Prayer: Essay 3

Presence, Transformation, and Petition. Postures of prayer to change your life.

When we think of “prayer,” Petition is usually what we’re actually pursuing. We want to petition God, ask Him to move in our lives with tangible results. This can often lead us down a path of either treating God like a genie, or trying to “outperform” our sin and earn our blessings. Both are wrong, but petition in its proper form is absolutely allowed – and Biblically encouraged! God wants us to bring everything to Him and believe He will move when we pray. In fact, scripture encourages us to be thankful for prayers not yet answered. God promises provision, and even speaks of abundance of blessings, miracles, and wonders! So where have we gone wrong? Why do many of our prayers go, seemingly, unanswered? The mystery, I’m afraid, is part of the point of prayer. And I’ll go ahead and spoil it – you probably won’t find the formula you want among these following words. But if I know anything about prayer, it’s more often about what we need than what we want; but it doesn’t stop there. Prayer is the bridge between what we need and what we want. 

King David was no stranger to praying prayers of petition to the Lord. You’d think a king would have everything he needed, and could petition his servants to do his bidding, rather than God. But, as we in our comfortable American existences know, having lots of stuff and resources and access does little to quell our desires or needs. David’s life as king was a lot less abundant than you’d think, anyways; many of the languishing prayers in the book of Psalms were written from a place of fear, shame, and insecurity. He wrote, “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness … Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!” (Psalm 4:1). How many prayers have you prayed that sound like this? David wrote countless of them. So was God just not listening?

“I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness” (Psalm 69:3, 13). If you read enough of the Psalms, you will begin to see a pattern in David’s prayers. He often begins lamenting about his fear with vivid honesty; David questions God and begs Him to listen. If that isn’t relatable, I don’t know what is. It’s so easy to feel alone and forsaken when we’re in the depths of suffering or anxiety. But David doesn’t stop there! He doesn’t just rage against God or succumb to the fear of being ignored; he always ends his prayers doing two things: David remembers God’s previous faithfulness and recognizes His everlasting glory. 

I have to wonder if David’s heart was in it when he rhythmically glorified God in the midst of uncertainty; I know I don’t do this enough. But as we have journeyed through postures of prayer, from seeking God’s presence and remembering His faithfulness, to asking God to fortify us against this world of sin and suffering, I realize how vital this discipline is. We have to trust God in order to properly petition Him, whether or not our emotions match up. David says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act” (Psalm 37:5). I think we would like to interpret this as: “Tell God what you want, and trust He will give it to you in 2-5 business days.” What we don’t want to admit is that we only trust God if He first trusts we know best. We act like God’s promises are ambiguous and mysterious (and perhaps they are sometimes), but more often than not, our faith is narrow-sighted and conditional. 

I believe that “commit your way to the Lord” means we have to let go of our own way and adopt God’s way; I believe to “trust in Him” means letting go of our timetable; I believe “He will act” in a way that blows our own plans out of the water. Your resistance to trust God may be the very thing holding you back from praying the right prayers, or hearing the right answers. This is why I wrote about petition last! If we begin all our prayers with, first, being content in God’s Presence, and remembering and glorifying Him … and we, second, ask Him to Transform us to be more like Him … then maybe our Petitions will not only be fortified with a stronger faith, but we will finally begin to see what we should even be praying for. I think petitioning God before we seek to know and be changed by Him is like driving down a road without a map; you may get there eventually, but it’s a lot more confusing and a lot more stressful. Don’t be that driver who refuses to stop and ask for directions. 

Prayer isn’t supposed to be confusing or painful, and often the answers we seek are right under our noses in scripture. My prayer for you is that these postures shape your prayer life going forward, to let go of comfort and step out into something far better. The last thing I’ll encourage you to do is this: first, begin praying “expectation prayers.” Pray for something, however small, and let yourself believe God will respond. Second, pray with friends; if you’re not sharing your prayer requests or praying for other people regularly, you’re missing out on a massive window of opportunity and growth. God will not only allow you to experience His power through the prayers He answers for others, but He will move powerfully within the faith of the church. Finally, read David’s prayers in the Psalms; let them encourage, challenge, and empower you!