Kenneth E Hagin - Praying to Get Results
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Chapter 2<br />
2 Exchange Petition for Praise<br />
As they ministered <strong>to</strong> the Lord, and fasted,<br />
the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas<br />
and Saul for the work whereun<strong>to</strong> I have called<br />
them.<br />
—Acts 13:2<br />
Often it seems the only kind of prayer we are familiar with is<br />
the petition prayer. We're always petitioning (or asking) God <strong>to</strong><br />
do something, and of course that's scriptural. But in the Scripture<br />
quoted above, those Christians were not petitioning God <strong>to</strong> do<br />
anything. They "ministered <strong>to</strong> the Lord, and fasted...."<br />
Most of our church services are designed so we come<br />
<strong>to</strong>gether and minister <strong>to</strong> one another. We sing, but in very few<br />
songs do we minister <strong>to</strong> the Lord. Instead, we minister <strong>to</strong> one<br />
another. We have special singing, but still we're not ministering<br />
<strong>to</strong> the Lord; we're ministering <strong>to</strong> one another.<br />
When we pray, our praying is primarily a petition. We're<br />
petitioning the Lord <strong>to</strong> move in our midst, <strong>to</strong> manifest Himself<br />
among us, <strong>to</strong> meet our needs. When the minister speaks, he's not<br />
ministering <strong>to</strong> the Lord; he's ministering <strong>to</strong> the congregation.<br />
And when the service is over, if we have a time of waiting on<br />
God, usually these prayers are still petitions.<br />
We know God is concerned about us and wants <strong>to</strong> meet our<br />
needs. Jesus said our heavenly Father knows what we need, and<br />
we should ask Him <strong>to</strong> supply these needs. But, <strong>to</strong>o much of the<br />
time we're like the little boy who said, "My name's Jimmy, and<br />
I'll take all you'll gimme!"<br />
We need times of waiting on God and ministering <strong>to</strong> the<br />
Lord; times when we're not asking for anything—not petitioning<br />
—but ministering <strong>to</strong> Him. Perhaps we are already taking time for<br />
this in our individual prayer lives, but we need this kind of<br />
prayer as a group or a church. God can move in this kind of<br />
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