THE LORD'S PRAYER - Part 4: Petition God for our Needs

                               "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD." Matthew 6:11

We are dependent on the Lord and He wants us to come to Him with our needs and requests. 'BREAD" is symbolic of any need we have. PETITION is humbly making a formal request or supplication to one in authority, and in this case the authority is our Father God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit.

God meets our needs DAILY AND MIRACULOUSLY. Just as quail covered the Israeli compound  in the evenings, manna glistened like fine frost in the mornings. Meat for dinner! Bread for breakfast! The food fell everday. God had resources they knew nothing about . Solutions outside their reality, provisions outside their possibility. THEY SAW PROBLEMS! GOD SAW POSSIBILITIES!
THE SAME CAN BE TRUE FOR US TODAY!

HOW DO YOU PETITION THE LORD?

You are to come to the Lord in a CHILDLIKE FAITH with your SPECIFIC REQUESTS, knowing how much He desires to give GOOD GIFTS TO HIS CHILDREN. 

Ask for whatever you desire. When the Holy Spirit places a need on your heart, begin to make your requests to God. Petitions must be SPECIFIC REQUESTS! Just as Hannah petitioned the Lord for a son, making the unselfish vow to give him back to the Lord. The Lord heard her petition, granted her request; and she obediently fulfilled her side of her vow. 

Hannah prayed a long time, but only when she EXPRESSED THE NEED ALOUD AND PETITIONED THE LORD, SPECIFICALLY,  WITH A PURE HEART, did she receive exactly what she wanted.  God has promised  the same for you - that if YOU ASK, BELIEVING, YOU WILL RECEIVE.

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father who is in Heaven, give what is good to those who ask Him." Matthew 7:11

WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS FOR ASKING?

Prayer is an EXTROADINARY PRIVILEDGE! When we pray in the name of Jesus, we COMMUNICATE WITH THE ALMIGHTY, presenting our requests to Him.  He hears us and we have the OPPORTUNITY to have our PRAYERS ANSWERED. As Christians we are encouraged to PRAY CONTINUALLY, having FELLOWSHIP with our Father and enjoying a LOVING RELATIONSHIP with Him. 

1. Make Sure Your Petition is Properly Motivated to Glorify God.

Before bringing your requests to God, repeatedly affirm HIS WORTHINESS. Never forget who you are talking to. Make your requests in light of God's past FAITHFULNESS - what you know from Scripture and have experienced in your own person life. 

PRAY, reminding yourself that IT'S ABOUT HIM, NOT ABOUT YOU! 

"Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

                                                                                                 John 14:13

"God is going to meet our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ." Philippians 4:19

2. Asking + Believing = Receiving.

ASK IN FAITH, without doubting. Jesus instructed His followers to believe when they prayed. Elijah, the prophet won many victories when he prayed - but he ran when doubt set in!

Many people don't have their needs met, because THEY DON'T ASK! They deny themselves the joys of receiving, because they think God is too busy to hear their little prayers. But he says, `Whatever you ask, he hears'.  PRAYER IS THE KEY THAT UNLOCKS HEAVEN'S TREASURY!

Many prayers are not answered because we lose heart or give up. We need to be like the widow in the story Jesus told in Luke 18, who received because she was persistent. Jesus told this story showing that "it is necessary to pray consistently and never quit". 

This doesn't mean you're going to get all you WANT. God is not going to meet your greed, but he is going to meet your need. Sometimes what you WANT may not be what you NEED. Sometimes we NEED things we don't WANT. 

Most importantly we need to believe that God in sovereign, and knows what is best for us, and we need to trust Him. 

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

                                                                                  Jeremiah 33:3

"Seek first His Kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you."  Matthew 6:33

"Let him ask in faith, without doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf on the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." James 1:6

3. Ask in Accordance With His Will

God's will is is learned by reading and hearing the Word of God, and seeking God's presence. Find a place with no distracions. Your goal is not to see how much you can tell God, but how well you can LISTEN! 

Is your request in harmony with the Word? Will it blend in with your gifts? Will it draw you closer to God? What is your part in the answer - have you been obedient to God's will so far? 

Asking is the easy part, but seeking takes the effort, and knocking means `being persistant'. 

"Ask, and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you."

                                                                                          Matthew 7:7

"Whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight."   1 John 3:22

"This is the confidence we have before Him, that if we ask anything, according to His will, He hears us. If we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we ask for."  1 John 5:14&15

4. Abide in the True Vine - Jesus

Abiding is a two way committment, and leads to `bearing fruit that is lasting'. Again, you must learn to have fellowship, you must listen , believe and be obedient to His Word. 

Every believer is called to have fellowship with His Father, and with Jesus His Son. Jesus was the greatest model of fellowship, and he would always find a quiet place each day to be alone with `his Dad'. 

"If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you."  John 14:23

"God is faithful, whom you called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Cor 1:9

5. Ask in the Name of Jesus

Jesus' name has power on earth, in Heaven and in hell. Everything has to "bow to his name".  Jesus instructed His disciples to PRAY IN HIS NAME. This is as true for us today as it was for them.

"Therefore, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him that Name that is above every Name; that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in Heaven, on earth and under the earth." Philippians 2:9&10

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that fruit should remain. That whatever you ask in My Name, He may give it to you." John 15:16

6. Pray in Agreement

Christ meant PRAYER to be a GREAT POWER IN HIS CHURCH. Prayer links the King on His throne with His Church. But if their is strife or contention, contrary to agreement, our prayers will be hindered. We can only hear God's directive if we incline our ear to Him.  Sometimes we are so busy talking or `fighting' we are not attuned to His voice. 

"Again, I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that we ask, it shall be done for them by my Father in Heaven." Matthew 18:19

"Without PRAYER, the PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD are not seen in our work. Prayer is still the anointed means of drawing Heavenly blessings on ourselves and those around us. It is the one POWER ON EARTH that commands the POWER OF HEAVEN."    Andrew Murray