“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” -- Psalms 37:4:
It is very easy for us to say, “Please, pray for me!” or “Don’t worry, I will pray for you!” But many times, we only say the former as we seek pity from others, and we say the latter simply as a gesture of being nice and a consolatory act to our friends and relatives. Yes, of course, we want to be out of troubles, sickness, trials, or sufferings right away the reason why we ask for prayers – not realizing the fact that we always forget to pray, especially when we’re not in need of prayers. Now that we need prayers, we expect God to hear our prayers and that He gives us the desires of our hearts – ASAP! Pronto!
We need to remember that God has a high expectation of us that He commands us to delight ourselves in Him as a prerequisite to His giving (not as an aftermath of His giving). The word “shall” clearly denotes the certainty of His promises.
The Book of Psalms is crystal clear: we should continue to delight ourselves in the LORD – whether we need something from Him, or not. We should thank Him, for blessings and adversities. We should always strive to be righteous, godly, and humble to people around us, instead of flying higher than others. We are not eagles, we are only humans. We should watch our mouth. We should be careful of our actions. We should keep our focus to Christ, if we know Him, and if He knows us. We should be proud of our Salvation, if we know we are saved and have been born again. Otherwise, the first thing we should do is to seek Him. Matthew 6:33 is also clear, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Let us be sincere in our prayers, and let us examine our hearts and thoughts before we ask others for prayers and offer prayers to others. 1Chronicle 28:9 says, “…the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts,” and Psalms 44:21 says, “he knoweth the secrets of the heart.” Prayers will not work if our hearts and thoughts are in vain. Let us ask for forgiveness from people whom we had wronged first before we pray or ask for prayers; let us confess our sins; let us exercise humility; let us not forget that Jesus taught us how to pray in Matthew 6; let us pray to the Father and not to idols; when we pray, let us not use vain repetitions; and lastly, let us search our soul and ask ourselves the question: Do I delight myself in the LORD?
Only when we keep a positive answer to the question, that God will give us the desires of our heart. That is His promise to us! Calling God, “Lord, Lord!” has no merits in our prayers, especially when we do not the things (sic) which He says, according to Luke 6:46.
