Asking for the Right Things

I was recently reading a book by Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership and was captivated by a chapter on prayer. As we all know, prayer is an important part of our Christian walk and growing in our relationship with God. We spend a lot of time in prayer as we communicate with God on the many things going on in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Prayer consists of

Praise or Adoration, praising God for who He is.

Confession, admitting to sin and repenting.

Thanksgiving, being grateful for everything God provides, big or small.

Intercession, bringing others and their needs before God.

and Petition or Supplication, asking God to meet our needs.

Philippians 4:6 instructs us to not worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. We all do that, but what things do we ask for? What things go beyond our needs and have an impact on others or bring glory to God. Bill points to 10 people in the bible who have lived and demonstrated praiseworthy lives. He began asking God for these same characteristics in his own life. It was more than the idea of making him a better person. It was more about growing in these different areas in his life in order to be more Christ-like and more useful for His service. I will just point to a couple of these examples.

David. What stands out in David's life is his optimism. His faith caused him to take on huge challenges knowing that God was with him. He didn't let Goliath intimidate him, and he definitely wasn't going to let Goliath mock God or his people. A king seeking to take his life was not going to paralyze him and when given opportunities to defeat him, he chose to honor God's chosen king. Even in his lowest point, when he sinned with Bathsheba and eventually had her husband killed, he still displayed some optimism. God struck his firstborn son with an illness and told him that He was going to take his son's life. David fell on his face and fasted for six days. David explained in 2 Samuel 12:22 that God might be gracious to him and spare his son's life. God took his son's life but David didn't lose his faith or optimism. He still pursued a life that brought glory and honor to God and was characterized as a man after God's own heart. We should ask the same for ourselves when we face huge obstacles and challenges. We should not lose hope when our world seems to collapse right in front of us. Depend on and seek God's grace.

Joseph, son of Jacob. What we see in Joseph's life was his integrity and desire for personal holiness, always seeking to do right before God and man. God put Joseph in unique positions and raised him to great power. Even in these great positions, he chose to remain holy. He avoided financial impropriety, political scandal, and even sexual scandal. He stayed the course even to the very end. Even though he was wronged, he never sought retribution or revenge. He recognized and stated, "What everyone around him did for evil, God caused for good." Joseph completely surrendered his heart and life to God. We should have this same desire to always do the right thing, even when no one is watching. The reward is always great. Even when Joseph was second in power only to Pharaoh, he kept himself accountable to God. We need to have that same attitude. We also need to have someone in our life to hold us accountable for our actions.

What other godly characteristics do we see in others around us? As we bring our petitions before God, we should be asking for these same characteristics to develop in our own lives. It's not something that comes automatically and must come through the Holy Spirit. We need to actively ask for and pursue these things.

Pastor Bryan