Our Heavenly Father Knows Our Needs.

Matthew 6:8 “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

What is the context of this passage of scripture, it is praying to be heard. “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” Matthew 6:5.

Prayer is a special meeting between our Father and His child, it is a very private heart to heart talk with our Heavenly Father. It is not a time for personal glory, it is not a time of proud speaking to be heard as the heathen would do. God is our Omniscient or all knowing and all wise God, so much so that He knows everything about us that there is to know, even our most needful needs. Jesus went on in verse (31) to say, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” I cannot believe that Jesus meant that we are not to ever ask God for our needs, but we do need to remember that we are speaking to our Omniscient Father, who does supply all our needs. We need to remember that He is the Eternal God and knows the beginning to the end and everything in between. As Christians we never need to be forgetful that everything in our life is a result of God bringing them in our life. While sometimes it is hard for us to see or to understand, we must remain conscious of God’s work and dealing in our life. We are never walking alone but by the will and grace of God for us. This is why we must have an active prayer life, praying many times a day. We are asking our Heavenly Father to bless us in so many ways, because we trust Him to answer. The Psalmist wrote, “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.” Psalms 91:15 God will never give us all our that we ask for, but He will supply our need if asked according to His will. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." 1 John 5:14 - 15 We must always be reminded that God has ordained our life from the womb to death. Charles Spurgeon wrote in his sermon “Shall and Will” these words, “"He shall call upon me." It is not said, "I will give him this and that, without his praying." He that asketh receiveth; to him that knocketh it shall be opened; he that seeketh findeth. The asking, the knocking, the seeking must come before the reception, the opening of the door, and the finding. This is God's way.” That is God’s way indeed, that we do not pray in the open to be heard but that our prayers be and opening of our hearts to God our Father. Jesus went up into the mountain and prayed all night long, “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12 This proves to us that an active prayer life is only a good thing but should be part of our Christian life. We need to also understand that it is not only that we pray but that we pray much, as Jesus did. While public prayer is so wonderful and I love to hear God’s men pray, prayer is also a private time between our Father and ourselves for talking to Him and making our personal request known. Let us pray for each other, let us pray for our Pastors, Ministers, Churches, and Missionaries and their works. There is so much we all need to sit and talk about with God, ask and you shall receive, but never ask amiss and never pray just to be publicly heard for your well speaking. Ask for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God’s word. Ask God to send His Holy Spirit and teach you, and to correct any doctrinal misunderstandings. Talk to our Father about our nation and our wicked world, about the hate in the world, and how best to present the Gospel to the lost. Jesus prayed all night on that mountain top because He had mush to talk to His Father about and so do we. Make a list, and talk to God about that list, point by point. Cannot sit on a mountain and talk to God then use a closet because it is always a better conversation when it is one on one and exceptionally long in time. Folks, it is our prayer life, not only publicly but more so in a private setting with us and our Gracious and loving Father. If we ever pray to be heard, then we are praying amiss, and God will refuse to hear and answer our prayer. The Lord said, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matt. 6:6 The Lord does not forbid public prayer as long as it is sincere and not for show. And when we pray, do not let us pray as though God doesn’t know our needs, because He does.  

“Be still and know that I am God”

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

For us to properly serve God we must live and walk in Truth, the truth of His word. We must walk in the Spirit, (Gal. 5:16) and in doing so we will not in any way fulfill the lust of our old nature to disobey God. God told us here to “Be still…” Albert Barnes defined this phrase like this, “It is also employed in the sense of not making an effort; not putting forth exertion; and then would express the idea of leaving matters with God, or of being without anxiety about the issue.” In Ex. 14:13 God told Moses, “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD…” If we obey the Lord and “stand still” then in God’s own time we will see the hand of God dealing with the issue. We need to remember what prayer is for and exercise our chain of communication to our Heavenly Father, then stand still and trust Him. Then the Lord tells us, “and know that I am God.” The word “to know” is for us to know, to understand, to remember, to trust, that He is God, and it is in His hand and power. The Psalmist David wrote in Psalms 46:8 “Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.” The word “desolations” is defined “ruin or waste” which is to be understood that the ruin or waste of our land or of the earth is God’s workings and not “bad luck or something caused by another source.” God is not only to be praised for the good but also for the desolations on the earth. God has many reasons and purposes for the ruin He causes, and one reason is to get the attention of the heathen. As Christians we are not to buy into the excuses of the world but in everything as the power and work of God, even in disasters. People who do not know God are excusable from seeing God’s hand in things, but we who know God thru Jesus Christ are without excuse if we use the reasoning of the heathen to explain why something happens. We must exalt God in all things “I will be exalted among the heathen.” The heathen must understand that God delivers these desolations to make the world understand their error. People who believe that God is not behind these events do not know the Omniscient and Omnipotent God we know. So, some might ask, “why would God cause such desolations on the earth, and God answered that question, “I will be exalted in the earth..” God is saying, “I will make myself glorious by my great and wonderful works.” The heathen need to understand that their sinful ways are and abomination to God. Sin is not ok; it is ok to disobey God. People want to believe these heathiest preachers that “God is love” and that “God loves everyone” and that “God wants nothing but the best for us.” God is a God of judgment, Moses wrote “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deuteronomy 32:4 God destroyed this earth with a flood and killed every living soul except eight, why, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5 Noah stood still, he did as God commanded, he built a ship on dry land, he knew it was God and he exalted God for the desolation that He brought. God was also exalted with the desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” Genesis 13:13 God has not changed, as Christians we know the plan of God, we know the world is heading to many more desolations because of their evilness. God is not the bad here, He is a God that all His ways are judgment, and He is judging this world through desolations just as He has since creation. The desolations of this world, all of them have meaning, they are God’s work and His judgments, we are to be still and praise God in them. God will be exalted by His people and someday by the very people He delivered these judgments too. “…As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Rom. 14:11. Therefore, when these things happen, know that He is God and that these things are His judgments!