TGIF – Thank GOODness It’s Friday! The other day I was thinking about the past few months and realized that every single person has been effected by something out of the ordinary this year. Whether it has been at your job, within your family or even going to the grocery store we have all had some type of concern or stress. Which brings me to my topic for this week’s edition of Faith Filled Fridays – prayer and petition.
Raise your hand if you have heard the following statements from a friend or family member:
- Wait on the Lord
- Cast all of your cares on Him
- Fully rely on God
If your hand is up, same girl… same! Not only have I heard these phrases countless times, I have found myself saying them to people in my life as well. Especially if they are coming to me for advice or seeking comfort about a stressful situation. As a Christian those statements are the first thought I have when giving guidance but I find myself not always taking my own advice when it comes to my circumstances. Looking past the initial comfort those statements bring, what do they mean to carry out in the day to day. Wait – for how long? Cast ALL – but what if I can handle it? Full rely – how?
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. -Philippians 4:6 (CSB)
The answer is prayer and petition. When I first read this verse I understood going to God in prayer but wanted more information on ‘petition’. In this context I believe it is referring to supplication — meaning kneeling and asking God humbly. With that I love that the scripture mentions both prayer and petition.
Prayer, for me, is more of a conversation I have with God and isn’t always in the traditional sense of sitting by my bed, clasping my hands and closing my eyes. There is value in that form of prayer but that isn’t it’s only shape. I pray or talk with the Lord when I am cooking, cleaning or whenever something pops up in my head that I know I need to give to Him. In this way, unloading all of my cares to Him is a form of releasing control of them and giving them up to Him. He already knows what is going on but when I actually acknowledge these things with Him and hand them over, there is freedom.
While prayer is a conversation, petition is earnestly and humbly asking and pleading to the Lord. Through petition, going to the Lord with our requests is not asking God for our wishes to come true, like he is a genie, it is more so asking because you know he is all knowing and has a plan. In our action of asking, God isn’t determining if we are worthy of granting a request or not, he is preparing our heart for what is ahead.
From my own experience when I have prayed and petitioned with the Lord about a certain care he gives me peace about the situation. Externally, by either opening or closing a door but more often the peace is internally, by settling my soul or changing my desires. The resolution doesn’t come instantly all the time but during the waiting period the act of continuously giving the care over to Him brings me peace. My hope for you is that you find your style of prayer and petition and train that muscle to grow so it can become second nature to wait on the Lord, cast all your cares on Him and fully rely on God.
-Warmly, Emily
