Forms of Prayer Include 
Prayers To Ask God To Provide

...Previous page: Communicating With God

Go here for links to different forms of prayer including traditional prayer.

The following faith article is a discussion prompted by the question:
"Is it is appropriate to ask God for what we want?"

My answer to this question has changed over time.
You of course will have your own views, which you are very welcome to share in the forums.

Do we let God decide for us?

In the Catholic Christian tradition the form of prayer which asks for a specific outcome is called a prayer of petition.
An example would be: "Dear God, let me do well in this English exam."

As a Catholic Christian I was not brought up to use this form of prayer to pray for specific things for myself.



Belief in God often goes with the belief that God knows better than you what would be best for you, and therefore the desire for Him to decide for you.
Religious teaching therefore leans more towards simply allowing oneself to reconnect with God in such a way as to allow Him into your life to guide it.

In my experience, Muslims are particularly strong on the idea of allowing God to decide what happens. They communicate this with the words Insha'Allah, meaning “God willing”.
It is the equivalent of “Thy will be done” in the Lord’s Prayer.
In the same way, some Christians add “(if it) please God” after saying what they wish to happen.

More than ever, I am committed to allowing God to decide for me.

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Form of prayer - affirming that what we choose is coming to pass

I believe that when we think we are letting God decide for us, we are often allowing ourselves to receive only what our environment and genetics have programmed us to receive.

I believe in choosing what I need and asking for it.

I believe in asking for what I want in prayer, combined with an attitude of allowing God's guidance to lead me to a life that serves Him and thereby all others.

“If you have faith in God,” Jesus answered.

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

(Mark 11:22-25, NIV)

Can God give us what we ask for?

As a child, I don’t know that I even thought of God as being able to operate in the world to give me what I wanted. Yet, this wasn’t very logical as I prayed for health for other people, and my prayers as a child were frequently answered.

I now believe in a field of infinite possibilities within which we can attract much of what we ask for.

Is it right to pray to get something you want?

We are supposed to expect God to meet our physical needs

I believe that we are supposed to expect God to meet our physical as well as our spiritual needs. I find support for this view in the Bible.

The more I expect to be provided for, the more my experience confirms that my expectation is appropriate.

However, I still have many blocks to believing that God works in such a practical way.

This or something better

I also allow room for divine guidance. My aim is to set my vision for a positive change in my world, and let it go with an attitude of

"In your hands, Lord.
This or something better."

A poem about prayer

On Its Way

If you have a sense of an 
all-loving
all-powerful
omnipresent God,
then pray.

Say clearly what you want
then rest in confidence.
This or something better 
is on its way. 


It's OK to have a parent who has the resources and the love to give you everything you ask for. 

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:16, KJV esword)

© Katherine T Owen, 2009

Other spiritual poems on this site

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Read about how to use spiritual quotes as part of a program of mind discipline towards keeping your mind focused on the vision held in your prayer.

Affirmations and visualisations are forms of prayer

I plan to say more about forms of prayer you can use to see physical changes in your world in a section entitled
The Law of Attraction.
The forms of prayer mentioned will include affirmations and visualisations.

Affirmations and visualisations are often not thought of as prayers because they are not addressed to a Creator.
Nonetheless, they call on the knowledge that the power of the Creator flows through us all. 

For me, this makes them forms of prayer nonetheless.

I leave you with a quote from A Course In Miracles. This is a spiritual book which talks of the world as an illusion.
Yet it also acknowledges that God reaches us in this world of physical form.

ACIM quote on changes in the physical world through spiritual practice

“His gentle Voice is calling from the known to the unknowing.
He would comfort you, although He knows no sorrow.
He would make a restitution, though He is complete;
a gift to you, although He knows that you have everything already.
He has Thoughts which answer every need His [Child] perceives, although He sees them not.
For Love must give,
and what is given in His Name takes on the form most useful in a world of form.”
(W-186, A Course In Miracles spiritual quote)

Bible quote on answered prayer

“You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
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 86:5-7, NIV)

Articles relevant to Forms of Prayer

Read and choose from a List of Prayers on this spiritual website.


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Be Loved
Beloved

15 Spiritual Love Poems
God Love Self Love

(by the author of a-spiritual-journey-of-healing.com)

For 14 years, Katherine T Owen was severely disabled with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, unable to walk, with little speech, and with inadequate care.

Katherine's small beautiful collection of poems take the reader with her as she journeys to know both self love and
God's love.

Be Loved Beloved. Cover for Kindle book of spiritual love poems.

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