Ask God For Things

In the past I have urged people in prayer meetings to spend time in praise or confession or meditation without moving on too quickly to intercession, and I have then been frustrated when they strayed into petition. But I see now that this attitude was wrong. To ask God for things is a profound act of faith. It is a recognition of his majesty, goodness, and power. It is more an act of worship than many of the songs we sing half-heartedly, for through it we acknowledge his sovereign grace. We may think of petitioning as unsophisticated. We may long for advanced techniques that smuggle some kind of achievement into spirituality. But these simple prayers truly express trust in divine majesty and truly confess our need before God. People who pray in this way are those who have really grasped the freedom of the Father-child relationship that is ours in Christ.-Total Church, p. 148