“…in every situation…present your requests to God.” In every situation God wants to guide us! Our job, Paul tells us in Philippians 4:5-7, is to present our requests through prayer and supplication (humble petition) with thanksgiving to God. There is nothing so small that God does not have time for it or so large that it exceeds His grace, influence and power.
What does it mean to present our requests? It means to lay them before the Lord with trust and openness to His will and direction. Supplication means to do it with humility. This means that we are to seek God’s ways and God’s direction in every situation. We all have thoughts and plans and wishes and needs and feelings. But God knows the right course for us to accomplish His purposes in and through our lives. God cares about us and our every need but His purposes are higher and better for us than we would choose for ourselves.
In order to truly present all our requests to God in every situation and to do so with humility, we must not just speak but we must also listen!
A major part of fully praying about anything is to listen for God’s response. When it was first brought to my attention as a new Christian that God wanted to speak to me, I found it very frustrating. It was not that I didn’t want to hear what He had to say—quite the contrary—but that I had no confidence in my ability to hear Him. I was putting the emphasis in the wrong place. It is first and foremost about God’s desire and willingness and ability to speak to us not about our ability to hear.
God will teach us to listen and increase our confidence as we ask for His help in this area and as we proceed in faith and trust. Perceiving what God is saying and doing comes through the Holy Spirit and is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The first request that we present to God should be to ask for the Holy Spirit to fill us and to give us the gifts (or more fully release gifts already given) that we need to perceive His direction—to hear what He is saying and see what He is doing.
This listening prayer does not just help us in our relationship with God but also with one another. In every human relationship, there is the potential for power struggles. But when we choose to pray and listen together—for example with your spouse, close friend, family member or colleague—God can bring us into agreement in His will. Jen and I do this all the time and when we do things go well in our relationship. When we forget, difficulties arise.
In a way, it is good that such difficulties arise because it reminds us of the importance of bringing all our requests to God both individually and together and humbly asking for His direction and timing. As we do this the promise in the next verse “and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” is fulfilled. There is peace in our relationship with God and with one another.
Thanks be to God that He helps us gently along this path of listening prayer and nudges us back when we get off track. If you have not tried this or need to begin again, take heart. The Lord is merciful and gentle and will teach you how to still yourself and the inner and outer clamour of your life so that He can fill you and help you to listen.
As the young child Samuel was taught to say, you too may want to say: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9 NIV). To help us in every area including this one, Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled (go on being filled) with the Holy Spirit.
In this Epiphany season of God’s love, may the Lord manifest Himself more and more in all of our lives.
Greg
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