Before You Ask, Remember Who He Is

Many believers today approach prayer in one of two unhealthy ways.  Some pray often, but they rush into God’s presence as though they are approaching a divine customer service desk, immediately unloading their list of wants, needs, frustrations, emergencies, and complaints before ever pausing to honor the One they are speaking to.  Others hardly pray at all unless something goes wrong.  For many, prayer has become little more than spiritual emergency equipment hanging behind glass: break only in case of crisis.  Life goes on, the day begins, coffee is poured, errands are run, work is done, conversations are had, entertainment is enjoyed, meals are eaten, and bedtime comes without so much as a passing acknowledgment of the God who supplied every ounce of strength, breath, provision, and ability that made that day possible.  Yet let trouble strike, let fear rise, let sickness come, let finances tighten, let a doctor give concerning news, and suddenly many who scarcely uttered His Name all week remember exactly how to pray.  The One ignored in peace is urgently sought in panic.

But prayer was never meant to be our panic button.  It was never intended to be the thing we dust off only when life begins to unravel.  Prayer was meant to be continual communion between child and Father, creature and Creator, redeemed soul and Holy King.  And when Yeshua taught His disciples how to pray, He did not begin with requests, nor with burdens, nor with personal needs.  He began with reverence.  Matthew 6:9: “Our Father in HEAVEN, hallowed be Your name.”  Before petition came praise.  Before need came worship.  Before asking for daily bread came the exalting of the One who gives bread.  That order was no accident. Yeshua was teaching us that prayer begins by placing God in His rightful position before we bring Him anything else.  We do not begin prayer with ourselves. We begin with Him.

Why?  Because HE is worthy before HE is helpful.  HE deserves glory before HE grants requests.  HE is to be praised not merely because of what HE does for us, but because of Who HE is in Himself.  Too many people approach prayer as though God exists primarily to solve their problems, fix their circumstances, ease their suffering, and fulfill their desires.  They treat Him more like a heavenly assistant than the sovereign Lord of all creation.  If some people’s prayer life were written out honestly, it would read more like a rushed grocery list than holy communion: “Lord help me with this, fix that, bless this, protect them, heal him, stop her, provide that, and thank You bye.”  We laugh because the picture is humorous, but the reality is convicting.  Far too many of us have been guilty of speaking to the King of Glory as though we were placing an order at a drive-thru.

True prayer begins differently.  It begins with glorifying Him.  Worship comes first.

It begins with praise not because God needs flattery, but because we need perspective.  Praise reorders the heart.  It reminds us who HE is and who we are.  It strips away entitlement and restores humility.  It recalibrates our minds to remember that we are utterly dependent upon Him for all things.  Acts 17:28 says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” All things.  We live because HE gives life.  We move because HE grants strength.  We continue because it is HE who sustains us.

This is why I personally praise Him before my eyes even think to open in the morning.  Before my feet touch the floor, before my mind turns to the tasks of the day, I thank Him.  And before sleep closes my eyes at night, I praise Him again.  Why? Because HE woke me. HE sustained me.  HE carried me through another day.  HE gave me breath when I did not earn it, strength when I did not manufacture it, thoughts when I did not create them, and ability when I had none in myself.  If I prepared a meal, HE gave me hands to make it; and sometimes even the idea of what to cook!  If I worked, HE gave me strength to do it.  If I spoke wisdom, HE gave me the mind to think it.  If I loved someone well, HE put that compassion in me to begin with.  There is not one truly good thing we do that originates independently from Him.  James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above.”

And that includes even the so-called little things we rarely think to thank Him for.   The problem is not that we fail to thank God for small things.  The problem is that there are no small things.  The next breath in your lungs is not a small thing.  The strength to rise from bed is not a small thing.  The mind to think clearly is not a small thing.  The functioning of your heart, the movement of your limbs, the roof (however ragged) above your head, the food before you, the people you love, the peace you feel, the opportunities before you, even the desire stirring in your heart to seek Him: none of it is small.  All of it is grace.  All of it is HIS gift to you.  All of it is HIS loving mercy.

When a believer begins to truly understand that, prayer changes.  Thanksgiving ceases to be occasional and becomes continual.  Praise stops being reserved for church services, answered miracles, and dramatic testimonies.  It becomes the natural language of the heart.  You no longer wait until a crisis forces you to pray.  You pray because your soul recognizes that every ordinary moment is undeserved, and sustained by HIS extraordinary mercy.

So yes, bring your needs before Him.  Scripture commands us to do so.  Ask Him for help.  Seek Him in trouble.  Cry out in suffering.  Cast every burden upon Him.

But here is where it becomes practical, because “glorify Him first” is not complicated, but it does need intention until it becomes a reflex of the heart.  Some days it begins before your feet even hit the floor.  You open your eyes and simply say, “Father, thank You for waking me.  Thank You that I am here.  Thank You that You carried me through the night.”  That alone is prayer beginning in the right direction.  Other days it may be quieter still, just a breath of acknowledgment before anything else, “Thank you. You kept me.” 

As the day unfolds, it can continue in real time.  You pour coffee and instead of treating it as automatic, you recognize, “You provided this strength, You provided this supply.”  You step outside and breathe and you acknowledge, “This breath is from You.”  You face a difficult task and you pause internally, “Father, give me clarity, You are the One who sustains my mind.”  It does not interrupt life; it sanctifies it.

And when you enter fuller prayer, it shifts the beginning.  Instead of rushing straight into requests, you begin with specific gratitude drawn from real life: “Father, You carried me through yesterday when I didn’t think I had strength left.  You kept my mind steady when I was overwhelmed.  You protected me in ways I didn’t even see.”  That kind of prayer is not performance, it is recognition.

Even in hardship, it remains. “Father, I don’t understand everything right now, but I acknowledge You are still sustaining me.”  That alone is glorifying Him first, even in pressure.

Only then do requests come, and even they sound different.  Not panic, but trust shaped by remembrance: “Father, because You have carried me, I bring this need before You.” 

And this is exactly why Yeshua’s model prayer begins the way it does.  Not with fear.  Not with urgency.  Not with self.  But with God rightly placed first: “Our Father in HEAVEN, hallowed be Your name.” That is not just a phrase to recite. It is a posture to live from.

So yes, bring your needs.  But do not rush past His worth to get to your wants.  Do not treat the throne room of the Almighty like a complaint desk.  Enter as Scripture teaches: Psalm 100:4: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”  Come before Him with worship on your lips and gratitude in your heart.  Acknowledge Him first. Exalt Him first.  Glorify Him first.

Because the believer who learns to praise first has learned to see rightly.  They
understand that prayer is not merely asking for what is lacking.  It is honoring the One from whom all blessings flow.  It is communion with the God who gave us life, sustains our every breath, and deserves glory in every thought, every word, and every deed.

Prayer is not our emergency response.  It is our daily lifeline.  And glorifying God in prayer is not optional decoration at the beginning of our requests.  It is the rightful posture of every grateful heart before a holy King.

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Prayer

Father, You are holy, and You are the One who gives life to every living thing.  You are the One who woke us up today, sustained us through what we’ve carried, and held us even when we were not thinking about You.

We acknowledge You first, before anything we ask or need, because You are worthy whether we feel strong or weak, whether life is steady or difficult.

Forgive us for the times we have treated prayer as an afterthought or only turned to You in moments of urgency.  Bring us back to a heart that remembers You in all things, not just in crisis, but in every breath and every ordinary moment.

Teach us to be people who begin with You, who return to You often, and who learn to see that nothing in our lives is separate from Your hand holding it together.

And as we go through this day, we ask that you keep shaping us into people who live with awareness of You, speak to You often, and give You the first place in all things.

In Yeshua’s precious Name, Amen.

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© AMKCH 2026

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