Ask Only for What the Lord’s Prayer Asks

You see, then, the method and form of prayer set before us by the Judge himself, the one who is to be prayed to by it. In this form there is no petition for riches, no thought of honors, no request for power and might, no mention of bodily health or of this passing life. For he who is the Author of eternity would have people ask him for nothing uncertain, nothing paltry, and nothing that passes away. So anyone who leaves these eternal petitions aside and chooses instead to ask him for something passing and uncertain will offer the greatest insult to his majesty and generosity. And by the pettiness of his prayer he will draw on himself the indignation of the Judge rather than his favor.