Made Known to God

by Terri Gillespie

Do not be anxious about anything—but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  Philippians 4:6 TLV

 Question: If GOD already knows everything, including our requests, why do we pray?

And when you are praying, do not babble on and on like the pagans; for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Matthew 5:7-8 TLV

When Jesus taught His followers to pray, how did He begin? “Our Father in heaven.” Jesus offered us the honor to address His Dad.

This is the answer to why we pray. We pray because we can. It is a privilege hard won by our Father’s Son. Yeshua [Jesus] was humbled, humiliated, suffered, and died so that we could be adopted by the Creator of the Universe.

Let that one sink in: “. . . so we could be adopted by the Creator of the Universe.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah. He chose us in the Messiah before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons [and daughters] through Messiah Yeshua, in keeping with the good pleasure of His will—to the glorious praise of His grace, with which He favored us through the One He loves! (Ephesians 1:3-6 TLV, emphasis mine)

This Creator of the Universe really does know us intimately. He knows our name (Isaiah 43:1) and the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7) and sees our heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Therefore, He absolutely knows our needs, challenges, catastrophes, pain, anxiety—everything—before they even occur. 

Nothing that happens to us is a surprise to Him. He’s never wringing His hands in worry, or says, “Oops, missed that one.”

Maybe, because we take for granted He knows us so well, we forget to pray—or we get lazy. Or perhaps we don’t feel worthy.

Prayer all boils down to relationship. Our Father wanted a relationship with us so badly that He sent His only Son to die for us (John 3:16). Salvation through the death of His Son was the means to our adoption—that’s a heavy price. But this is only the beginning.

We pray because we are in relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Praying is communication.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to pray constantly. I believe that when we are in relationship with our Father, we’ll talk with Him all the time. Respectfully. Reverentially. And, yes, sometimes with emotions like anger, joy, sorrow, confusion, frustration. (I’ve done the “What? LO-O-O-RD?” more than a few times.)

Still, if you’re like me, sometimes we need reminding that we have this privilege. Thankfully, Paul and other God-followers were kind enough to give us lots of reminders throughout Scripture. Good thing, right? Because who wants to miss out on time with the Creator of the Universe—our Dad?

This article is brought to you by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA).

About the author: Award-winning author and speaker, Terri Gillespie writes stories of faith and redemption to nurture souls. Her novels, devotionals, messages, and blogs have drawn readers to hunger for a deeper relationship with their Heavenly Father, because of His Son Jesus. Her newest novel, Sweet Rivalry, released in October. http://www.authorterrigillespie.com

Sweet Rivalry, is the story of twins separated by a troubled mother. One twin is lovingly raised by her grandmother who owns a small-town bakery. The other sister is raised by an addict mother. They discover one another through a televised baking competition. But will rivalry break them apart again?

Join the conversation. How is your communication with God?