The Prayer of Petition

A petition, according to Websters’ Dictionary, is a solemn request, an entreaty, a formal written petition addressed to a superior. The prayer of petition is a carefully worded prayer stating our case before the ruler of the universe.

Dan. 7:22: “until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favour of the saints of the most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. (NKJ)

1 Sam. 1:27: Hannah petitioning for a child.

Esther 5: 6-8: Esther petitioning for her people.

Rev. 12:10-12 “for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (NKJ)

We set our case before the Lord using as ‘evidence’ the Blood of Jesus – the finished work of the cross and the word of our testimony which is the word and the promises of God for his people.

Rev. 12:11 “and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

For example, if we were in financial difficulty, we would first search our hearts to see if we were robbing God or in disobedience in any way.

Mal. 3:8-9 “Will a man rob God?” We would then need to find the promised of God for our finances.

Mal. 3:10-11 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so thathe will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the LORD of hosts. (NKJ)

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you sue, it will be measured back to you.” (NKJ)

Then we need to plead our case. God wants us to come and reason with Him.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD (NAS)

Isaiah 33:22 For the LORD is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us. (NLT)

Luke 18:1-18 (the unrighteous judge) shall not God bring about justice for his elect.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus. (NLT)

We put the Lord in remembrance of His promises.

Isaiah 43:26 “Put me in remembrance; let us argue our case together; state your [cause], that you may be proved right (NAS). Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, “in what way have we robbed you?? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation (NKJ).

Tithing is a biblical principle which was established before the law. We would then look at our family history to see if this is a repeating pattern in our family (poverty, lack, bankruptcy).

Exodus 34:7: Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation (NKJ).

In some way could there have been a door opened in your family line for the curse of poverty to get a hold? A curse is opposite of blessing and it means to fail at whatever you put your hand to. Curses operate by pre-determined laws. If we come into conflict with these laws we open ourselves to a curse. A curse is charged with supernatural power; it is a force set in motion that can affect generation after generation unless brought to the cross. We can read Deuteronomy 28 to see the blessings and curses. I know that many feel that this is old covenant and it all automatically is dealt with when we receive Jesus and His work on the cross. But just as we have to ask for salvation, and pray for healing and deliverance, so we have to close doors in our family line that give the enemy rights to steal from us and appropriate that promise of the cross into our situation.

The reasons for curses as set out in Deuteronomy 28 are: not listening to God and obeying His word (Deut. 28:15); the law of honouring and dishonouring (Deut. 5:16); and the law of judging and receiving (Matt. 7:1-2), as well as the law of sowing and reaping (Gal. 6:7-8).

Isaiah 43:26 Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence (NIV).

Isaiah 43:26 Put Me in remembrance, let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted (NKJ).

Precedents for pleading our case, Jeremiah for Judah – Jeremiah 14:21; Joshua for Israel Joshua 7:9; Joel for Judah – Joel 2:17; Abraham for Sodom – Gen. 18:22-23.

Wesley Duewel said (Author) – You do not please like a negative, legal adversary in the presence of the Holy Judge. Rather, you plead in the form of a well-prepared brief, prepared by a legal advocate on behalf of a need and for the welfare of the Kingdom. At times, you are, as it were, petitioning God’s court for an injunction against Satan to stop his harassment. The Holy Spirit guides you in preparation and wording of your prayer agreement.

Pleading the Blood as evidence of our victory, and the evidence for our petitions. Pleading is a legal term not a whining or a wheedling to get our way.

1 Sam 24:15 “The LORD therefore be judge and decide between you and me; and may He see and plead my cause, and deliver me from your hand (NAS).” (Ps. 35:1, 43:1, 119:154.

Exodus 12:22 “And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning (NAS).

Hebrews 9:18-28 mentions the sprinkling of the blood cleansed, so how much more will the Blood of Jesus protect and cleanse us.

Hebrews 8:6 by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises (NAS). The blood was sprinkled on the altar (Ex. 24:6), the people (Ex. 24:8) and the garments (Lev. 6:7).

Rahab asked for lives of her family and possessions and what protected her was the scarlet cord (Joshua 2:18-21). All through the Old Testament, we see the red line representing the blood.

Joshua 2:12: “Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by Jehovah, since I have dealt kindly with you, that ye also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true token; and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death (ASV).”

When we plead the blood, it is the overcoming power against the enemy. I have written our prayers of petition for my children, my church, the salvation of friends, and many other things.

In a group that I lead, we set out a petition for the salvation of a friend’s grandfather who was in his nineties and greatly opposed to the Gospel. We found promises in the Word that applied, wrote it out and took it before the Lord. The next week the friend and a couple from the group went to visit him and began to talk about the Lord and all of a sudden he asked how he could be saved. They were so shocked they couldn’t remember for a moment what to say!!!

Whatever your situation, there is an answer in the word and an effective prayer waiting to be spoken.

James 5:16 AMP Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offences, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

Jane Jones
National Prayer Coordinator

Jane Jones is an elder at St Peter's Okotoks, Alberta and the National Prayer Coordinator of ARM.

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This page was posted on June 23, 2006.