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When we look at a movie, we can see that the frame might become closer and in steps,and say a city or town is framed in different ways as the camera approaches. From Ezekiel Chapter 40 verse 2 in the Kings James version of the Bible, “2] In the visions of God brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south. Here the city was framed in a certain way and from a certain perspective from the very high mountain looking south. Framing can bring another perspective to a situation. There is a tendency to stand pat with prayer requests and not think of different ways to frame the prayer request. There is no reason not to step into a prayer request further by framing it further and contemplating within the request an additional frame. A more creative approach to praying could involve adding an additional frame or additional frames to a prayer request. Of course the openness as to how the Lord might answer the request still remains and is not compromised by adding a frame. Framing a prayer request doesn’t compromise openness per se. We might tend to shy away from framing a prayer request, as for example by not putting a time frame on a prayer request and being open to when and where the Lord might answer the request. We might hesitate to frame certain prayer requests as something that comes across as demanding rather than praying with humility. An example would be putting time frames on your prayer request. Say for example, you are praying for warm weather or sunny weather. You might be praying for warm weather in this upcoming week, so naturally you mention in your requests for warm weather that it is for the upcoming week as this is the time frame for the answer you want and so your request is framed as for this week. Then you may want a sunny day for the outdoor party, and you ask for the specific day involved that the sun will shine as your party falls on a single day on the calendar, and that day is the frame for your request and it is a time frame. You are putting time frames on as more of a matter of fact time thing,as you really want the warm weather for this particular upcoming week and you want the sunshine for the specific day of your party so you party doesn't get rained on. This is an example of more so maybe inadvertently putting time frames on prayer requests. But then someone might ask for a healing and completely leave the time frame open, without really requesting a healing for the present day or nearby upcoming days. They leave out the time frame in that request feeling that it shouldn’t be in there and this time frame should be left totally open with no discussion of it in the request. But is it inherently wrong to put a time frame on a prayer request? Prayer is all about closeness and a frame is given in the context of the closeness of the prayer relationship. A time frame could be this year, this week, this month, or even speak to the Lord about being answered in this very moment, representing a moment of closeness. How many people would frame a prayer request asking for an answer in this very moment? Yet it is possible to frame the request this way. In some ways then, additional framing on a prayer can work into additional closeness, as maybe you speak to the Lord about this very moment, this close moment in prayer. Another way framing can help is that you may feel stuck or limited in your prayer requests. Even adding one additional frame may work towards loosening your approach to your prayer request. It doesn’t have to be a time frame but any possible frame. For example someone is asking for a house, they could ask for a house with a good view of the seas. This additional frame of the good view of the seas is the one frame that is being added. Or in an intercessory prayer, for example praying for the health of all the people in Africa, you could add the frame of for the relationships of all the people in Africa, So by adding one frame, not only praying for the health but also for the relationships of the people in that continent, you are adding one additional frame to your intercession and this opens up maybe another pathway within the prayer request itself and indeed maybe another vision for the prayer request. Then we might want to add one or two frames to a long standing prayer request that we have been persistent about but have never expanded upon in any way. Taking what are your common prayer requests, and of course requests would differ from person to person, and putting an additional frame for these requests may be helpful in crafting a vision towards the truly wanted answers and an expanded view of what the possibilities really could be. it can also be that a completely different frame is put on a request. Say someone is praying for the people of Madrid, Spain, they could frame the request that the Lord assist all the people who are working in the city rather that just a more general prayer for the city. We can also see that answers are sometimes given to prayers in ways that are framed. You may get a picture from the Lord, a dream, a word which frames an answer. There is a fear of engaging in wishful thinking, but the Lord according to the word works in ways beyond what we could think and therefore we can stretch the limits of our own thinking in prayer without compromising anything as the Lord goes beyond any limits we can stretch into in our own thinking anyway. That framing is worthwhile can be seen in just how easily most if not all of your prayer requests can easily be framed further and you could easily find one additional or different frame for just about all of your requests.
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