7 Types Of Prayer
In the Bible, Jesus told His disciples how they should pray. We refer to this as the Lord’s Prayer. From Jesus model prayer we can learn seven elements of not only how to pray, but why Jesus felt that each element of the prayer was important.
In the centuries since Jesus initially spoke these words, there have become numerous variations of this prayer created by various faith traditions and versions of the Bible. In this article, I’ve chosen he version the version that is found in the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Lord’s Prayer
Jesus told His disciples,
This, then, is how you should pray:“‘Our Father in heaven,
Matthew 6:9-13 KJV
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. “
1. Adoration –“Hallowed by thy name…”
Praise and magnify His holy name.
- Praising God for who He is.
- He is the Lord of all and deserves our praise because of that alone.
- Psalm 99:5 encourages us to exalt the Lord because He is holy.
- Recognizing His power, mercy, love, and more in your prayer life is good.
“Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”
Nehemiah 9:5b-6
2. Thanksgiving – “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done…”
Express gratitude for all He has done
- Thanksgiving is praising God for what He has done.
- God has done so much for each of us, not the least of which was sending Christ to save us from our sins.
- Think of God’s actions in your life and recognize Him with gratitude.
“Daniel answered and said: ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.’”
Daniel 2:20-23
3. Petition – “Give us this day our daily bread…”
Ask Him to hear your needs and requests
- Petition is what many people imagine when they think about prayer.
- It means asking God for something, whether for yourself or someone else. God certainly wants us to do this!
- Philippians 4:6 tells us to let our requests be known to God.
- But prayer is not just about asking God to do things for us – it’s just one of the many ways that He wants us to communicate with Him. Check out these three prayers from the Bible for examples of petition.
“First of all, then, I urge that cries of the heart, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:1-4
I’ll continue the remainder of this teaching on the 7 elements of prayer in my next article.
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