THE PRYERS OF PETITION AND CONSECATION !

THE PRAYERS OF PETITION AND CONSECATION: God is concerned about everything that touches our lives, and He has made a provision to meet our needs through prayer. In the King James version, (Ephesians 6:18 ) reads, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. . ." Moffatt's translation reads, "Praying. . . With all manner of prayer." The amplified Bible reads, "Pray at all times (on every season) in the spirit with all (manner of) prayer and treaty." Yet another translation says "Praying with all kinds of prayer. . ." In today's lesson we will look at some of the different kinds of prayer in the New Testament just as numerous games are classified as "sports," different kinds of prayer often are lumped together under the general category of "prayer." We need to realize that just as different rules govern each game, different principles, rules, or spiritual laws also govern different kinds of prayer. In sports, the rules that apply to baseball do not apply to football. Likewise, spiritually, the principle that applies to one kind of prayer may not apply to another, and you can become terribly confused if you try to apply the wrong rule to a certain kind of prayer. The first kind of prayer we will study in this lesson is the prayer of petition. THE PRAYER OF PETITION: (Matthew 21:22). "And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." (Mark 11:24). "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them." By far the most frequent prayer of believers is the prayer of petition. We always are petitioning or asking God to do something for us. This is scriptural, of course, because He told us in (Matthew 21:22), ". . . Ask in prayer, believing." The prayer of petition must be a prayer of faith. It primarily concerns and individuals desires, needs, and problems. It is you praying for yourself, not someone else praying for you or agreeing with you in prayer. When you pray the prayer of petition, believing that you receive, if you will do that, you will have what you asked for. Not when you see it first but when you believe it first. God is concerned about our needs and He wants to meet them for us. Notice that in the Old Testament, God promise His people more than spiritual blessings; he promised them that they would prosper financially and materially. He told them He would take sickness away from their midst, and He would give them long life: ". . . The number of thy days I will fulfill" (Exodus 23:26). God also told them that if they would keep His commandments, they would eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19). God is just as interested in His people today as He was then. He is concerned about everything that touches our lives. He promises us in (3 John 2), "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prosperth." Well, beloved you and I cannot prosper except the mind which is the seat of the soul the motions and the will as well as the intellect prosper wrong thinking, brings about wrong belief, wrong believes brings about wrong actions.