Day 51: In times of need

If you stop and think about all the petitions in your prayers, how often is it that you can sound like an ungrateful child in a toy shop. "Will you buy this for me? Will you buy this for me, too? This too? Why not?" After all that which God has given us, we always come back asking for more.

So how then are we to decently come to God in prayer and lay our requests before Him?

Firstly, we must remember that our requests must be based on our needs rather than our greed. Before we ask things of God, we must distinguish between what are our needs and what are simply the things we want. We are not free to ask from selfish motives. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:3). A way to ensure that you don't ask amiss is to couch our requests in a deep and abiding sense of contentment with God's provisions. When we spend time in prayer and devotion talking about the blessings that God has already given, then we go a long way towards avoiding self-centered petitioning.

Secondly, when we pray, we actually need to pray with the expectation that God will answer our requests. We cannot pray expecting God to change His plans; I am God, and there is no other, I am God and there is none like Me... My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure (Isaiah 46:9-10).

Our prayers cannot change God's plans but this does not mean that they are of no effect. For prayer is a cause of change; it is by prayer that things happen. God uses our prayers to make things come about. (This may sound queer, but that's most likely because I'm not explaining this well enough).

The reason why we prayer is similar to the reason why we go to the doctor, why we work, and why we spread the gospel. Things don't just happen. We can't expect to have money is we don't work. Working is a cause through which we receive money. Similarly, prayer is a secondary cause through which God fulfils His plan (see  Ex. 32:11-13 where Moses prays to God that He may be merciful to the Israelites).

And thirdly, when we pray, we must do so with expectation. But what sort of expectation? To one extent we have to humbly submit ourselves to His will and trust Him to do the right thing; however, we must not let this attitude so rule us that it leads us to passive resignation, so that we think that God will do His will no matter how or what we pray anyway. Instead we must pray with a general confidence in the goodness of God. Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in Him (Ps. 34:8). God, out of His goodness will not give us a stone to eat when we ask Him for bread (Matt 7:7-11).

Yet, we must remember that God's goodness does not always seem good to us at the present time. We cannot understand the will of God, or even try to, (and this is where the trusting in Him comes back) however, we can pray in the assurance that God wills good for His children.

And lastly, when we pray, we can also find confidence in the compelling certainty that particular things will be granted. For instance, I find that I know God will give me strength, peace, and patience (and other such things when I ask Him for them). Although He does not take the specific issue or pain away, He gives the strength to bear the pain, and in these things we can have the compelling certainty that God will give us this. I also find that after praying to God for these such things, you see God 'speaking' to you through His Word next time you read it, and particular verses jump out to you, reminding you of the particular things that will so give you the strength or wisdom to get through whatever need you encounter.

I call upon You, O God, for You will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. (Ps 17:6)