Prayer of Petition

Introduction. The most common form of prayer is certainly petition. We keep asking God for so many things all the time. And it's right that we should. We need to. Jesus taught us to ask and we shall receive.

After speaking of the beauty of praising God, of thanking him, we might think that petition sounds a little bit selfish. Yet, it need not be, provided that we ask in the right spirit. I'd like to say a few words about that right now. It's a very beautiful way of looking at prayer.

An example will help us to understand better. You can ask a favor of a friend as if you took him for granted and as if he owed it to you. Thus you make him feel that you are imposing on him, and you are being very selfish. And he won't like that. But you can also ask him the same favor and make him feel very good about himself because in the very way you ask, you feel he is doing you a great favor, something you appreciate very much. You appreciate his goodness of heart. In the second case, he really feels honored by your request. You are putting him on a pedestal, so to speak, by saying: "I trust you, I know your kindness of heart." That makes him feel good.

There are two ways, you see, of addressing a request to somebody. And so it is with God. Asking God for the things we need can be a beautiful act of worship because, as we turn to him in our needs, we give him honor and recognition as being our Creator, the Almighty God, the loving Father, whom we need and on whom we depend for everything. He is the Almighty, the all-glorious and great God. That's what we are actually telling him: you are great, you are the Most High, you are the Lord. And we, your humble servants, we turn to you to present to you our needs. In so doing, we honor God, recognizing who he is and who we are.

So, surely we are concerned for our needs, but that's our condition as creatures. God made us that way, totally dependent upon him. The point is that we recognize our dependence on him. We need to recognize that. And this gives glory to God. We say: “You are the one I need, the source of all good things.” We're telling God, we believe in you; we believe that you are all-good and all-loving. You care for us. We trust in you. That honors God when we trust in him, when we believe in him. And so, when we do that, we place ourselves in a right relationship to God. We treat him as God. We say: he is God and we are his creatures. That's exactly what we are.

And Jesus knows how important it is for us to ask for everything. "Ask," he said, "and you shall receive." The four Gospels echo this teaching of Jesus: "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you." He encourages us to pray that way and he makes wonderful promises that our petitions, our prayers will be heard by our heavenly Father.

The Power of Prayer

As regards the power of prayer, we have the most solemn promises of Jesus. In Matthew chapter 7, he says: "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you, for the one who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks will enter.” And Jesus goes on to say - and note this - "Would any of you hand his son a stone if he asks for bread; or would he give him a poisonous snake if he ask for fish? Well, if you, with all your sins, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things when you ask for them."

It is interesting to notice the reason Jesus gives why we can count of God. It's because he loves us like a father. He compares our heavenly Father with the fathers on earth. He says: Your Father in heaven is so much more loving, so much more caring than the best father on earth. That's why we have so much trust in him. We can turn to him with confidence of being heard.

Often, in the Gospels, Jesus sounds almost eager that we try out our privileges as God's children. "Ask and you shall receive," he says, "that your joy may be full.” Do you know what this makes me think of? God, here, seems to be like our human fathers on Christmas Day, watching their children open their Christmas gifts to see the joy on their faces. He says: "Ask that you may receive and that your joy may be full." That's how God loves us. He's watching us to see the joy on our faces, the joy of having our prayers heard.

So, it's clear that Jesus wants his disciples to have joy in seeing that their prayers are heard. And that's part of the privileges we have as sons and daughters of God. Does that make you feel good? It makes me feel good.

Conditions for Obtaining What We Ask for

But, you know, there are conditions for obtaining what we ask for in prayer and Jesus mentioned quite a few in the Gospels.

We must remain closely united with Jesus. "If you abide in me," he said, "and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you." Abide in me and I in you. If my words abide in you, if we obey his word, if we do his will, if we are very closely united with him by love, then we can be sure that God will answer our prayers. When we pray, the Father actually hears Jesus praying in us because he abides in us and we in him. When we are united with Jesus by faith and love, the Father can hear Jesus praying in and through us, and he cannot refuse Jesus. So, this intimate union with Jesus in love is really what holiness is all about. That's why the holier we are, the greater assurance we have that God will hear our prayers.

That's why St. James tells us in his Epistle: "The fervent petition of a holy man is powerful indeed." And so, once again, since holiness is union with God through love, what we said in our first sermon two days ago is verified again: The secret of prayer is love. The secret of powerful prayer is love.

The second condition for our prayers to be heard: Ask in the name of Jesus. Jesus mentions that a few times in the Gospel. "Whatever you ask in my name," he says, "I will do." Now, what does that mean? It does not mean simply ending our prayers with the usual phrase: In Jesus' name, or Through Christ Our Lord." It's not a question of words, as if these words were like a magic formula that assured us that the results would come. The value of a prayer is not a question of words; it's what we have in our heart that really matters: our faith, our love, our trust in God.

Asking in the name of Jesus means asking in accordance with his spirit with his mind, with his desires, with his purposes. We enter into the spirit of Jesus, into his purposes (intentions) and we pray according to his will. That's the kind of prayer that is powerful.

A third condition for our prayers to be heard: asking in accordance with God's will. That's a very important one. You know, prayer is not meant to change God's will, or to force him, to compel him, to put pressure on him to give us what he might not want to give us. When we pray we do not engage in arm-twisting, to convince God that we need this or that. He knows what we need better than we do and he wants to give us all the good things that we need. We don't pray to tell him what our needs are or to compel him, to persuade him, to convince him that we need something. He knows. You know, if we engage in arm-twisting, if we try to change or force God's mind, we are treating God as someone who is not quite sympathetic to us. Prayer is not meant to change God's will, but to place us under God where we can receive his blessings. We must believe that God wants for us everything that is good for us.

But, you know, if you want to fill a pitcher with water, you have to put it under the faucet, or under the water level. Then you can fill it up. You don't put it on top, or you'll get nothing. Likewise, prayer is meant to place us in a right attitude, in a right relationship with God, "under him." Then, we can receive everything he wants to give us, everything we can get.

Why then should we pray for the things God already wants to give us? Because we acknowledge thereby our dependence on him. We need, as creatures of God, to acknowledge that we depend on him, that we have a lifeline to him. We live because he keeps us alive. Everything we have comes from God. In all honesty, we have to acknowledge that. And that's giving honor and glory to God. We are saying, You alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High. We need you for everything. That's the spirit in which we pray a prayer of petition. We give glory to God. We proclaim that he is God and no one else.

By praying to God for our needs, without making any effort to pressure him to do anything, just being open to him, we say in effect that we believe God is on our side. He's our Father, a loving Father. Let's not be afraid of the will of God because he wants only what is best for us and anything we get will fall under his will. If we try to pray for anything that is not part of his will, we won't get it. We're trying in vain. We are not going to control him, to make him do what he has not already decided to do for our good.

A fourth condition: We must pray with faith. That may be the most important condition for our prayers. How many times in the Gospel, when Jesus heals somebody, for example, he says: "Go, your faith has healed you." We hear that over and over again. One day, when Jesus went to Nazareth, St. Mark tells us that Jesus could perform no miracles there, except for healing a few sick people, because they did not believe in him. They had no faith in him.

What is that faith we're taking about? Faith is believing in somebody, believing in God, believing in his power, believing in his love for us. Faith is also believing the promises he made to answer our prayers. Basically, we must have total trust in God, trust that in whatever he wants, he wants our good more than anything else. That's the spirit of a good prayer: total trust in God, like a little child trusts in his parents. No questions.

Faith is not wishful thinking, or a sort of good feeling we have inside. Some people say: When I pray, I feel so good inside. I feel I've got a lot of faith. I always take such a remark with a grain of salt. I wonder what kind of faith do they have. Faith is not something you feel. You may have feelings that accompany your faith, but you may not have any feelings at all and have a strong faith. Faith is not a question of feelings. It's a conviction about God; we believe in him, we know he is almighty; we know he is our Father and he loves us. And that conviction is absolutely certain. It's not an opinion...that's not faith.

Neither is faith just taking a chance on God, as some people do. They've been going to the doctors; doctors have been able to do nothing. They're still sick. Nothing they have tried has worked. So, we'll try prayer as a last resort. Maybe that will help. Well, if that's your attitude, you might as well not pray at all, because there's no faith there. You're just taking a chance on God. You don't really believe in him, you don't trust him; you're just taking a chance. That's not faith.

See what St. James has to say about those people who pray with a doubting spirit. "You must ask with faith," he says, "never doubting, for the doubter is like the surf tossed and driven by the wind. A man of the sort must not expect to receive anything from the Lord." Isn't that plain? You see, we have to have the simple faith of a child, total trust in God, not wavering, not just "I'll take a chance on God." That's not faith and that prayer has no chance of being heard.

Finally, the fifth condition, one mentioned by Jesus, for prayers to be heard: perseverance. Pray with perseverance. If we are quick to give up because God does not answer our prayer in a day or two, or a week, or even a month, we give up. That's a sign that we are not praying with faith. Do you really believe that God cares?

Jesus tells us many stories in the Gospel about the necessity of praying and never losing heart. You probably remember the story of the corrupt judge. A poor widow was trying to have her rights recognized, but the judge would pay no attention to her. He was busy with more important things. He put her off, and off, and off. But she kept bugging him so much that finally he gave in and said: "If I don't give her justice, she's going to wear me down." So, just to get her off his back, he ruled in her favor. And Jesus said: "If that corrupt judge decided to give justice to that woman, how much more your heavenly Father will give quick justice to those who petition him."

Another similar parable Jesus gave us was that of a man who went to see a friend of his in the middle of the night asking him for 3 loaves of bread. A friend of his had just come from travels and he had nothing to offer him. He comes and knocks at the door and his friend was pretty gruff and irritated. Imagine: in the middle of the night, the children are in bed. He says: Get away, get lost! But the man kept pounding on the door, and said: "I need 3 loaves of bread." And finally, the man got up and gave him the 3 loaves of bread, not because of their friendship, but, again, to get him off his back. And Jesus has the same conclusion as in the previous story. That friend gave in to persistent knocking, persistent pleading. How much more your heavenly Father will give what you ask for if you persevere. So, keep asking!

There is also the story of the Canaanite woman. This is not a parable; it's a real story. A pagan woman was begging Jesus to deliver her daughter from troubles caused by demons. Now, Jesus was busy ministering to his own people and he said: "I've been sent to minister to my own people, not strangers. But that woman, with great faith, said: "Even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table. Please, my daughter is dying, and Jesus said: "O woman, your faith is great. Your daughter is healed."

Likewise the story of the royal official who asked Jesus to cure his dying daughter. Jesus responds with a mild rebuttal: "Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe.” The man kept pleading: "Please, Lord, if you can do something... My son is dying." And Jesus said: "Go, your son will live." And he went home. As he arrived, the people told him that the fever had gone down and the boy was well. He checked and asked: "What time?" He said it was exactly the same time Jesus had said: "Your son will live." You see, the man persevered. He didn't take no for an answer. And he got what he asked for.

Brothers and Sisters, praying with perseverance and persistence is a sign of a great faith in God, a God who is loving and caring. And he often tests our faith. He asks us to prove our faith, at times. That's one of the many reasons why sometimes he doesn't answer right away. And in the process, our faith grows stronger.

Conclusion. Let us always pray with faith in all our needs, believing in the wonderful promises of Jesus: "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you."

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