Prayer as Petition
What does it mean to petition God? Do we have to bribe him to get what we want? Do we demand or coax? Today, we are going to dig into how having a thankful heart can help us blend two seemingly different approaches into one unified method of Godly asking.
Transcript
Today, we continue our 40 Days of Prayer series, and we’re talking about prayer as petition. Now, petition is a word we don’t use often, but it simply means a request to God for something we desire. When we pray a petition, we pray to God, requesting what we desire because we know we can only depend on him for it.
Immediately, I think back to my childhood when I asked my parents for video game systems. I expressed my desire to them primarily because I didn’t have the financial means to purchase it. I even tried to bribe them by telling them how obedient I would be if they got it for me. I negotiated and promised I’d do better in school, help around the house more, and practice the piano. Video games wouldn’t take up all my time, but I promised I would learn to be responsible.
As a child, video games felt very much like a need, but they were really a want. Our sense of need comes when we feel like we are lacking something. For example, this has been a tough winter. And it’s made me feel like I’ve been lacking some things because I feel like I won’t be able to last another snowstorm.
I feel like I NEED a new pair of boots to keep me warm in the winter. They also have to be lightweight, waterproof, and grippy so I don’t slip.
I feel like I NEED a new and bigger SUV or truck with all-wheel drive, the best snow tires, heated seats, a heated steering wheel, and heated mirrors. If they have it, I want a heated shifter and a heated turn signal. It hasn’t been fun driving in all this snow we’ve gotten this year.
I feel like I NEED a second home, and I don’t even have a first one yet. When the total snowfall for the Twin Cities this year (52”) is above the season average (51”), and we’re not even halfway through winter, I need someplace warm to escape. *Grumble*
But if I were honest, I have all I need to sustain me. Our wants can improve how we experience life, but they are not necessary to live. Our needs are essential and if we don’t get our needs met, it can be a matter of life or death. And as great it is to get the things we want they can take our focus off what we need.
And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Our needs.
In the last 2 weeks, we’ve been using the Lord’s Prayer as a guide for our 40 Days of Prayer. We’ve talked about prayer as worship and prayer as kingdom partnership. And in order for us to gladly worship God and partner in his Kingdom, we need the basic necessities to sustain us so we can stay alive.
So it’s fitting that the next line of the Lord’s Prayer is this, “Give us today our daily bread.” It informs us that we can depend on God for all our needs. Jesus teaches his disciples that they can pray to God asking him for their daily bread to sustain them.
Now, bread is a term that generally means food. And we need food for our bodies so we can move and do things, but bread is also a figure of speech referring to all our needs, both physical and spiritual. And a great example of what it looks like to depend on God for the spiritual needs required to sustain us is in the letter to the Philippians. Earlier, we read a portion of it during our scripture reading time.
And in a little bit, I’m going to re-read a couple verses that show us how Paul depended on God for his needs. The passage I want to focus on is Philippians 4:4-7. Let me read it again for us.
“4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul wrote this letter to the church while he was in jail. He was in prison because he preached about Jesus Christ. There were people who didn’t like what he was preaching about and what he was doing, so they arrested him for causing a nuisance.
Similarly, the church that he wrote this letter to also experienced opposition and hardships because of their faith in Jesus. This letter was to be an encouragement to all of them in a time of need. They were discouraged, and they needed something to sustain their faith in Jesus. Their wants wouldn’t suffice. They needed to be reminded of what was necessary to stay faithful.
So Paul gives us the necessary formula to sustain them and depend on God even in the hardest of times. And He teaches the believers to pray but in a particular way.
REJOICE
He first tells them to rejoice in the Lord. Not once, but twice. Yes, Paul is in jail. The church is being oppressed, but he tells them to rejoice. How can you rejoice in a circumstance like that?
Rejoicing is necessary because it helps believers trust God despite their circumstances. It doesn’t mean that they pretend everything is ok. It doesn’t mean that they ignore the pressure or weight of the circumstance. It doesn’t mean they become numb to the situation.
They feel all of it, and they can still depend on God, knowing His presence and promise are with them. Being in a bad situation typically affects how you feel. It can be hard to think well of someone or something because you’re so focused on how bad the situation makes you feel.
But when believers rejoice, they choose to have an attitude to trust God even when it seems impossible. Rejoicing is important because it helps prevent us from feeling anxious. Bad situations are filled with anxiety. We’re overly worried and concerned about everything.
And even though Paul was in a bad situation, he tells us not to be anxious. Anxiety can strain our trust in God and turn it into distrust. Instead of being anxious Paul encourages the believers to pray “in every situation…with thanksgiving.”
Being thankful allows us to appreciate how God has provided for us in the past. And this helps us look forward to how God will provide for us in the future. Thankfulness acknowledges that God has been good and we can count on God will be good regardless of the circumstance.
Even psychological studies show a connection between thankfulness and anxiety. There is a correlation where the more thankful we are, the less anxious we become. And when we are less anxious, we can experience peace.
Paul tells us that in difficult situations, we can rely on prayer. And prayer gives us what we need to sustain our faith in God even in difficult times. Prayer gives us peace. And Paul describes it as a peace that “transcends all understanding.” It’s a supernatural peace that calms us no matter what circumstance we’re in.
We could experience major chaos like Paul being jailed. Or we might be stuck in a difficult place where our faith feels like it can hardly sustain us. But when we rejoice and pray to God with a thankful heart, we will experience his peace that protects us from any anxiety that we would normally feel. So much so that later in Philippians 4:13, we find Paul’s famous verse, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Many athletes have used this verse to encourage them to reach their potential, but in its original context, this verse reminds us that when we experience God’s peace to sustain us, we receive strength to do all things for God.
God’s peace keeps Paul faithful regardless of the circumstance.
He is faithful whether he is free or imprisoned.
He is faithful whether he is rich or poor.
He is faithful whether he is full or hungry.
His faithfulness isn’t based on his circumstance.
It’s based on the peace that he has in God. If there’s one thing we need to remember to help sustain our faith in whatever circumstance, it’s this. BIG IDEA: God fulfills all our needs through prayer.
Let’s remind ourselves and each other that when we pray the third line of the Lord’s prayer, “Give us today our daily bread.” We trust that God gives us what we need to sustain us. And we need to trust him daily to provide us with what we need.
Again, the prayer is our daily bread. Not our weekly bread or monthly bread. Our daily bread. We have to depend on God daily to sustain us. And we do so by rejoicing, being thankful, and experiencing his peace. Rejoice comes when we obey God.
In John 15, Jesus says that our joy is complete when we obey God’s commands. Obeying God’s commands reminds us that we are obedient today to experience his promise in the future. We aren’t obedient to be obedient, but there’s a reward for our obedience in the end. If you’re obedient, just to be obedient, stop. Be obedient because God will reward us for our obedience. It keeps our focus on God as we persevere through all our circumstances.
Next, be thankful. On a daily basis, find things that you are thankful for. Practice gratitude by making it a habit to think of 3 things you’re thankful for. You can keep a journal of what you’re thankful for. Share with someone what you're thankful for.
And his peace will sustain us. We worry less. We let go of what we can’t control. God becomes our refuge in all of our circumstances.
So let us approach God in prayer, knowing that he meets all our needs. He sustains us with bread that physically and spiritually sustains us so we can gladly worship him and partner in his Kingdom.
Let’s pray.