Supplication

The following is a summary of writings taken from Carol J. Ruvolo's book entitled Before the Throne of God: Focus on Prayer (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1999). This summary is taken from pages 90-94 of that book, which is a chapter written to guide our thoughts when we go to "MAKE REQUESTS" to God in our prayers.

How easily we forget that God who declared, and thus knows, “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10) also know the needs of His children much better than they do. How easily we presume on His grace by filling our prayers with requests conceived in short-sightedness and brought forth in pure selfishness. And how easily we sin by resorting to anger, despair, or self-pity when He declines our requests. But how easily we could be rejoicing in His perfect provision if we defined our needs in terms of His perspective! -Ruvolo, pp 90-91

Aside from our most basic need of

• knowing Christ Jesus our Lord (Luke 10:38-42; Philippians 3:8-11),
• the Bible also describes our need to understand the truths contained in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:15-17),
• to respond to the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 15:26-27; 16:7-11; Romans 8:9-17, 26-27),
• and to spend time in prayer (Jeremiah 29:11-13; Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
  

Scripture speaks of our need for

• wisdom (James 1:5),
• contentment (Philippians 4:11-13),
• and freedom from fear (Psalm 37).
• It tells us we need to lift our minds from the things of earth to the things above (Colossians 3:1-3),
• seek God’s kingdom first (Matthew 6:33),
• and testify boldly of the gospel of grace (Ephesians 6:18-19).
• It highlights our need to accurately assess our abilities (Romans 12:3)
• and to faithfully exercise our gifts in the body of Christ (vv. 4-7).
  

It reveals our need to be

• loved by God and pass His love on to others (1 John 4:7-19),
• to live in relationships (Colossians 3:18-4:1; Hebrews 10:24-25),
• and to work for a living (2 Thessalonians 3:7-12).
• It exposes our need for forgiveness (Luke 18:13),
• as well as our need to forgive others (Ephesians 4:32),
• and reminds us of our need to take every thought captive to he obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5)
• so that no unwholesome word will proceed from our mouths (Ephesians 4:29).
  

Scripture also affirms our need for

• food, shelter, and clothing (Matthew 6:11; 1 Timothy 5:8; 6:10),
• and protection from danger (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2),
• without down-playing our concomitant need to trust in God’s sovereign mercy when we must suffer deprivation or persecution for the sake of the gospel (Matthew 5:10-12; 1 Peter 2:20-24).
  

…The apostle prayed for real needs and knew that his God would always supply them (Philippians 4:19). He knew the indescribable peace of being anxious for nothing because his grip on God’s truth gave him a big-picture perspective that transcended temporal circumstances. He would have agreed wholeheartedly with A. W. Pink, who wrote nineteen hundred years later, “There can be no peace for the mind, no joy of heart, if we fail to recognize that our lot—our circumstances, our condition—is fully ordered by a sovereign and gracious God.” -Ruvolo, pp 92-94