ACTS of Prayer: Supplication
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Introduction
Introduction
When you pray, what do you pray about? We have been using the acrostic ACTS over the last few weeks to discuss a model of prayer that includes adoration, confession, thanksgiving and today we are concluding this with supplication.
Coming from the Hebrew word tachanun, supplication is simply a request, a plea for mercy, or a petition. It is used in several passages in both the Old and New Testaments. You and I probably don’t use it in our everyday vocabulary, but if we pray, most likely we do what it means. I get text messages, emails, phone calls and face to face requests daily to pray for this or pray for that. As a Christian, I am compelled to pray when I am asked to do so.
As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.
1 Samuel 12;
You may ask, “How am I supposed to pray for someone or some thing when I am asked to do so?” I have learned that I can pray anywhere, any way, about anything at anytime.
There are many passages of scripture throughout the Bible that indicate this. One such passage is found in 6. This is a unique prayer by who the Bible says was the wisest king ever born, King Solomon. He has just completed the temple and this is part of his prayer of dedication. It is a beautiful prayer from which we can learn much about this idea of using supplication in our prayers.
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. He said:
“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
“Now Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’ And now, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.
“But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
2 Chronicles 6:12-
He said:
“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
“Now Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’ And now, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.
“But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
There are three practices in this prayer that we can use today in our prayers. First notice the place of supplication.
The Place of Supplication
The Place of Supplication
King Solomon is praying before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel. Other passages in scripture show people praying in private, in a garden, beside the road, beside the bed of one that is sick, in a cave, and many other scenarios. The point is that even though King Solomon’s prayer has him praying in a special place, the rest of the Bible have prayer happening in many places. Therefore, the place of supplication is any where you are. I have been privileged to pray in prisons, at hospital beds, at gravesides, and thousands of other places. When we are called to pray, we can pray anywhere because our God is everywhere!
Geography is no boundary to prayer. We don’t have to be facing in a certain direction.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Think about the practicality of this passage from 1 Thessalonians. We are a busy people, coming and going and doing. Our lives are full of different circumstances, good and bad. In the course of a given day, we will be in multiple positions and perhaps multiple places. The Bible tells us that we should be praying continually and in all circumstances. This means that we should have an attitude of prayer every where we are. Aren’t you glad. you don’t have to be in a certain place to pray?
Next notice the Position of Supplication.
The Position of Supplication
The Position of Supplication
In this prayer of King Solomon, we learn that he knelt in his prayer with his hands raised towards heaven. The position of prayer is much like the place of prayer. It can happen with you kneeling (), sitting (), standing (), lying prostrate (), with arms outstretched (), and with hands raised (). There are examples of each of these throughout the Bible. In all of these positions there is a humbling and a holiness that is exhibited through prayer. This tells me that the position of my prayer should be any position which I can humbly and reverently call on God.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
Psalm 95:6
Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.
Our position of supplication may physically differ but the attitude of our heart when we prayer should always be in reverence. We can be assured that God hears our prayers from wherever we pray and however we are positioned.
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
for you will answer me.
Psalm 86:
We have discussed the place of supplication and the position of supplication, I want to spend the remainder of our time discussing the purpose of supplication.
The Purpose of Supplication
The Purpose of Supplication
Scripture commends a life of prayer. Our prayers are at their best when we express them simply and with a sincere heart as we trust in the promises of God. So what should we make the purpose of our supplications? What matters to us matters to God. However, throughout scripture, what matters to God is giving Him glory. Any supplication that we do, should bring glory to God.
The earliest type mentioned in the Bible is simply to call upon the name of the Lord.
We first learn in that people began to call on the name of the Lord.
In the prayer of King Solomon, the wise King portrays this idea exactly.
Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 6:21
Notice the phrase here, “when they pray toward this place.” In the context of this passage, King Solomon has indicated that the people would be praying towards the temple that has been constructed. If you remember, the temple was constructed to provide a place where God could be worshiped. When we worship God, we are giving Him glory.
God desires for you and I to recognize our need for Him and to call on His Name.
Anything that we pray about should be an act of worship in which we give God the glory due to Him. In , we first learn that humanity began to call on the Name of the Lord. When we recognize our need and dependence on God, we give Him the Glory that is due to Him.
Jesus
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”
They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
Nehemiah
Jesus recognized the importance in glorifying His Father.
Judges 1
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
John 14:12-13
The purpose of our supplication is that the glory of the Father be its aim. Jesus, when on this earth, said that “I seek not my honor but I seek the honor of Him who sent me.”
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
John
John 5:
Jesus in His priestly prayer in says, “Glorify your Son , that your Son may Glorify You.”
Jesus
Andrew Murray in his work With Christ in the School of Prayer writes, “In His prayers on earth, His intercession in heaven, and His promise of an answer to our prayers, Jesus makes His first object the glory of His Father.”
You and I must ask the question when we pray, is this prayer request our own self-interest or is it the longing for the glory of God to be manifested?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
John 14:13
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
So as we pray, we should do so to bring Glory to God.
We should pray for:
Guidance and direction (; Psalm 50:15)
Direction
Decisions to be made (; Acts 1:24-26)
Resisting temptation ()
For mercy and protection (Psalm 27:1-4)
For healing and restoration (; Jeremiah 30:17)
For discernment and alertness (Luke 21:36)
And expectantly ()
When we pray using the acrostic we have discussed over the last few weeks, we give God adoration, we are able to confess to Him our short comings, we are able to give Him thanksgiving and we are able to supplicate and give our petitions to God. In doing so, we are able to glorify God. We are able to be like Moses when he is said, “Now show me your glory.”
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
Exodus
We can recognize as Paul says in
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
We can pray, “God show me Your glory and let it overshadow me and fill my heart. Let me dwell in it as Christ did and You can show me your good purpose so that I may find my glory in You!”
Does your life bring glory to God? Does your prayer life bring glory to God?
Lord teach me to pray so that I shall bring You glory!