6 Types of Prayer

It is said that prayer is the power plant of the church. Therefore prayer is also your powerplant, the source of your life and energy. Sure, we can stumble through life without God, but is that truly living?

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We find that Jesus often got away from everyone and everything around Him to pray. Why? He knew that prayer was His source – God was His source for everything. Jesus said and did only what He was led to do and say by God. Can you imagine living a life like that?

There are six types of prayer that I will briefly discuss in this post. Most people are familiar with the prayer of petition – asking God for something. But that is only one type of prayer, which is often done wrong.

Ephesians 6:18 says, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." Praying ALWAYS with ALL prayer. The word "all" implies more than one type of prayer.

The first part of that verse reads, "praying always." Wow! Really? Always? How is that even possible?

There was a famous pastor named Smith Wigglesworth who had extraordinary miracles done throughout his ministry. When asked how long he prays, he responded, "No more than 15 minutes, but I never go 15 minutes without praying." That means that he lived his life in communion with God. He kept a running dialogue with his creator, helper, and advocate.

This would imply that prayer isn't always done in your "prayer closet" during your morning devotion time. That time of undivided attention is very important. As I mentioned before, Jesus often got away to have some one-on-one quality time with God, He never stopped talking to Him.

The Bible says that the Lord is our Shepherd. A shepherd is in constant earshot of his sheep, and he walks with the sheep and guides them to maneuver the best path. That's exactly what Jesus does for us when we stay in communication with Him.

6 Types of Prayer

This month we will be discussing some very practical aspects of prayer, but today I just want to give a quick overview of the types of prayer.

THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Okay, so what does consecration mean? It is to dedicate yourself to a sacred purpose. That sounds very high and mighty and might cause us to take a couple steps back, like, what do I have to do? But there is nothing to fear when you make Jesus your Lord, not just your Savior. When you make Jesus your Lord, you submit your life to do His will. In other words, obey the shepherd and follow where He leads you. It's telling Him, I will listen and obey.

This type of prayer is to be done all day long with little check-ins. "Lord, what do you think about this?" "What should I say in this situation?" "What should I do in response to what just happened?"

How are your listening skills? Have you practiced hearing God's voice, or do you need to spend some time training yourself to hear His voice? It's good to practice in little things so that when big situations come, you know His voice and can follow easily, no matter how chaotic life can be.

PRAYER OF PETITION

I think most Christians camp out in this prayer – asking God for things. Of course, we pray for our family and friends, those in need of healing, and the list goes on and on. We should lift all of these to God in prayer, but there is a right and wrong way to request of God.

Many people end their prayers with the words, "If it be your will." I understand the motive behind this type of prayer. We, of course, want to pray in line with His will. 1 John 5:14-15 says, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

We don't have to wonder if something is God's will. We can hold His will – the Bible. If the Bible says we can have something, then we can approach Him with confidence that we will have what we ask.

Here's where some argue, "Yes, but my aunt was a devoted Christian, and she prayed for healing and didn't get it." My question in response is, are you basing your faith on someone's experience or on the Word of God? We don't know why some get healed miraculously and others receive their healing in heaven. Either way, the timetable of their healing doesn't negate the truth of 1 Peter 2:24, "By His stripes you WERE healed." Amen? We can still pray with confidence for healing, knowing that it is His will for all to be healed. (I could go more into this, but that's not the focus of this article).

PRAYER OF FAITH

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is believing before you see or feel.

Jesus instructs his disciples (and us) in Mark 11:22-23 how to use faith. "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."

The prayer of faith follows or is part of the prayer of petition. It is finding what the Word says on a subject and taking your authority which has been given to you, to believe that what He said will come to pass for you.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

I always begin my prayer time by praising, worshiping, and thanking God for who He is in my life. Not only then, but I thank Him all day. I thank Him for washing clothes and dishes because we have clothes to wear and food to eat. I thank Him for beautiful little moments in the day that reminds me of His goodness. We have so much to be thankful for and need to tell Him those things.

PRAYER OF SUPPLICATION

Supplication is more of a position of prayer. It is coming to God, humbly knowing that we are nothing without Him and can do nothing without Him. All of my talents and abilities are because of Him.

We get our word, support from supplication. It is asking for God's assistance and support. We need His wisdom, guidance, and leading in our lives.

PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

The prayer of intercession is interceding on behalf of another individual. As someone who is filled with Holy Spirit, praying In the Spirit is most beneficial when interceding. We don't know everything to pray for a person or a situation, but the Holy Spirit does. What a wonderful gift and tool to use in our prayer lives!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit." Remember, the Holy Spirit is our helper. One of the most powerful ways He helps us is in our prayer life. It's nothing to be afraid of, but rather we are to work with Him instead of quenching Him.

Did you learn something new? Let me know in the comments!