“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary” - Daniel 9:17 (NIV).
Petitioning has become part of our common vocabulary these days in Uganda. There are petitions that have been made to the powers that be for new District creation. Sometimes petitions have caused embarrassment and forced removal from office certain characters.
Three common aspects are found in almost all petitions. First, there is often urgency about them. And then petitions to add weight bear signatures of those bidding for a favour. Finally petitions are always appealing to a higher power.
As believers petitioning is also one of the privileges of our lives. A petition is often begun when an apparent matter of concern that need urgent attention from a higher power. Daniel was once grieved with what had happened to Jerusalem and he petitioned to the Almighty. “So I turned to God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). He then laid out a passionate prayer on behalf of the people. “Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name” (Daniel 9:19).
Queen Esther after first petitioning God with much prayer and fasting walked in confidence to her King on behalf of her people. “Now, what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted” (Esther 5:6). Her petition to King Xerxes yielded success.
Writing to Timothy the Apostle Paul reminded him, “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving, be made on behalf of men” (I Timothy 2:1). Faced with defeat the people pleaded with prophet Jeremiah, “Please, hear our petition and pray to the Lord our God for his entire remnant. For as you now see though we were once many, only a few are left. Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do” (Jeremiah 42:2-3).
Just as the people of the world habitually take petitions to authorities, and are never shy about them by appending their signatures, let us too never hesitate to do the same to the Almighty. We should petition to God whenever we are faced with an impending situation that threatens us and not let the enemy have his way. Like Daniel and Esther we should plead passionately that the tide turns in our favour. Whatever it is we should go to God assured most of all that He will answer our requests. “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (I John 5:15).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of creation, heaven and earth, today I come to you with a petition deep from my heart, that you use your power that put in place the sun, moon and stars, to change my situation and destiny in my favour, for you are a God of the possible and wills what you want to pass, all I pray in the mighty name of Jesus!
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
