ELEMENTS OF PRAYER – PART 3 – SUPPLICATION

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Now, Lord, the 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 successor to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before Me according to My law, as you have done.’ And now, Lord, the God of Israel, let Your word that You promised Your servant David come true.” (vv 16-17)

“When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city You have chosen and the temple I have built for Your Name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.” (vv 34-35)

“Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”

“Now arise, Lord God, and come to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, may Your faithful people rejoice in Your goodness.”

“Lord God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David Your servant.” (vv 40-42)

2 Chronicles 6:16-17, 34-35, 40-42

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today, we’re looking at a third element of prayer as drawn from the A.C.T.S. model and Solomon’s prayer to God in 2 Chronicles, Chapter 6.  We’ve already looked at praise and confession and tomorrow will look at thanksgiving but for today we need to look at the matter of supplication. To recap, here is how the  A.C.T.S. model breaks down:

A – Adoration

C – Confession

T – Thanksgiving

S – Supplication

So what is supplication anyways?

As we have looked at Solomon’s prayer, we have read him speaking the following to God and mentioning the word a couple of times. Let’s see if we can get a few clues from these scriptures:

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. (vv 20b-21)

and

When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.  (vv 24-25)

OK, so we know that either Solomon or the Israelite people or both will be communicating supplications to God but we still don’t have a good grip on what a supplication is. We need a definition and the dictionary is a great place to find it. Here’s what we find when we look up the word “supplication”:

A humble prayer, entreaty, or petition.

It’s the last part of the definition that we need to focus on when we’re considering applying the word “supplication” to prayer. For when translating the Hebrew and Greek words for supplication, we find that the word means to make a request or petition for something. In other words, when we lift up supplications, we are expressing our need of something from God.

Going back to Solomon’s prayer, we find several examples of supplication in action. Consider the following:

“Now, Lord, the 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 successor to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before Me according to My law, as you have done.’ And now, Lord, the God of Israel, let Your word that You promised Your servant David come true.” (vv 16-17)

“When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city You have chosen and the temple I have built for Your Name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.” (vv 34-35)

“Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”

“Now arise, Lord God, and come to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, may Your faithful people rejoice in Your goodness.”

“Lord God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David Your servant.” (vv 40-42)

In the first passage, we find Solomon asking for God to keep the promises He made to David, specifically to continue to allow his descendants to occupy the throne of Israel as long as they remain obedient to God’s law.

In the second set of verses, we find Solomon once again raising up a request but this time it’s for protection over the Israelites when they would go into war against their enemies and plea for God’s presence and help.

Finally, we find Solomon petitioning for God to accept him and receive his prayer, and for the priests to be “clothed with salvation”.

Surely, there is any number of things we could ask God for and we do.

When we or someone we know is ill, we lift up supplication for their healing and recovery, asking for God to restore them to full health.

When we’re facing a difficult decision, we can lift up a supplication asking God for direction and guidance.

When financial problems strike us, we might lift up a supplication asking God to provide for our needs.

When we or someone we know lose someone dear to us, we lift up supplications for comfort and peace to be with those grieving.

And when we face danger and need saving, I think anyone would be raising up supplications to God for His rescue.

The good news through all of this is that God loves us like no other and is always ready to communicate with us, ever ready to receive our prayers, whether prayers of praise, prayers of confession, or prayers of supplication.

I don’t what your needs are as I type this but I do know one thing:

No one, and I mean no one, is as available to us to just sit down and talk like God is. He is for us, with us, and an ever present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

Tomorrow, we will look at our final element and discuss how we should give thanks for this truth.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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