Petition/Permission

 1 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. 2 When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
 3 Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.”
Esther 3:1-3

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
Phil.4:6

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."
John 14:11-14

At a moment of tremendous need and crisis, Esther prepared herself, clothed in her royal robes, and went to the court of the King...the scriptures record the King saw her, and extended his scepter. In the spirit I saw this as a beautiful picture of how we can approach our King in prayer. Favor is the royal robe we are clothed in, Jesus is the "scepter", by Him we have holy permission, an invitation really, to enter the inner courts. In His name, we can pour out our hearts, minds, thoughts, tears, as we move from standing in front of an intimidating throne to being beckoned by the King/Master/Father to hop up into His lap and tell Him everything (that He already knows of course). Jesus says, "whatever you ask in my name"... these are requests that move our lives in a holy direction, not a shopping list of things that are actually worthless idols.
Let us seek and beseech Him with His purposes in mind for us. Remember that real victory in our lives comes through total surrender to the One who loves us and knows what is best for us.