Petition: How to Ask God (copied from Pete Grieg’s 21 Days of Prayer)
Today we will think about petitionary prayer; the simple, yet fundamental act of making our requests to God: give us today our daily bread.
Prayer means many things to many people, but at its simplest and most obvious it means asking God for help. This is how most non-churchgoers and all children understand the word, and they’re right. The word pray comes from the Middle English, "to ask earnestly" and the Latin, precari, which means "to entreat". Absolutely everyone prays in this way from time to time.
God asks us to ask for at least three reasons. First, because the act of asking is relational in a way that mere wishing is not. Jesus is always more interested in friendship than in dispensing blessings to faceless souls.
The second reason that asking is necessary is that it is vulnerable. To make a request is to admit to some area of personal need. It extends trust towards the person asked. This may be a very minor act of faith: trusting a shopkeeper to supply a pound of potatoes, or it can be very costly: asking a woman to be your wife, or a doctor to cure your disease. In all its forms, asking is an expression of faith, a way of opening our hearts to believe, and our hands to receive from another person.
Third, asking is intentional. It involves the activation of our wills. We are not automatons—mindless bots pre-programmed and powerless to resist the Creator’s genetic coding. God respects us too much to ride roughshod over our freewill and loves us too much to force us to do his bidding. He comes where he is welcomed, and waits to answer until he is called. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 NIV
This is a big week! Trump and team need our prayers! Don’t know what to pray for? Let’s discuss this and /or write out some prayers for those new to this. I’m going to pray for things like: discernment, wisdom, and guidance for Trumps lawyers; Safety for Trump and his family; that God will save our Nation and the children. That’s just a start... there’s so much! God bless you!
Why would God help us if he gave us free will to choose our own destiny?
At the end of the Flood God created a rainbow for Noah and Co. and said that he would never again flood the earth. He was taking a hands-off approach and the previous intervention in the old testament should not be expected to occur again.
So stop being a pussy and do something about it yourself.
God did not stop being in peoples lives at the flood... read the rest of the Bible. He’s very much involved. He promised to never flood the earth again, not to ever be involved in our lives. He is a God of love and I can also attest that He’s very involved in my own life and answers my prayers. He can do far greater than I can, and I have faith that He will.