Unspoken Requests


Occasionally when I get together with other Christians for a prayer meeting, the leader will lift up “unspoken requests.”  While this may sound holy and religious, it is unscriptural.  Philippians 4:6 commands us to “let your requests be made known to God.”

It’s true that our Heavenly Father “knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:8)  Sometimes we might get blessed with things we didn’t specifically pray for simply because He loves us.  But notice what Jesus said in Matthew 7:11; “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  


If you were in line at a McDonald’s drive thru, would you expect to receive an item on the menu that you didn’t order?  Of course, you wouldn’t.  Likewise, we need to be specific in what we want something from God.  Look at what happened in Mark 10:51 after blind Bartimaeus called out for Jesus…

So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”  The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”

Had Bartimaeus replied, “Lord, I have an unspoken request”, he probably would have remained blind.  James 4:2 (KJV) says, “…ye have not, because ye ask not.”

There are times we might perceive a leading to pray for someone or something but don’t know how to put words to it.  That’s when we need to pray in other tongues.  As Romans 8:26 (NLT) says, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.  But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”

God has many promises for us in His word.  But they won’t manifest in our lives automatically.  The first step is to ask.

“Ask the LORD for rain.  In the time of the latter rain, the LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.” - Zechariah 10:1

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