Types of Prayer

Today I want to talk about prayer. This is a topic I’ve revamped as a blog post because I think it deserves considering. But that being said, it’s a really big subject and I can’t go into all there is to say on it. So, my first suggestion to you is that you study prayer. Read what the Bible has to say on it, read books on it, and listen to sermons or podcasts. Make sure you don’t neglect knowledge on this vital tool we have. 

I have a podcast on prayer. I started it back when I was writing my first book, a memoir about helping my father with Alzheimer’s. If you want to know more about the book, I’ve written about it elsewhere, and that’s not what I want to focus on today. The podcast is called Peace Prayers. Its format is a short space of time when I take a Scripture and pray it. Very simple as it’s designed to be a moment of peace to start your day. I hope to get back to S7 soon.

Let’s begin with what prayer is. My junior Bible quiz answer was talking with God. And that’s true, but that’s taking something complex and refining it just a bit too much. There’s so much more to prayer than that. Did you know there are different kinds of prayers? It’s often surprising to me how many Christians don’t realize the richness and authority available to them through praying differently in different situations. But you absolutely can. I’m going to describe a few of them to you, but, again, I urge you to do your own study on all types of prayers.

We’re probably all familiar with a type you could call the cry of the heart. This type of prayer surges up inside of us. We pray out of our emotions and circumstances, whether happy or sad, almost without any thought. The Psalms are an amazing example of this if you’re looking for inspiration. Another familiar type of prayer to us is supplicatory prayer, which is asking for things. We’ve all done this. ‘God, help me pass that test’ or ‘God, please provide what I need.’

But prayer goes beyond that. We worship through prayer, praising God for His majesty. We intercede in prayer, desiring God to work in the lives of those around us. We consecrate ourselves to God in prayer. We repent in prayer, desiring to become right with Him again. We also have the ability to pray for healing, spiritual or physical. Or we can do spiritual warfare and battle the enemy’s intentions.

The type of prayer that I use in my podcast is praying the Scriptures and it might be the most versatile of all because Scripture talks about all these requests. When I pray something, the prayer might be warfare, storming the gates of the enemy, using the authority and the power given to me in Jesus’ name. Or it might be intercessory, pleading on behalf of my family or nation. I can worship, repent, or reflect in my prayers.

And you can too. Any one of you can open your Bible and see a verse that strikes your heart due to the Holy Spirit and pray that Scripture over your life and over anything else. I will offer one word of caution, and that’s for reading the Bible and praying it. Context is important. That verse belongs to the ones above it and below it, to the book it is found in, and to the whole Bible. You can’t ignore what else the Bible has to say on a subject and use one verse to form your own theology.

But the Bible is a living, breathing act of God. Even though a verse was written in a specific historical and cultural context, it has the contradictory ability to mean something special in your life today. God is infinitely complex and He knew what mattered to the Israelites thousands of years ago would matter to you. So don’t be afraid to take the Scripture for yourself, because God wrote it for you too.

And when you pray, know that the Holy Spirit prays with you and through you. It’s more than okay to listen and let Him inspire you. In fact, it’s best. If prayer is a conversation with God, then He gets to talk as well. We might feel awkward and want to fill the pauses, just like in a normal conversation, but don’t be afraid of silence. It’s in the beats between our words when God speaks, when God inspires us, when God does His work. All of this is ultimately about Him and learning to hear His voice and letting Him lead us. So when You pray, don’t say something just to say it, but learn that there is power both in what you say and in how you listen.

There’s so much more to say about prayer. If you’d like to talk more on the subject, I’m always happy to do so. I can recommend some other resources or let you know more about the podcast or my book. The best way to understand something is to do it. So start praying today.

In the meantime, I’ll be on hiatus again for the next few months. I’ve got some big changes going on and I’ll let you know more about that in the fall. I’m planning on being back to the regular blog posting schedule in October and hopefully be able to talk more on fiction and my book status. Keep on praying!