How should we put God first in our prayers?

How should we put God first in our prayers?

It isn’t that we can’t ask for our needs when we pray.  It  is an essential suggestion that Jesus mentioned to his followers; “Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish?  If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.”  (Mt 7: 7 - 11).  

However, there is a need to put all this into perspective:  The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness.  This desire is of divine origins:  God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it:  (CCC 1718).  

We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is n=no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated.  (St. Augustine).

How is it then, that I seek you, Lord?  Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.  (St. Augustine).

God alone satisfies.  (St. Thomas Aquinas).  

The Psalmist tells us to first give God Praise and the Glory due him.  Then all will be given to us. “Blessed be the Lord, who has heard my pleading, The Lord is my strength and my shield, in whom my heart trusted and found help.  So my heart rejoices; with my song I praise my God.”  (Ps 28: 6 - 7).

“Give to the Lord, you heavenly beings, give to the Lord glory and might.  Give to the Lord the glory due God’s name.  Bow down before the Lord’s holy spendor.”  (Ps 29: 1 - 2).

“I praise you, Lord, for you raised me up and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.  O Lord, my God, I cried out to you and you healed me .  Lord, you brought me up from Sheol, you kept me from going down to the pit.”  (Ps 30: 2 - 4).

We all should place our thanksgiving to God for all he has given us.  Next, we must offer to God the praise and glory that he alone is worthy of.  Lastly, we should place ourselves as his children who cannot move forward without seeking his grace that requires a faith that becomes our mantra as belonging to him, alone.  Without thanking God and praising his Name before asking for help, he may not hear the real request.   It is likened to shouting hoping someone will hear the cry for help but without his name first, it blows away with the wind and no one knows where it went.   

Ralph B. Hathaway