Attack With Prayer

June 23, 2014

What do you think just might be the most powerful weapon in our warfare?

Prayer.

We all know about prayer, right? But do we know why we pray? Is prayer more than just talking to God? Is He listening? Does He answer? Are there different methods of prayer to bring heaven to earth in different situations?

Wow! More questions than we can fathom!

At church lately we’ve been learning more about our positions in the Kingdom as priests, and more about prayer. Allow me to present my recently acquired knowledge. (I feel a bit like Paul – “not that I have absorbed all this knowledge, but I’ll share what I do know.”)

There are four types of prayer.

1. Prayer in order to establish and develop your relationship with God. This could include things like verbal worship, reading Scripture in prayer, and generally communicating with Him. Prayer at its heart is communication, and how better to get to know someone? Speak and listen.

2. Prayer of supplication. This type of praying includes making your requests known to God; you ask for what you need or want.

3. Prayer of thanksgiving. This is praying with gratitude, thanking God for not only what He has done but Who He is. We know He is love, peace, provider- He is the great I AM, sufficient for every need.

4. Prayer of intercession. We position ourselves between the problem and the person, bridging the gap in their lives and essentially carrying them to the throne. This is a hard one, because it has to start with us laying down our desires and emotions for them and their need.

Since we worship a triune (three-in-one) God Who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who do we pray to? Actually, all of the above. When we ask Holy Spirit to come and fill us with His presence, we are praying to Him. When we ask Jesus to heal someone, we pray to Him. When we ask for provision, we pray to Father God. Of course, these are all interchangeable. Some people pray more to Jesus, some more to the Father. A lot depends on which manifestation of the Godhead we feel closer to.

We know in our heads that our earthly father is not the same as Father God, but our hearts can be hardened toward our fathers and affect our relationship with Abba.

Some of us have had negative experiences associated with Jesus or His representatives on earth. Those with this history often avoid praying to Jesus directly.

Some have had false teaching about Holy Spirit and believe He is not active in the world today or fear the manifestations of His presence. For these, addressing Him can feel like rejection of Father and Jesus.

Prayer brings heaven to earth when we pray according the Father’s will. Ask Him what He wants to do in your life and the lives of the ones you’re praying for. He will be faithful to guide you.

Next time we’ll explore the types of prayer in more depth.

this is part 15 of a series on warfare

Part 1| This Means War!