01.0061. Prayer and Petition
Prayer and Petition
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Php 4:6).
While prayer does not mean merely petition, yet it includes petition. When we pray, we should give much time to praise and thanksgiving, and to worshipful confiding, but prayer also is the avenue through which we seek the supply of our needs. It is in prayer that we make our requests known to God. The prayer of petition is sanctified by the life of Christ. He prayed for strength and help and succor, He also prayed for His disciples: He said to Peter, "I have prayed for thee" (Luke 22:32). The Lord Jesus Christ also carried in the arms of His petition all of those who afterwards would believe on His Name (John 17:20).
He prayed in behalf of His enemies and said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
We should delight in presenting unto the Father the simplest, as well as the most intricate, need of our life.
We should draw nigh that we may find grace to help in time of need.
We have a God who is both able and willing to supply every need. Our temporal, physical or spiritual needs are all provided for us in Him.
1. Our Temporal Needs
"Your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they"? "If God so clothe the grass * * shall He not much more clothe you"? "Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things" (Matthew 6:25-34).
2. Our Physical Needs "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31).
"Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day" (Acts 26:22).
3. Our Spiritual Needs "Blessed be * * God * * who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings" (Ephesians 1:3).
4. All Our Need "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus" (Php 4:19).
"Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father’s throne Make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft escaped the tempter’s snare, By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!"