Praying for God's Will II

In my previous post, I said that the trick with prayer was to determine God's will.

Trick is a stupid word to use in this context. The Bible is filled with ideas about what God's will is. We know that in all situations, God works for the good of those who love him. So, we can pray that in the situations of our lives, whether good or bad, that God would work them for our good. We know that God's kingdom is being firmly and irrevocably established on earth. So we can pray for God's kingdom to come, as the Lord's prayer says. We know that in every situation, God's will will be done. So we can pray for God's will to be done. We know that God desires all people to come to a knowledge of him. So we can pray that too. We know that God desires our obedience. So we can pray that God help us to obey him. We know that God's Word does not return to him empty handed. So we can pray that our preaching is powerful and that it changes lives. When you think about it, there are lots of prayers we can pray that have a guaranteed "yes" from God. I think I'd do well to learn all of them, maybe to chart them out, and then to pray them as much as possible.