Which ocassions are to ask for God's help which arent?

calmius said:

I cant decide whether its ok to ask God , or you could say pray to him, concerning anything or only the things out of my power.

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Here's something that may help. ALL things are outside of your sole power to effect. There is absolutely nothing we can do to guarantee that anything will come to pass. There are too many things outside of our control that influence our lives. God has given us the priviledge of entering into His holy presence through prayer. Whatsoever you want you should ask of the Lord, because it is He that will either grant it and it be given or deny it and it not. One thing you should always ask for, because we are weak in our flesh, is that God would help you pray according to His will. Obviously it would be a good idea to avoid praying for anything that contradicts the holiness of God, i.e., God please give me a girlfriend so I can have an ungodly relationship with her, etc.

For example, it doesnt seem nice to pray to God and ask him something like "please please God, make sure there is some tasty stuff on sale at Safeway" or "God, let me find some free stuff today"
as opposed to some more serious things like asking to help some other person overcome disease or trouble times, or asking to help in general.

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Why wouldn't you ask God for those things? Don't you want some good sales at Safeway? Don't you want a good deal on something? The point of prayer is to make the desires of your heart known to God. God already knows these desires, and He knows them better than us. But God, as holy and righteous as He is and as merciful as He already has been to us, has given us the priveledge of expressing our dependence on Him for all things that we have, be it the cure to a deadly disease or a good deal at the grocery store because we short of money.

I feel guilty because I notice asking God for help when its somethign that seems serious to me, but not at some other things.

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Well, that's something you should work on if you recognize it. Also, and this is an area that most Christians struggle with, make sure you thank God for the gifts He does give. I know that I often find myself praying to God when I have a need but neither thank Him for it when He grants it nor pray to Him when I am content. I often find that when things are going well I forget that He's the reason they're going well. I often begin to get in the habit of thinking that things are supposed to go well. I take God for granted. This is something we should all guard our hearts against.

I know that theres a concept "dont say God's name in vain", yet there is another that says "keep him in thought everywhere"
How can we justify any explanation for this? what is the right way?

Yuriy

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Using God's name in vain does not mean praying to Him for something that may not seem serious to you. Just ask yourself why it is that you'd pray to Him for something you didn't need. Are you praying to God that He would feed your fleshly lusts or are you praying because you recognize your dependence upon His mercy.

God bless