What is prayer and how do we do it?
How would you describe your prayer life right now? Is it vibrant, or lacking? Blazing hot, or
lukewarm? For most, if we’re honest, we know our prayer lives could be better. I pray this
article will help spark a fire in your prayer life. My intention is to be as practical as possible
by defining the various types of prayer, as well as supplying content you can use in your
prayer life.
What is prayer?
The dictionary defines prayer as: a spiritual communion with God or an object of worship, as
in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession. I actually like this definition and
believe it to be universally accepted. It addresses the core of what prayer is – a spiritual
communion with God. It also addresses the types of prayer
– supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, and confession. I would simply modify the definition
to add a fifth type – intercession.
What do these words mean? How should they influence your prayer life?
1. Supplication
Supplication simply means to ask or petition. Asking God for things we want is one of the
most common forms of prayer.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the
door will be opened to you. for everyone who asks receives; he who
seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of
you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone or if he asks for a
fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in
heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-12
Spend time in prayer asking God for those good gifts He is eager to give you. Making our
requests known to God is good and biblical; He wants and expects us to ask Him for good
things. However, if the entirety of our communion with God consists of asking Him for
things, we’ll live very shallow, self-centered Christian lives. Supplication should be present in
our prayer lives, but should not consume the totality our prayer lives.
2. Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a grateful acknowledgement of benefits or favor. God is the giver of good
gifts (James 1:17) and our acknowledgment of His goodness expressed in gratitude makes our
communion with Him sweeter. Time spent with a loved one is much more enjoyable when I,
in the moment, am aware of my gratitude for them. Thanksgiving does that for the soul. It
prepares us to enter communion with a joyful heart.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give
thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 100:4
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love endures forever.
Psalm 118:1
In the same way thanksgiving prepares our hearts for sweet communion with God, apathy
prepares our hearts to be hardened against Him. Thanksgiving nourishes the soul. Indifference
to God’s goodness is hazardous to the soul.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as
God norgave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their
foolish hearts were darkened.
Romans 1:21
Spend time in prayer acknowledging the good gifts God has given you, the grace and mercy
He’s extended to you, and the love He’s shown towards you. Call out by name the things you
are thankful to Him for.
3. Adoration
To adore is to give reverent homage – to gaze upon the beauty of a thing. A prayer of
adoration is one in which we acknowledge and proclaim the reality of who God is. Adoration
is the natural response to viewing God rightly.
If you’re ever lacking prayer content, turn to the Psalms. Psalm 145 is a prayer of adoration.
Here are a few verses showing the psalmist’s response to reflecting upon who God is.
1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever
and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever
and ever. 3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness
no one can fathom.
4 one generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of
your mighty acts. 5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your
majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 6 they will tell of
the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great
deeds.
7 they will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your
righteousness. 8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to
anger and rich in love…
Psalm 145:1-8
(read the whole psalm)
Spend time in prayer reflecting on the person of God – His nature, character and attributes –
and giving Him praise. Lord, you are good! You are sovereign! You are holy, loving, just, all-
powerful, all-knowing, sustainer of all things, ruler of all things, savior of the world, the lamb
who was slain, the Lion of Judah, the suffering servant, the triumphant king, the glorious
Father! You’re my provider, my banner, my savior, my almighty Lord!
4. Confession
Confession is an acknowledgment and disclosure of sin. It’s not enough to just acknowledge
the fact that you’ve sinned. God already knows everything you’ve done before you even
acknowledge it yourself. However, there is a liberating power in verbally disclosing your sins
before the Lord.
One of the most heartfelt prayers of confession is found in Psalm 51 – a psalm of David;
when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know
my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you
only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right
in your verdict and justified when you judge.
Psalm 51:1-5
(read the whole psalm to feel the full weight of David’s confession)
What a strange thing for David to say – “against you, you only, have I sinned”. David surely
sinned against Uriah – Bathsheba’s husband whom he conspired to kill. He surely sinned
against Bathsheba – whom he committed adultery with. Many people (including the entire
nation of Israel) were affected by David’s sin. However, David understood that at the root of
his sins against all others laid his primary offense towards God.
It is important to note at this point about confession that according to 2 Corinthians 7:10,
“godly sorrow brings repentance”. We can refer to this godly sorrow as conviction.
Conversely, “worldly sorrow brings death”. We can call this condemnation. Worldly sorrow
may feel like conviction because both acknowledge guilt. The difference is conviction leads
to repentance, while condemnation takes you to the penalty box – the place of punishment we
put ourselves in to atone for our guilt. The place we go to hide from God until we prove our
worth. Confession should not lead us into bondage, but to freedom.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus…
Romans 8:1
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
That’s great news! Not only will He forgive us, but He will purify us. Spend time in prayer
acknowledging and verbalizing your sins before God. Then, move forward with confidence
and thanksgiving that He has not only forgiven you, but will also purify you from all
unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
5. Intercession
Intercession is an intervening or pleading on behalf of another person. Or more simply,
praying for someone else. Not only is intercession a command in scripture:
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and
thanksgiving be made for all people…
1 Timothy 2:1
Intercessors also follow in the footsteps of Jesus who “lives to intercede for” those who come
to God (Hebrews 7:25).
Even my own salvation is a testimony to the power of intercessory prayer. When I was
completely lost – extremely far from God – I was not thinking about prayer at all. God was
the last thing on my mind. Since I wasn’t praying for myself, my wife prayed for me. She
interceded on my behalf. This is a biblical pattern we see throughout the Old and New
Testament. Moses interceded for Israel (Exodus 32), Job interceded for his friends (Job
42:10), Paul interceded for the Ephesian church (Ephesians 1:15-23), and Jesus intercedes for
us (Romans 8:34).
Spend time in prayer thinking about others who you could pray for – especially those who
likely are not praying for themselves.
