Prayer 2021 – May 14 – The Prayer of Petition pt 5
Scripture For Today:
2 Chronicles 32:24
“In those days, Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign.”
The Prayer of Petition pt 5
We have been studying about the Prayer of Petition and how you need to get into the Word of God and do a study about scripture references to your specific situation. Whether the Bible speaks directly about your situation, like healing, finances, deliverance, etc., or indirectly – either way, you need to get into the Word of God FIRST.
You need to accomplish this BEFORE you prepare your Prayer of Petition and actually present it to the Lord in a formal prayer request. I’m getting slightly ahead of myself, I want to cover one more point before I get into the aspect of writing your prayer of petition.
Yesterday, I left off with breaking bad habits and replacing them with Godly habits. What did I mean by that? We ran out of time, so I had to just leave that hanging there until today. So let’s start there. Amen!
Habits are hard to break. You do them without even thinking about it.
I used to come home from work, take a shower a grab a beer from the fridge and not even think about it. That was a habit that I had established over and over and over. But, when I made the decision to stop drinking alcohol way back in 1993, it was STILL a habit. But I was making a conscious decision NOT TO DO THAT anymore. It did not take long and that habit was broken – forever!
Many of us have habits we are not proud of. I do, you do, your family members do. It is in our human nature.
But, that does not mean we continue with bad habits. Once we know a habit is bad, we must consciously make the decision NOT TO DO THAT!
The Apostle Paul wrote, in Romans 7:14-25, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
Do you think Paul knew how to pray? Absolutely. But we see here that even HE struggled sometimes with habits.
The point I’m trying to make is this. You can use the appropriate method of prayer in various situations. You may not know what God’s will is in a particular situation. SO, should you pray “I don’t know what to do – so Father, IF IT’s YOUR WILL, answer this prayer?”
NO! NO! NO! A hundred times NO!
As I indicated in the The Prayer of Petition, MAKE A DECISION on the outcome you believe is in alignment with God’s will. MAKE THE DECISION. Then pray along the lines of “Father, I believe option A is better than option B. If it is your will, I’m going with option A. If this is not your will for me at this time, please let me know.”
THE ONLY TIME YOU SHOULD USE “IF IT BE THY WILL” is in a situation like that!
You are asking for direction. PERIOD.
BUT – you also can’t “NOT make a decision.”
Let’s Pray!
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