Prayer
Prayer is the art of communicating with God. It involves talking to God the father in the name of Jesus (God the Son). It can be a silent communion or loud conversation with the Most High God. Prayer is the expression of the burden of the heart and the sincere desires of the soul to God, who is able to do all things. There are times when prayer can be a pleasure. At other times, it may take the form of violence, groaning and aggression of the spirit. Whichever form it takes, the fervent prayer of the righteous is both powerful and effective (James 5:16).
There are different types of prayers. A prayer of petition takes the form of presenting a personal request to God. Intercessory prayer involves standing in the gap between God and man i.e. taking the prayer of others to God. When the atmosphere of prayer changes, it put on the garment of war to battle enemies – this is known as warfare prayer. Prayer can also take the form of a plea when you fall down on your face pleading with the Almighty God to intervene in a situation. The highest level of prayer is praise. This involves singing praises to His name, thanking and worshipping God for who he is.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (James 5:16-18 KJV)
Prayer Category
If you need prayers to pray for yourself or for a friend, you can access them here. But if you want to know more about Christian prayers you can continue reading the rest of this page. You will learn about what prayer can do, how to pray, what to pray about, hindrances to prayer and more…
What Prayer Can Do
Prayer Heals
The bible is full of many instances of healing through prayer. David said he cried unto the Lord and he received healing (Psalm 30:2). Jesus healed many by his word (Matthew 8:16). Peter knew what prayer can do and he demonstrated that at the beautiful gate when he healed a man that was lame from his mother’s womb. Surprisingly, a group of people regarded as fools in the scripture knew what prayer can do; as a result, they cried unto God in their afflictions and were all healed:
“Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.” (Psalm 107:17-20 KJV)
Brethren, I know you are not a fool but take the step of faith next time you are sick. As you are seeking medical care, also cry unto God for healing. If God can do it for those fools, He will do it for you as well. I'm not against medical care. I do go the hospital if I'm sick but I also believe in the healing power of God. If an affliction is from the kingdom of darkness, for example, medical care might not have the capacity to resolve it but prayer can. That is why you need to pray even though you need to see your doctor.
To erase every doubt about healing through the power of prayer, James recommended prayer whenever sickness occurs.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16 KJV)
Divine and angelic Visitation
Prayer is powerful spiritual weapons that can do all things. The scripture says “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37 KJV). Prayer can heal sicknesses and diseases. Prayer can reverse contrary sentences. It can reveal deep and secret things. Prayer can change destiny and recover all losses. What prayer can do is enormous but we shall consider a few possibilities written in the bible.
Divine Visitation
Effectual fervent prayers can open the door of heaven and bring down the Most High God from heaven to visit you. That’s what happened to Solomon after he has prayed and gave offering unto the Lord.
And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice” (2Chronicle 7:12 KJV)
Angelic Visitation
Another thing that prayer can do is to cause angels of God to visit you. Daniel was one of those who benefited from angelic visitation through prayers. He received divine skill and understanding through angelic visitation.
“Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding”. (Daniel 9:21-22 KJV)
You too can pray and receive both divine and angelic visitation. You can pray to receive divine wisdom and understanding. God has opened my eyes to see an angel in the past. Accept Jesus today and asked God for a divine visitation.
Related Categories
WHAT PRAYER CAN DO - Death Sentence Reversed
WHAT PRAYER CAN DO - Control of Element of Nature Possible
PRAYER AGAINST BARRENNESS
PRAYER FOR DIVINE HELP
PRAYER FOR DIVINE PROTECTION
PRAYER OF SALVATION
PRAYER FOR STRENGTH
How To Pray
The question of how to pray leads us to what constitutes a good prayer. So what are the elements of a good prayer? A good prayer has four recipes which are: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.
Adoration: This involves praising and worshipping God for who he is. You can start by praising his name (e.g. Lord your name is mighty, your name is wonderful, your name is excellent etc). Go further by singing choruses unto Him (Psalm 100:2) and begin to rejoice in his presence.
Confession: Recognise your shortcomings and repent of all known sins (Psalm 32:5). You may also need to ask God to wash you with the blood of Jesus so that you can be clean. If you fail to confess your sins God may not answer your prayer (Psalm 66:18).
Thanksgiving: Give thanks to God for everything he has done and for what He can do. Thank God for your life, for your families, for your country, for Jesus, for the sun, for the wind, for the world, for his church, etc (Philippians 4:6).
Supplication: Lastly, direct your personal request, intercessions, petitions and the desires of your heart to God the father in the name of Jesus (1Timothy 2:1).
When concluding your prayer, try to give God thanks again. It can’t be too much. For effective daily prayer you can keep a prayer diary; Prayer diary is where you write your prayer points. When you go back into it some months or years latter you will be able to see the prayers that God has answered.
Now that you know how to pray, bow down your head and pray. The Lord is waiting to answer you today.
What To Pray About
The scripture encourages us to pray without ceasing (1Thessalonians 5:17). But what we realise today is that many people cannot pray long because their prayer is selfish; selfish in the sense that they only love to pray for themselves and not for others.
To pray without ceasing, you must learn to pray not only for yourself but for others as well. You must also learn to pray always. If you don’t know what to pray about, let us see what 1Timothy 2:1-3 says and make a list:
"I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour" (1Timothy 2:1KJV)
Now let us make a short list of what we can pray about.
• Pray for the President or the Prime Minister, the King, the Queen, etc
• Pray for the Police, the doctors, firefighters etc
• Pray for ministers of God
• Pray for the sick
• Pray for every Christian
• Pray for the Children
• Pray for your local government, your country, and other countries
• Pray for members of your family
• Pray for wisdom and understanding for yourself
• Pray for personal safety for yourself and others
• Pray for strength for yourself
• Pray for long life
• pray for the salvation of everyone you know - neighbours, friends, acquaintances and even your enemy
• Pray that you will not miss heaven etc.
The list is endless. If you learn to pray for others you will have more than enough to pray about every day. In accordance with the scripture above, Christians must learn to pray for those in government, whether they share our faith or not is immaterial. If we neglect, they might make wrong decisions and all of us will suffer the consequences.
Now that you know what to pray about, then begin to develop a prayer plan. Jesus is waiting to hear your voice.
Reasons For Unanswered Prayer
God loves us and He wants to answer our prayers. There are many scriptures that point to that fact. Prominent among them are Matthew 7:7, John 14:14, John 15:7, Psalm 34:17. So, if God has promised to answer when we call, then why is our prayer not being answered?
The reasons for unanswered prayers are not far-fetched. They all emanate from us and not from God; they are the result of our imperfections.
Some of those imperfections are highlighted below.
1) Sins
• Disobedient to Gods words, leading and voice (Deuteronomy 28:1, 1Samuel 15:23)
• Pride, anger, malice etc (2Chronicles 7:14 )
• Unforgiveness (Matthew 5:23-24)
• Not abiding in Christ (John 15:7)
• Not tithing (Malachi 3: 8-10)
• Doing evil (Isaiah 59:1-2, Psalm 66:18)
2) Asking amiss and not according to the will of God (James 4:3). Some believers ask God for things they want to consume on their worldly lust. God won’t do it.
3) Not asking in the name of Jesus. The spiritual authority for an answer to any prayer is vested in the name of Jesus (John 14:14). Any disregard to the name of Jesus when praying will lead to unanswered prayer.
4) Not fasting: Some prayers require fasting (Mark 9:29).
5) Not asking in faith. Doubt and un-believe (James 1:6)
6) Not asking at all (Matthew 7:7). God knows what we want but he wants us to still ask.
7) Not praying the prayer of agreement Matthew (18:19-20)
8) Not spending enough time in prayer (Luke 6:12). If Jesus (who is God incarnate) can pray all night, it is a signal to believers to show seriousness in the place of prayer.
© 2012 Christian Devotions & Resource Centre