Request It!
Why do so few people set aside time daily to pray for
themselves or others? Requesting prayer is time-intensive. I’ve
heard the complaints: asking, requesting, and interceding
prayer is boring and repetitive.
Over the past twenty-five years, I’ve never gotten tired of
praying for people because there is always a reward: changed
lives, healing, restoration, salvation, and lots more answers!
Author and theologian O. Hallesby taught what all praying
people eventually find true in their own prayer lives: “When
God grants our prayers, it is because He loves us; and when
He does not, it is because He loves us.” 7
A Request list or section in a prayer notebook can certainly
become tedious—if you let it—because it requires focus and
intention. It is work, in a very literal sense. Rather than seeing
your request list as ideas or hopes being wistfully tossed into
the air, you must see yourself approaching God with the
needs of yourself and others. In His presence, you can actually
lift up or bring forward the names and needs of those who are
sick, making specific requests on their behalf. By diligently and
daily bringing those you know and love to God’s attention—
asking that their plans go smoothly, for them to be safe and
healthy, for their finances and families to be protected—you
are not wasting time, but giving a gift of your time spent on
their behalf.
A prayer Request list is neither a wish list nor a tell-God-
what-to-do list. Requesting prayer is an experience with God
where you ask, then watch and wait for Him to answer.
Renowned preacher Charles Spurgeon pushed people to