Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6,7 ESV

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:41,42 ESV

Ask. Petition. Supplicate. Request. Your will be done. It is humbling and embarrassing to admit these words were foreign to me for many years. God was dependent upon me to use my authority in Christ in order for Him to do anything. If I found Scripture to support what I was believing for in prayer, then I was coming into agreement with the Word of God, and it would not be denied in my life. To pray for His will to be done was not something that was done. To have unspoken prayer requests was ridiculed. I was more accustomed to decreeing, declaring, calling things that aren’t as though they were, taking my authority, binding the devil in intercessory prayer, and frankly, being very prideful in my way of thinking. I was ignorant when it came to prayer and what Scripture truly said about prayer though I believed myself to be a powerful praying woman of God.

The day I began to read the Word of God in context and to study what prayer looked like in the Word was the day that more freedom came in my life. Humility followed. It was one of those times in a multitude where I asked God to forgive me for my ways and for misusing His Word. That was a painful time in realizing such error. I tried to find in the Bible where I was instructed to demand and to declare in prayer. I searched out the meanings of words in different verses of Scripture regarding prayer, wanting to find answers and the truth. What I found changed everything for me. It brought such conviction, and it prepared me in ways I had not anticipated.

Trials were soon to follow. I found myself calling Scripture to remembrance, only this time, it was not to put a demand on the Word. It was to trust in Christ when difficulty arose. Ironically, I learned how to pray Biblically in 2020. It was all so clear and so uncomfortable. Philippians 4:6,7 was the primary verse on replay in my prayer time. Father, Your Word says to be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to make requests known to You. I am making them known. I praise You and I thank You. I thank You for Your peace. It surpasses my understanding, and after making my petitions known and offering up thanksgiving to you, it guards my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I trust You in this situation, and I pray that You are glorified.

There were more times than not that my prayers were whispered through tears and desperation. Supplications were most assuredly on my lips, and should anyone have seen me in those times who saw how I had once “prayed”, they would have possibly labeled me weak and without faith. An urgent request to meet a specific need was being addressed to God in prayer. That is what supplication means. There was freedom in asking God as we are instructed in Scripture while trusting Him and His ways in all things. There was great hesitancy to decree and declare as I once had because though I had been taught and believed I was commanding the devil to do something, I was ultimately demanding God to do what I willed and wanted. I had been foolish and arrogant in my understanding.

Though I could not find decree, declare, and other such language in the Bible to support my actions, I did find we are to ask when praying (Mark 11:24). We are to petition, and we are to trust in Him and His ways. I found where Jesus prayed, asking the Father as coequal on behalf of His disciples who walked with Him and those who would believe their words (John 17:9,15,20). This type of prayer by Jesus as coequal to the Father is not used by His believers. Rather, we are petitioning deity. We are to offer thanksgiving (Colossians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:17). I realized my error in not praying God’s will to be done having ignored passages such as Luke 22:42 where Jesus Himself prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” To say that praying the Lord’s will be done is weak and lacking faith is to disparage the example our Beloved Savior gave for us to follow.

There was freedom in knowing my prayers did not need to be elaborate and repetitive to be powerful. In fact, Jesus had instructed His disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:5-7, and repetition of words and phrases was essentially paganist. Though there is nothing wrong with corporate prayer, private prayer is outlined in this passage, giving us the instruction in how to pray, what to pray, and resting in God and Him knowing what we need before asking Him (Matthew 6:7,8) He then provides the Lord’s prayer to the people in this context of what they need. (Matthew 6:9-13)

In studying about prayer, I came across an acronym, ACTS, and this helped me to understand the relationship to God and with God in praying Biblically. I realized the importance of Adoration or praise unto the Lord first and foremost. I brought any Confession of sin before Him, asking Him to forgive me and to help me in being ever conformed to His image by the Holy Spirit. I offer Thanksgiving to Him for His grace, mercy, and steadfast love. Finally, Supplications are brought before Him when praying for others and for myself. It is a beautiful thing when prayer brought before the Lord is saturated with praise and thanks to God, even in the moments of brokenness before the Lord for myself and others.

Looking back, I thank God for these lessons on prayer. I believe the lessons came at the right time because God knew what lay ahead. There is a rest in these moments of prayer, a resting in the trust of the Lord and in the truth according to His Word. Does that mean every day is easy and without hardship? No, it does not. It does not mean anxious thoughts do not make their presence known so to speak. What does come is the resolution of His Word and the prayer to God in asking Him to calm those thoughts wrapped in the cares of this world. Gone is the need to be a pillar of declaring strength, rebuking Satan, which is actually unbiblical and unwise. The greatest lesson has been this: the power was not nor is not in my prayer or within me. The power is in the One to whom I pray, and He is the Sovereign God.