How to Turn Your Requests to Prayers to Praise God

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Do you feel like your prayer time is just asking God for a bunch of stuff that you never see come to pass? Or that you spend most of your time begging God to fix situations in your life? I’ve been there and was actually there most of my life. Almost every single prayer I used to pray begged God for freedom from a current struggle either for myself or my family. While it is good to take our requests to God, I’ve found that if I spend my time turning my requests to prayers to praise God I have found more peace, joy, and comfort than I ever thought possible.

God is faithful all the time and always gives us what we need when we need it. We actually have everything we need for faith and godliness through His Spirit that lives within us (2 Peter 1:3). We don’t have to spend our time begging God for things that are already ours. We just have to believe and receive these things. Spending time praising God instead of asking Him for things will realign your heart and mind to the Lord’s will and desire for your life as well as His unconditional love for you and faithfulness to you.

Why is it important to praise God?

Praising God puts Him back into His proper place in our lives – as King, Lord, and Mighty God. Although He is also our loving Father who loves to hear our requests, He is not there to just answer everything we ask the way we want. He is sovereign, good, and in control of every situation. Acknowledging that by praising Him puts your requests to Him in their proper place and reminds you that no matter what happens in those situations He is still good.

Praise is a chance to thank God for all that He’s done in your life. The more you praise Him, the more you’ll realize how much He’s done for you and continues to do for you. It helps refocus your mind on the Lord instead of your current circumstances. This will end up changing your perspective on how you see and encounter the world every day.

We see over and over again in the Bible where it emphasizes praise. Although the Bible does mention the importance of prayer and presenting your requests to God, it speaks even more about praising God in every circumstance.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:4-7

This doesn’t say “praise God when you feel like or when things are going your way.” It says “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS”! And as we see as we read on, the reward for praying with thanksgiving in all things is peace that surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace, a guarded mind, intimacy with the Lord, a changed perspective, and joy are all byproducts of praise. It can change your entire life. You can read more about how praise can change your perspective on everything here.

Why is it easier to make requests than praise?

But we know this idea to praise God doesn’t always come easily. It never has. It is an area satan loves to attack because he is the one that wants praise. That’s why he was cast out of heaven to begin with. He thought was he was something very special and beautiful, and that he deserved the glory and honor that belonged to God only (Ezekiel 28:11-19).

Try to remember that satan does not like it when you praise God. He will do what he can to try to redirect your thoughts and fill your head with lies. Often times when something we are walking through is difficult, we begin to believe that God is not good. This is to satan’s delight. He wants us to doubt God’s goodness in even the smallest things so that we will start doubting God in the biggest things.

Being aware that this is an area satan wants victory in your life can help you combat it effectively by consciously choosing to not entertain these lies. You can stop the lies in their tracks by doing exactly what satan doesn’t want you to do – praising God in every situation.

Examples of Prayers to Praise God in the Bible

In the Bible you will see examples of people going through hard or tempting times and choosing not to praise or seek God. There is always unhappiness and things continue to get worse for them, and God uses discipline and tries to draw them back to Himself. Sometimes the person will return to the Lord, and He always receives them with open and willing arms because first and foremost He loves and wants the best for all of us. But if the person does not repent, he will never experience God’s true peace and love that He has available to him.

But we also see some examples of people in the Bible who are in challenging times and choose to praise God. And although things may not immediately get better, they get to experience God’s love and peace during the challenging time. And they can continue to trust in the goodness in God because they know He is working out all things for their good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

Job

The book of Job is full of temptation and difficult circumstances as God allows satan control over all Job has. He takes all his land and livestock, and he kills his children. Job’s response was one of grief but also praise:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” – Job 1:21

Satan doesn’t stop there. He then curses him with sickness, and even his wife encourages Job to curse God but he does not. His friends come and try to tempt him to doubt God or come to repentance before God, but Job continued to stand strong that God was good and that he had not done anything against the Lord.

Through it all, Job may have questioned God as to why all of this was happening, but He never doubted God’s goodness. And at the end, God expressed his anger against his three friends that they not only doubted Him but they were encouraging Job to doubt and curse Him. But God praised Job for his faithfulness to Him and trust in Him.

Job 42:10 says, “And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Job’s faithfulness and praise to the Lord resulted in not only His endurance during the hardship but something better at the end of it all. We can trust God in even the hardest situations to be working things for good.

Mary, mother of Jesus

As a woman and mother, it is easy for me to identify how difficult it would have been for Mary to walk in the shame of a teenage, unplanned pregnancy without your fiance. But Mary did not hesitate to accept the Lord’s will when the angel who came to her and told her what was to happen. She said in Luke 1:38:

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

I’m sure she must have been terrified and maybe even full of doubt and confusion as to what was happening. So she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth for comfort and confirmation. When she walked in and Elizabeth confirmed what the angel had already told her, she exclaimed in praise to the Lord:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” – Luke 1:47-49

Praising God didn’t change the situation. She was still going to have to walk through a lonely and shameful life of premarital pregnancy. But she praised God and kept her eyes on Him because she knew the result was going to be worth it. I know we don’t always get angels directly delivering us news, but we can trust that God is still one who loves and works things out for our good.

Steps to turn your Requests to Prayers to Praise God

1 – Change Your Mindset

Instead of looking at things as what needs to change, try to see what God is doing in and through them. Praying for the Holy Spirit to reveal the good in even the worst situations can help you see things differently. It can be a simple thing to change the way you pray from asking to praising. Instead of “God please help me” make it “God thank you for.”

2 – Ask the Holy Spirit to Direct Your Prayers

The Holy Spirit is God living inside of us. He knows what needs to happen in every circumstance. Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance when praying for a situation. And if you don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit is directly interceding on behalf of us (Romans 8:26-27).

3 – Stay in the Word

God’s Word is full of His promises. Instead of looking at and focusing on your problems, look at God’s Word and see all that He has done for you. The more you’re in the Word, the more you will be reminded of God’s goodness and sovereignty. Time and time again we see situations in the Bible that seem bad at the moment, but God is using for good. If you keep reading these truths, you will start believing they are true for you too.

4 – Remember What God has Already Done

Look back and see God’s faithfulness in your life. You can look at difficult situations from your past and see how God came through and brought good out of the bad. No one can take away your testimony of God’s goodness in your own life. Remind yourself of it often, and you will see God hasn’t forgotten or given you up on you now.

5 – Write out Your Prayers

A good way to really organize your thoughts and help focus your prayer life is by writing down your prayers. You don’t have to do it all the time, but every now and then it can be really good at focusing your prayers into praises. Another great way to remember God’s goodness is to at least keep an ongoing list of prayers and answers. Write down your request and when you see the answer write it next to the request. You will really start to see how God is working and moving in your life through this.

Example Requests turned to Prayers to Praise God

So let’s look a couple of practical examples on how you can turn your simple everyday requests into prayers to praise God.

1 – When praying for self-control

As a request: “God, please help me not eat that piece of chocolate cake.”

As a praise: “God, thank you for giving me self-control to not eat the chocolate cake because you know it is not best for me.”

2 – When praying for sickness

As a request: “God, please take away my pain and heal me.”

As a praise: “God, thank you for all the healing you have done throughout my life. I praise you for taking care of me and always knowing what is best. Thank you that you will continue to use healing in my life.”

3 – When praying for forgiveness from being hurt by a person

As a request: “God, please help me forgive Cathy for talking bad about me behind my back.”

As a praise: “God, thank you for your forgiveness that you shower on me and that flows out of me and into others. Thank you that you give me the ability to forgive so that a root of bitterness does not take hold in my heart. Thank you that you give me all I need to fight the spiritual battles that rage around me because I know I am not fighting flesh and blood but spiritual forces of darkness.”

4 – When praying for God’s will in a certain situation

As a request: “God, please reveal your will to me so that I don’t miss out on what you want me to do in this situation.”

As a praise: “God, thank you that you have given me the mind of Christ. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that lives inside me and directs my steps. Thank you that no matter what decision I make, you are with me, never leaving me.”

5 – When praying for your kids to behave

As a request: “God, please help my kids listen to me and learn how to do what is right.”

As a praise: “God, thank you for giving me the gift of my children. Thank you that you love them more than I do and are working in their hearts and lives even now. Thank you that you give me patience, grace, and wise discipline through your Holy Spirit.”

Do you see the difference? You can take any simple request and turn it into a phrase of praise. This changes your attitude in any situation and always keeps God as Lord and the one who truly is in control.

What I like to do when I pray is start every request with a praise. I praise then ask for things. Then when I do request things, I ask in a simpler more submissive way trusting that God is truly good and sovereign over every situation.

How do you keep your mind focused on the goodness of God?