Let Your Requests Be Made Known To God

On a scale of one to 10, 10 being the best and 1 being the worst, how would you rate yourself when it comes to making your requests known to God? Like if you got really honest about your prayer life, how good are you at taking your desires to the Lord?

And really? Not only laying it at his feet, but getting excited about that prayer coming to pass? In the fall of 1995, I was a 12 year old blossoming girl with bleach bond hair pulled back by a high ponytail, a mouth full of braces, and you’d almost always catch me wearing my favorite Lion King sweatshirt from Kmart. I was bougie. I remember waiting in front of a giant speaker for the radio to play my favorite song of the season. And for those of you guys who are 40 and up, you will appreciate this. My favorite song of that season was One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boys to Men.  Am I aging myself here?  

eager to hear

 I was known for calling the radio station and requesting my favorite songs to be played. I loved it because they would say, 

all right, we got you down..thanks for calling and be on the lookout for us to play your song

I sat eagerly, waiting for the radio host to come on and announce that my song was up next and bonus points if they said my name on the radio. I wanted all my friends to hear it.  In my eagerness, I was ready to pretend to be surrounded by Boys to Men singing a song that was quite literally a eulogy. Morose, but true. We now live in a day where any song you want to listen to is on demand. You no longer have to sit around on a cold, dark fall day as a teeny bopper waiting to hear your favorite song on the radio. 

My question for you today is how good are you at making your requests known to our Heavenly Father? While we no longer call the radio station to make our specific request be made known, our faith requires us to be anxious for nothing, but instead by prayer, present our request to God. That’s Philippians 4:6- 7–some of my favorite Bible verses. We also know that Jesus Christ paid the highest price in order for us to have a direct line to God, our father. God wanted to be with us again and he wants to be the center of your life.

scared to ask?

He is perfectly holy. We couldn’t be in the  presence of God unless the Lord Jesus stood in our place.  But here’s the question, why don’t we pick up the phone and dial? Why don’t we make specific prayer requests? I actually had a lot of friends from when I was 12 who were downright scared to call the radio station and ask the DJ to play their favorite song.

How embarrassing. 

I don’t want to do that. 

And so they didn’t.  But even worse were my friends who rolled their eyes when I suggested that they called to have their favorite song played. 

What’s the point? 

They aren’t going to play my song anyway. 

Yikes, and let’s face it, we all think this in one area of our life where we are hoping God would pull through for us. It’s one of the reasons we don’t pick up the phone and ask, yet God is so clear with us in the book of James. You have not because you ask not. You don’t call in, you don’t make your requests be made known.  Honestly, I think you would make more requests if you believed that God cares about the desires of your heart, always works for your best interest and the request would be granted. 

the hot 9 at 9

I thought it would be fun to share with you today my top nine hesitations that I experience during prayer times. 

These are the most common thoughts I have even though I totally believe in the power of prayer. These thoughts tempt me and keep me from picking up the phone to call the DJ, so to speak. 

Another funny tie it to my adolescent radio requests is that the radio station I listened to as a kid had this thing called the hot nine at nine. They would play the hottest nine songs at 9pm.

So here we go with my hot nine at nine (hahaha). Nine thoughts that keep me from making my requests be made known to God. And spoiler alert, all of them are rooted in unbelief. So there’s that.  

Number one: I’m probably too old or it’s too late to start. It’s too late. I’m 40 now. It’s over, which is so funny, but it comes up for me. This is one of my nine. I have to remind myself that if it is the will of God, it is going to happen regardless of my personal hangups. With God’s help, anything is possible.

Number two: I’m not smart enough or equipped enough to steward the thing that I’m asking for. That is a surefire way to count yourself out.  

Number three: I’m not skilled enough. I’m not skilled at whatever it is I’m praying for. I don’t have what it takes. 

Number four: Failing would feel too painful or not having it be answered would feel too painful, so I won’t pick up the phone.  

Number five: This is for real an issue for me.  I used to think that asking God for cash was wrong. I don’t want to be caught loving money, even though I absolutely need it to take care of our family and our tangible needs. We have seven children. I need cash, God send cash. But that prayer, I don’t know, I hesitate on it. It’s one of my temptations.  

Number six: I’ve tried everything already. I’m out of options. It’s hopeless. Tell God how you’ve run out of all the options. Even as I say that I know better, but it’s still one of my temptations for not picking up and making my request be made known. God cares about all of the details of your life, so go to him with a prayer of faith.

Number seven: This is a doozy. I don’t deserve what I’m requesting. Now, this is probably my favorite go to and the reason why I don’t even ask. I don’t deserve that. Have you seen my performance? Hmm. Big one. I bet you everybody here knows exactly what that feels like.  

Number eight: Comparison. I’m not as good as the other person that I saw receive what I’m asking for. This is where I fall into this mostly on social media is I see somebody else have something (or all of the “right things”) and I think, well, of course they have that. I won’t be able to have that. And I start comparing myself to that person. So then I don’t pick up the phone. I don’t ask for it because I believe they deserved it. And I don’t.  

Number nine: The opposite of what I’m asking for is probably going to happen. So, I’d be better off bracing myself rather than calling in and making my request be made known. This is kind of the  waiting for the other shoe to drop mentality. It’s ok to bring a specific need to him in prayer and with open hands believe that he will hear you.

These are my top nine reasons why I hesitate in prayer. You might have more or you might really resonate with some of these things.  So what do we do?  If we’re afraid to talk to God about our requests, then what is the option here? I’m going to tell you straight up, we’re going to have to worry about it. And we’re going to have to try to make it happen ourselves. This is what pagans do, not believers.  And here’s the thing with unbelief. Sometimes it runs deep.  And what I have learned as a CBT coach is that in order for someone to learn how to take their thoughts captive is first, their brain has to latch onto thoughts that are believable enough to grab onto while they are learning to go deeper in faith thoughts.

So thoughts like…

I don’t deserve what I’m requesting. 

That probably feels really true because if we’ve meditated on that for years and years and years, then we’ve had years and years and years to believe it. And we’ve collected a lot of evidence of how it’s true. So in order to take our thoughts captive and get into a different place, I, I believe that we have to get into what I like to call the zone of possibility. This is where someone learns to step into the zone of possibility first, It’s the first place you start in order to get to that spot where you feel like you could actually pick up the phone and make a request. I’m obviously talking about prayer here. If you aren’t praying, it’s either because you feel silly about it or you think it’s not going to happen anyway. So why bother?  

Your invitation and mine today is to repent, to change our mind and position ourselves in the zone of possibility. So here’s what I mean by the zone of possibility.  

Being in the zone of possibility means taking my “hot nine at nine” and holding them up again God’s word. His word says that, with God, all things are possible. So, do we believe that? Or do we think that’s a lie?

It is 100 percent believable for me to say either it’s me and I’m out of alignment with God’s word or God is lying. I don’t feel comfortable calling God a liar. So my brain says, yeah, it’s probably you, LB.

Knowing that it’s probably me and knowing that I can take my thoughts to the zone of possibility, helps me reframe my thoughts in a believable way. Here’s what I mean by that. If I took my hot nine at nine list that I just told you and flip those things and dunk them in possibility, they look like:

flip those thoughts

It’s possible I’m not too old to start. 

It’s possible I might not have missed the boat.  

It’s possible I could learn a new skill. 

It’s possible that failing wouldn’t be all that bad.

It’s possible I’d learn something great from it.

It’s possible cash is not bad. 

It’s possible it’s a tool to build legacy. 

It’s possible I might not have tried everything yet. God might have more ideas. 

It’s possible my deservedness has nothing to do with me. It’s possible it has everything to do with my right standing in Christ.  

It’s possible the other people who have what I want could be evidence that I’m next in line.

It’s possible the other shoe might not drop.  

This is what I mean is when we have these thoughts that feel so hopeless and heavy and this attitude of why bother? Why make my request be made known? You have to stop and say, hold on a second. If I defer my hope, I am going to have a heart that is sick. And here’s the thing, when your heart is sick, your body will follow suit. All of a sudden you’ll be tired and you’ll feel depressed and you’ll want to just kind of emotional eat or you’ll just check out and scroll your phone. 

When was the last time I picked up the phone and made my request be made known? The best thing is God is not a DJ just taking your requests. He’s a father that is loving and kind and closer to you than you can even believe or imagine  He is the giver of all good things. 

Phillipians 4:6-7

A favorite passage of scripture, Phillipians 4:6-7, says do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer, (picking up the phone) and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests be made known to God. Then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus. Oh, God’s wonderful peace and God’s presence–truly all we need.

God’s peace will guard your heart. It says it will, but do you see the blueprint? You have to play your part. And then God plays his. He’s a loving father with great power. And he is taking requests.  It’s possible he delights in playing your song.  Let that sink in for a second. I know for a lot of us, it comes back to that deservedness. Maybe your parents overlooked you. And so you’ve made this agreement that he’s probably overlooking you, too. It’s possible he’s not.  It’s possible he’s not overlooking me or you at all. It’s possible the timing might be important here. 

God promises you peace, a peace that you cannot come up with on your own as you’re trying to figure out how to make your requests come to pass without him.  He will sustain you as you wait.  So here’s where, you know, you being a teeny bopper will pay off.  You, instead of being worried, You pick up the phone, you pray, you make your request be made known.

where is your hangup?

I used to call the radio station so much. I called every day. I wanted to hear my song. I wanted to hear it and I wanted to sing it and I wanted to feel all the feels. I want to leave you with a couple of things.First, I want to remind you that the scriptures say, unless you become like a little child, you will not inherit the kingdom of God.  There is a playfulness that comes in your relationship with your father who loves you. There’s an invitation here that says we can be uninhibited in our asking with thankful hearts. The last thing I want to challenge you  with this week is this: I want you to take some time uncovering which of the impossibility thoughts that I mentioned is the one that you’re usually hung up on. 

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a thought that hangs you up or holds you back from picking up the phone and asking and making your request. He will show you because our human understanding just isn’t sufficient at times. And then I want you to acknowledge to the Lord your need to change your mind. 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. When your heart is sick, your body will follow. If you just don’t feel good and you’re hearing testimonies from other people and it makes you feel even worse, it’s a sign that you’re weaponizing a testimony of faith against yourself.

There are things that he is doing that you cannot see, my friend. I always tell people God is up to a thousand things behind the scenes on you and your family’s behalf. And a lot of times we’re only permitted to see three of them.  And that is God’s business, not ours. The job of God’s people is to remain childlike and get our hopes up that he is up to something. He’s near, he cares, he loves, and he sees. Let your request be made known. And then you sit down in front of that speaker and may God bless your obedience while you wait for that song to play.  

so glad you joined me here!

If you liked what you read here, I have more content in other places. You can find me over on Instagram, Facebook. YouTube and the Peace on Purpose podcast. You can also find out ways that you can partner with me or work with me for a season. You can get more information at leslieburris.com. Thank you for joining me in this space, dear friend!