Text: Luke 11:5-13, Matthew 7:7-11, Luke 22:39-44, James 5:13-18
Of the many types of prayer in the Christian life, petition is often the most common. Whether we are crying out, begging, sending a quick thought up, or in a group assembling requests – our prayers tend to lean toward us asking the Lord to grant what we want or need. This is a beautiful and good thing, since He created us to come to Him and live in relationship with Him.
Still, if God is sovereign and all knowing, why bother asking Him to do or change anything? If you pray for one thing and get another, does that mean He wasn’t listening? Does it mean that you didn’t ask with the right words or with enough fervor or faith?
We ask from God what we believe we need, but we submit what we ask to His all wise, all good plan and we say like Jesus, “Not my will, but your will be done.” (Luke 22:42) One example of this would be Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane where he asks for the cup of wrath to be removed from him (that’s his petition), but he submits his petition to the will of the Father, for he trusts what God would give him more than what he would ask. In that instance, Jesus did not “get” what he prayed for, but he got the better (albeit harder) thing–the cross unto the crown.
When we pray in petition “according to God’s will,” we know that God will answer it. For instance, if we pray for “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” that is a prayer that God is inclined to answer, for that is a prayer that is God’s heart. At the same time, how that kingdom comes and how that will is done will be done according to God’s time and in God’s way. So, it’s not a magic formula or some incantation where we get God to do our thing, but it is a confident petitioning in faith that however God wants to answer this prayer, he certainly will because it’s a prayer that aligns with his heart.
While God has had one decree from the beginning of time, we know that a sure part of that decree is that we live in relationship with Him, and even petition Him. His Word tells us so.
Ask – because He wants to meet your needs. Seek, because you’ll find Him faithful. Knock, because your persistent pursuit of relationship with Him will find you nothing but peace and sustainment.
Good afternoon sisters:-) I love this devotional because I can relate. The only thing I really want right now is more of Him. Sometimes being a stay at home mom and wife can take a toll and we forget sometimes to just take a minute to stop.I mean stop everything and just Have a moment to talk to God. I used to ask God constantly LORD I want to hear your voice. I was looking for an audible reply.(I mean some people hear like that don’t they?) But God knows what’s best and the best way he speaks to me is in His word or the quietness of my heart. Those moments I record them because sometimes I forget what the Lord has spoke at times. But I’m gonna conntinue to ask Him for his will for my life because often times I believe I went my own path not certaiin if the path I took was the path He had for me. But through it all there is still restoration in Christ Jesus. I will continue to ask for more of Him! Have a blessed day ladies:-)
@nicole thank you for sharing. Your post has indeed encouraged me. God Bless
This devotional this morning comes at an appropriate time. I was just asking God again for healing for my daughter, who is dealing with the effects of two concussions. I was wondering how many times to pray for this healing. Months and months of continual prayer. When is it time to stop asking? The I read the devotional about to keep knocking and God will answer. In His time, but it will be answered. Maybe not in the way I expect, but He will answer. Thank you Lord for the reminder that You are my faithful Father, Abba. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord for sending me this devotional and these ladies. You meet me right where I am.
Whenever I pray a petition I always try to remember that God sees the big picture and I only see what's in front of me and what I want or think I need. I have to remember all the times I've prayed for something and how He's answered
Last summer, I found my faith again, and with this faith, I petitioned God to teach me wisdom. By no means am I a wise woman, but He showed me that I truly needed to learn to pray. Not the childhood prayer of “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest…” prayer, but the prayer of God’s powerful daughter. My petition to learn, is being answered as we navigate through this devotional.
I give thanks to my father God, for his all knowing response, for his patience with me as I learn to humble myself to his will. This is a journey that I have chosen with my whole heart, mind, and soul, for I know I was lost without him.
Ladies of SRT, thank you and bless you for your wisdom. This devotional has become such an important and informative site; an answer to my heartfelt prayet. Blessings.
The season God has my family and me in at the moment is a time of change, struggle, and many unknowns. In the beginning I had a poor attitude of why….why me, why now, how come? But through this season, God has done a 180 degree turn in my life and the past 6 months my mantra has been "Not my will, but yours be done". I've been learning that I don't have the full picture like God does, so its imperative I trust that God has bigger and better things in store for us. "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)" I may not have the answers, but The Lord does and for that I rejoice. His plans and dreams for me are far greater than anything I can wrap my brain around.
This devotion has been so timely today. I truly cant thank this community and the women who write these devotions enough. Each day I wake up to a nugget of truth that I need to hear. Some days its a promise from the Lord that I need to be reminded of or somedays it is a lesson I need to learn, but each day is exactly what i NEED to hear—even though it's not always what I want to hear :) Today is no different. Today's devotion has served as a reminded of a promise God gave us. For over a year I've been asking, seeking and knocking, but the answer has been Not yet my child. However, I have a meeting today that may answer many of my questions and problems. So I say, Thank you Jesus for always being in control. Thank you for guiding me through this tough season and thank you for providing for me. If this meeting today is the answer to YOUR will then I say Amen, and if not I will keep asking, seeking and knocking because I know you have something amazing in store. I am trusting in your will, not my will.
Good Monday morning to you ladies!
God does answer prayer–even though it sometimes may not be what we expect! I'd like to share a testimony about what God has done in my family over the last week and a half or so. It's been quite a whirlwind!
Back in January we put our house on the market. It seemed it a good time for us to sell and buy something else with interest rates being so low. We prayed that it would sell if it was God's will. If it didn't sell, we accepted that God must want us to stay in this house.
Back in February, my husband applied for a new job. It would be great for him with a lot of opportunity for him to advance, AND it was work that he believes he would really enjoy. There's nothing like loving your job, you know? Again, we prayed that he would get the job if it was God's will.
Fast forward now to about a week and a half ago–the Friday before Easter, Good Friday. We were starting to wonder if our house was going to sell, but we received a full price offer on our house and are closing April 26th! Thank you, Jesus! Now we needed to find a house to buy, but there really wasn't anything the the area we wanted. We thought that maybe the house God had for us just wasn't on the market yet, so we made plans to stay with my parents after we closed on our house while hoping that something would come on the market.
Then on Tuesday of last week (April 2nd), my husband received a call from that company he applied with back in February. They wanted to interview him the very next day. He interviewed Wednesday and was offered a job right on the spot; it seemed that they had almost decided to hire him before he even interviewed! We had thought that maybe God said "no" to that job, but it turns out it was a "not yet"!
Here's the part we didn't expect, though–the job they offered was in Denver and we live in Colorado Springs. For those of you not familiar that's roughly 60-70 miles away. We were suddenly so thankful that we hadn't found a house yet! So, instead of moving to a different part of Colorado Springs, we are moving about 60 miles away, but it is all working out perfectly (we even found somewhere to live yesterday). We couldn't have planned it this well ourselves, but we now see clearly that God has planned this all along for our family. We are so excited!
God has a plan for all of us. We just need to be patient and pray for His will to be done!
That is an awesome story Erin!! I love it when God works things out for us and we know that He was planning it from the beginning. Way cool. What a testimony to share! Excited for you and your family! God bless!
Thank you! God bless you too!
Wow! Erin, thanks for sharing! God always gives us more than we can ever imagine!
Lord help me to stay humble and remember that you are in control over all the things in my life, not me! I know that you work all things to good to those who love you, and are called according to your purpose. God have your way in me.