Think it - Pray it

Sometimes my wife annoys me. Don’t get me wrong, I have the best wife in the entire stratosphere, but sometimes she annoys me. It happens when I start to tell her something exciting or entertaining that happened to me that day, and she interrupts me with a glorious, “Oh I already know that! Sally’s sister’s nephew, who used to be related to uncle Joe saw you, and he told me.” It only annoys me because I’m a storyteller, and part of telling a story is the joy of taking someone on a mental journey to a fun ending. Yea, it bugs me when you already know the punch line before I get there.
Of course, we’re all that way aren’t we? To make it worse, God pulls the deity card, and says that He knows what we are going to pray, even before we pray it. So it’s like no matter what’s going on in our lives, God already knows what you’re going to pray before you utter the words. So seriously, wouldn’t it be easier to just wake up in the morning and say, “Yea God, you know,” and then go on with our day? It sure would save a lot of time.
The passage where Jesus says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” is in Matthew. It’s the precursor to the infamous ‘Lord’s prayer’ that many people quote. Understand this, it’s the lead-in that Jesus uses to encourage us to pray, yet we think of it more as a deterrent as apposed to a catalyst.
When we pray, we don’t have to throw up a smoke screen. We don’t even have to use “thee”s and “thou”s. There is no need to convince God how important your request is. There is no need to beg and plead for Him to understand how heavy this weighs on your heart. Not once do you need to convince Him of the pain of loss, the heartache of a jilted love, or the stress of unpaid bills. He knows. In fact, He knows it before you pray it.
This verse that seems to be a deterrent to prayer is actually a wonderful incentive to pray. To share our innermost pains with Him, because He already knows. Sometimes when we share hurts, heartaches, and soul aches with a friend or spouse, things get lost in translating emotions to words. True, others understand better if they’ve experienced the exact same thing as you, but that’s rare. Most of the time they are grappling with their own issues, and listening to your problems through their own filters of pain and hurt. However, God knows.
God not only knows it before we pray it, He truly knows it in every aspect of knowing. He knows your hurts and pain not only intellectually but experientially as well. Through Christ, our heavenly Father knows what we need, and how desperately we need it, before we ever pray it.
When you turn your attention to God; when you throw your attention heavenward, whether it be in anguish or delight, God is already relationally connected with you, knowing your heart’s passions, hurts, dreams, and goals before you pray it.