When Praying Make Your Request Clear

Joel 2:17
Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God? ’”

Joel warns the people of coming punishment. Punishment because of their sins. Joel describes how terrible it will be when God responds to sin. When people sin and God is silent they think God has approved it or He doesn’t care, but Joel warns that even in God’s silence, be sure punishment for unrepented sin is coming.

After describing the punishment that is coming for unrepented sin, Joel provides hope and a way out of trouble. Any good sermon must end in hope and not hopelessness. If there wasn’t hope, God would never send any prophet to us. Hope is the reason we teach and preach. Hopelessness is not God’s agenda for us. Even in the extremity of punishment for sin, God injects hope. Our messages even when condemning sin, must be full of hope for the condemned. We must give God’s people a chance to repent. You are sinful, yes, but you can be saved if you accept it.

Even prophets of doom climaxed their messages of doom with hope. God sent a message of doom so that we would embrace the hope that He offers at the end of the message. Hope should be the business of the church, its preachers, and members. At the end of your presentation are people excited and hopeful or depressed and distressed?

Joel 2:12 after messages of doom, God says if people return to Him, He can avert the coming crisis. Joel 2:13-16 God instructs people on how to come together in worship and seek to prevent the coming disaster. Then in our text today, religious leaders are invited to come and pray in a specific way. The prayer that would be an antidote for the coming trouble has to be a simple, clear, and direct prayer. When praying make your request clear.

The prayer begins directly with a request to God to spare His own people. “Spare Your people, LORD.” The one praying must be clear on why they are praying and what they are praying for. We should stop these prayers that beat around the bush and just follow a template. Tell God your request in simple direct language. When praying make your request clear.

The rest of the prayer is short and clear. The prayer is not effective because of length. Length doesn’t mean you are closer to God. Longer prayers have not proved to be better than shorter prayers. Public prayers must never ever be too long. A minute or two of public prayer is already too long. Go straight to the point when praying. When praying make your request clear.

Prayer does not influence God to act. Prayer doe not change God’s mind. Prayer does not inform God of our situation as if He didn’t know. The use of emotions while praying does not increase the probability of the prayer being answered. Prayer is for the benefit of human beings and not God. When you make your request long and winding it will affect you and not God. When praying make your request clear.

We are clear when praying so that we find comfort in knowing that our issues are now clearly before God. When we are amorphous while praying, we leave the prayer moment unsure if we were clear enough. We develop doubt and lack of peace. We feel like we need to clarify something to God. We go about feeling unsure if we have been understood. Therefore for our own sake, we must be clear when praying. When praying make your request clear.

Be brief, simple, and clear when praying. Only in your privacy with God can you pray long prayers. Long prayers are for you and God only, nobody else. Be so simple and clear that when you leave the prayer moment you are satisfied that you have presented your requests to God. When praying make your request clear.

Another reason why we are not simple and clear is that we are confused. We do not know what we want. We do not know what to ask. We are also not simple and clear because during prayer our focus is on people listening and not God. We choose words and make prayer statements to impress those listening. Consequently, our prayers are not clear because we are playing to the gallery. When praying make your request clear.

Dear God, teach me how to pray in a brief, simple and clear way, in Jesus’ name, Amen!