pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Without ceasing! What gasoline is for an automobile, prayer is for a Christian. ///