The Prayer of Petition

In Isaiah 37 we see the story of a king named Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was a good king. He followed after the ways of the Lord, the Bible says, and God honored and blessed him. But he got himself into a difficult situation. He found himself at odds with the King of Assyria, who surrounded Jerusalem so that no food could come in.

In the middle of that, the King of Assyria says in Isaiah 37:10 in a letter to Hezekiah:

“Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

That is exactly the type of thing the devil, the accuser of believers, says to us time and time again.

And so Hezekiah took this letter and bowed low before the Lord. He laid the letter of accusation out on the ground and said, “Please, Lord, do You hear the accusations against Your people? Do You hear his rants and raves against You, a holy God?”

Hezekiah continued to cry out, “God, would You please come? Would You please glorify Your name once again? Would You cause a breakthrough to come against the powers of the enemy that are too strong for us?”

That’s a prayer of petition that we each need in our life. We each need to cry out, “Oh, God, would You heal my body? Oh, God, would You deliver my family from these patterns of addictions? Would you free my mind from fear and doubt and unbelief?”

When we pray like this we are petitioning the Lord. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication [petition] with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). The Lord loves the petitioning heart of His children!