Prayer Changes Things
The article below is based on Christian Bible Theology and Christian Principles that govern all believers' everyday life. The article below deals basically with Biblical Principles and belief's that are relevant to all Christians. How we perceive prayer as a Christians is based on two very different principals. One being, "should Christians only pray in times of distress or danger", and the other being "should Christians learn from the teachings of the Old and New Testaments on on what God expects? The answers below are for all who have excepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
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What The Bible Teaches Christians About Prayer
Taken From The Kings James Bible: (KJV 1991)
The following questions and answers have been selected because of the frequency of their occurrence and the teaching value the answers provide. Obviously, there are different bibles that will have different answers and Christian College Seminary, that will sometimes have personal views on these specific subjects. Therefore, the following is provided for educational purposes only and for each individual to draw his/her own conclusion.
Taken From The Kings James Bible: (KJV 1991)
The following questions and answers have been selected because of the frequency of their occurrence and the teaching value the answers provide. Obviously, there are different bibles that will have different answers and Christian College Seminary, that will sometimes have personal views on these specific subjects. Therefore, the following is provided for educational purposes only and for each individual to draw his/her own conclusion.
Q. What Is Prayer?
A. The short answer is: Prayer essentially is communion with God - a desire to enter into conscious and intimate relationship with Him who has saved us from death and has given unto us eternal life (Psa 40:1-3; 63:1-8; 73:25-26). Prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms of Christian prayer. For Christians, prayers are diverse: they can be completely spontaneous, or read entirely from a text. The most common prayer among Christians is the "Lord's Prayer", which according to the gospel accounts (e.g. Matthew 6:9-13) is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. "The Lord's Prayer" is a model for prayers of adoration, confession and petition in Christianity. God promises to answer the prayers of believers and fulfill His promises in their lives (Psa 34:15-17; 145:18-19; Pr 15:8,29; Mt 7:7-11; 18:19; 21:21-22; Mk 11:22-24; Jn 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-26; Eph 3:20; He 11:6; Jas 1:5-8; 1Pe 3:12; 1Jn 3:21-22; 5:14-15).
Q. What Does God's Word Say About Prayer?
A. What we know of God's word, the Bible, is what we know of His will, and what we know of His will determines the success of our prayer life. It is imperative that believers are thoroughly acquainted with God's word, and do it, for their prayers to be answered (Josh 1:8). This is the guaranteed secret of success in our Christian walk: being grounded in God's word (Psa 1:1-3). It is as much God's will for us to prosper materially as it is for us to prosper spiritually if we are abiding in His word. The closer we live to Christ through His word abiding in us as Jn 15:7 teaches, us about effective prayer.
Q. What About Answered Prayer?
A. Believers walking in fellowship with the word will never ask for anything outside of God's will. This ensures the believer that the answer will always be yes (2Cor 1:19-20). Every one of God's promises are still valid for today. There is not one promise that is "no" to a believer in Christ. God is glorified in His promises being fulfilled in our lives. Providing we abide in Him and His word abides in us, there are no limitations on what we may ask for: salvation for our families and others; our own good health, and healing for others; our financial needs to be met, etc. We can ask what we will and it will be done for us, or else scriptures are meaningless. If our prayers are not being answered we need to know why and remedy it immediately. The fault lies with us, not God. He does not stop answering prayer - we ourselves are the problem. Scriptures clearly teach that unanswered prayer is the result of some form of sin in our life. Anything not of faith even is sin (Psa 66:18; Rom. 14:23b; 1Cor 11:27-32; 2Cor 13:5; He 11:6). This is not said to condemn but to challenge us to look to ourselves. It is never God who is at fault, but us (Rom. 3:3-4).
Q. What About Different Types Of Prayer?
1. Pray Without Ceasing: To pray without ceasing does not mean we have to abstain from everything else, it means that continued prayer, is a form of prayer that is constant attitude of dependence upon God and pray whenever an opportunity presents itself. It also does not mean we have to keep bringing the same petition before God over and over again, persisting with it until the answer has manifested itself, as many believers think scriptures teach (Luke 18:1-8).
2. Praying In The Spirit: Putting on the whole armour of God is not meant to be a daily ritual or routine as so many Christians believe. To put on the whole armour of God simply means that we are to be in a constant state of readiness, clothed with all that God provides us with for offense or defense against the forces of Satan in our daily walk. Put on, is from the same Greek word translated endued in Lu 24 (Lu 24:49). This is referring to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Once we are baptized in the Holy Spirit we do not have to be re-baptized every day. We simply pray for further infilling, and we get it, which is what Paul tells us to do in V18 in Eph 6. It does not mean that we are to pray to the Holy Spirit, but in the Holy Spirit.
3. Repentance Prayer: We need to examine ourselves every day to ensure that we are where we should be in God and judge ourselves for any sins we may have committed that day, and if we have sinned, repent and confess them before God. He will forgive us our sins, and our fellowship with Him will be immediately restored (Eph 3:14-21). V20 teaches us that God will do for us not only more than we desire and ask in prayer, but even more than our imagination can perceive, but it is conditional and dependent upon the degree of the Holy Spirit's presence, working in our lives. Faith is the power of God within us to enable us to reign in life and to receive answers to prayer. The word worketh refers to the exercising of our faith to believe God to do it. Faith makes prayers work - it is not prayers that makes faith work (Eph 1:15-23).
4. Praying For Others: We can pray for others that they may understand God's will, such as: our children, friends, other believers, missionaries, Church leaders, etc. We can pray that they may understand God's will and gain spiritual wisdom to live a holy life pleasing to the Lord. To also bear fruit for Christ, be grateful to the Father, continue in the hope of heaven, experience the nearness of Christ, know the love of Christ, be filled with the fullness of God, show love and kindness to others, discern evil, be sincere and blameless, eagerly await the return of the Lord, and last, pray that God would always count them worthy of His calling and that Christ would be glorified in everything they do (2Th 1:11-12). Jesus Himself is the key to that personal relationship with God that is central to prayer (Jn 14:13; 15:16). It is only through Jesus, and because of the cross, that we can come to the throne of God with confident, that we will receive mercy and find grace in our time of need (He 4:14-16; 10:19-22). It is only in the context of a living relationship with the Lord that prayer finds its place. Unless we meet the conditions God has laid down for prayer, our prayers will not be answered.
5. Meditation And Contemplative Prayer: Christian meditation is a structured attempt to get in touch with and deliberately reflect upon the revelations of God. The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts (such as a bible passage) and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God. Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion. At times there may be no clear-cut boundary between Christian meditation and Christian contemplation, and they overlap. Meditation serves as a foundation on which the contemplative life stands, the practice by which someone begins the state of contemplation. In contemplative prayer, this activity is curtailed, so that contemplation has been described as "a gaze of faith", "a silent love".
6. The Prayer of Agreement: In Matthew 18:19, Jesus introduced the prayer of agreement when He said, "'Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven'" (NKJV). For the prayer of agreement to work, the individual believers involved in the prayer, must first all stand in agreement! You cannot know what someone else wants—what someone is believing for—and God cannot answer your prayer for someone else against his or her will. To utilize the prayer of agreement, you must be sure that the person with whom you are agreeing with, is in line with what you are asking for. If you are asked by someone to pray in agreement with them, your must first ask, them, "What specifically do you want to pray for?" You absolutely must make sure you are in perfect agreement about what the prayer request is about, before you join with another believer in a prayer of agreement.
7. The Prayer of Faith: The prayer of faith, also known as petition prayer, is the prayer that most people think of when they use the term "prayer." Petition prayer is between you and God. It is you asking God for a particular outcome. The key verse for the prayer of faith is Mark 11:24, in which Jesus says, "'Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.'" The rule to consider is when you pray, you must believe that you receive what you asked for. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Your faith is substance—it is something real, something tangible. It is evidence of things you cannot see.
Notice that Mark 11:24 does not say when you will actually see the result of your prayer. It does not tell you how long it will take for that prayer result to appear, and this is where many Christians loose faith. When you pray in faith, God immediately gives you what you prayed for—in the spirit realm. But in the natural world, due to a number of factors, it may take time for the answer to manifest itself. God answers prayers, and He will answer your specific prayer in line with His Word, but it is your faith that brings that answer out of the spiritual world and into the physical world. How many times in Scripture does Jesus say to someone, "According to your faith"? He referred to peoples' faith constantly, and even though it was His power that healed them, He always credited their faith with being the catalyst. In fact, when Jesus went to His hometown, we are told that "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matt. 13:58).
8. The Prayer Of Thanksgiving: We see another type of prayer in Philippians 4:5: thanksgiving or thanks to God. “With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Many examples of thanksgiving prayers can be found in the Psalms.
9. The prayer of worship: The prayer of worship is similar to the prayer of thanksgiving. The difference is that worship focuses on who God is; thanksgiving focuses on what God has done. Church leaders in Antioch prayed in this manner with fasting: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).
In conclusion, obliviously there are many other styles of and types of prayer throughout the bible. The above referenced examples were used for the purpose of being some of the most popular forms of prayer that are recognized in the bible. As stated above, the book Of Psalms in full of prayers.
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A. The short answer is: Prayer essentially is communion with God - a desire to enter into conscious and intimate relationship with Him who has saved us from death and has given unto us eternal life (Psa 40:1-3; 63:1-8; 73:25-26). Prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms of Christian prayer. For Christians, prayers are diverse: they can be completely spontaneous, or read entirely from a text. The most common prayer among Christians is the "Lord's Prayer", which according to the gospel accounts (e.g. Matthew 6:9-13) is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. "The Lord's Prayer" is a model for prayers of adoration, confession and petition in Christianity. God promises to answer the prayers of believers and fulfill His promises in their lives (Psa 34:15-17; 145:18-19; Pr 15:8,29; Mt 7:7-11; 18:19; 21:21-22; Mk 11:22-24; Jn 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-26; Eph 3:20; He 11:6; Jas 1:5-8; 1Pe 3:12; 1Jn 3:21-22; 5:14-15).
Q. What Does God's Word Say About Prayer?
A. What we know of God's word, the Bible, is what we know of His will, and what we know of His will determines the success of our prayer life. It is imperative that believers are thoroughly acquainted with God's word, and do it, for their prayers to be answered (Josh 1:8). This is the guaranteed secret of success in our Christian walk: being grounded in God's word (Psa 1:1-3). It is as much God's will for us to prosper materially as it is for us to prosper spiritually if we are abiding in His word. The closer we live to Christ through His word abiding in us as Jn 15:7 teaches, us about effective prayer.
Q. What About Answered Prayer?
A. Believers walking in fellowship with the word will never ask for anything outside of God's will. This ensures the believer that the answer will always be yes (2Cor 1:19-20). Every one of God's promises are still valid for today. There is not one promise that is "no" to a believer in Christ. God is glorified in His promises being fulfilled in our lives. Providing we abide in Him and His word abides in us, there are no limitations on what we may ask for: salvation for our families and others; our own good health, and healing for others; our financial needs to be met, etc. We can ask what we will and it will be done for us, or else scriptures are meaningless. If our prayers are not being answered we need to know why and remedy it immediately. The fault lies with us, not God. He does not stop answering prayer - we ourselves are the problem. Scriptures clearly teach that unanswered prayer is the result of some form of sin in our life. Anything not of faith even is sin (Psa 66:18; Rom. 14:23b; 1Cor 11:27-32; 2Cor 13:5; He 11:6). This is not said to condemn but to challenge us to look to ourselves. It is never God who is at fault, but us (Rom. 3:3-4).
Q. What About Different Types Of Prayer?
1. Pray Without Ceasing: To pray without ceasing does not mean we have to abstain from everything else, it means that continued prayer, is a form of prayer that is constant attitude of dependence upon God and pray whenever an opportunity presents itself. It also does not mean we have to keep bringing the same petition before God over and over again, persisting with it until the answer has manifested itself, as many believers think scriptures teach (Luke 18:1-8).
2. Praying In The Spirit: Putting on the whole armour of God is not meant to be a daily ritual or routine as so many Christians believe. To put on the whole armour of God simply means that we are to be in a constant state of readiness, clothed with all that God provides us with for offense or defense against the forces of Satan in our daily walk. Put on, is from the same Greek word translated endued in Lu 24 (Lu 24:49). This is referring to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Once we are baptized in the Holy Spirit we do not have to be re-baptized every day. We simply pray for further infilling, and we get it, which is what Paul tells us to do in V18 in Eph 6. It does not mean that we are to pray to the Holy Spirit, but in the Holy Spirit.
3. Repentance Prayer: We need to examine ourselves every day to ensure that we are where we should be in God and judge ourselves for any sins we may have committed that day, and if we have sinned, repent and confess them before God. He will forgive us our sins, and our fellowship with Him will be immediately restored (Eph 3:14-21). V20 teaches us that God will do for us not only more than we desire and ask in prayer, but even more than our imagination can perceive, but it is conditional and dependent upon the degree of the Holy Spirit's presence, working in our lives. Faith is the power of God within us to enable us to reign in life and to receive answers to prayer. The word worketh refers to the exercising of our faith to believe God to do it. Faith makes prayers work - it is not prayers that makes faith work (Eph 1:15-23).
4. Praying For Others: We can pray for others that they may understand God's will, such as: our children, friends, other believers, missionaries, Church leaders, etc. We can pray that they may understand God's will and gain spiritual wisdom to live a holy life pleasing to the Lord. To also bear fruit for Christ, be grateful to the Father, continue in the hope of heaven, experience the nearness of Christ, know the love of Christ, be filled with the fullness of God, show love and kindness to others, discern evil, be sincere and blameless, eagerly await the return of the Lord, and last, pray that God would always count them worthy of His calling and that Christ would be glorified in everything they do (2Th 1:11-12). Jesus Himself is the key to that personal relationship with God that is central to prayer (Jn 14:13; 15:16). It is only through Jesus, and because of the cross, that we can come to the throne of God with confident, that we will receive mercy and find grace in our time of need (He 4:14-16; 10:19-22). It is only in the context of a living relationship with the Lord that prayer finds its place. Unless we meet the conditions God has laid down for prayer, our prayers will not be answered.
5. Meditation And Contemplative Prayer: Christian meditation is a structured attempt to get in touch with and deliberately reflect upon the revelations of God. The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts (such as a bible passage) and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God. Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion. At times there may be no clear-cut boundary between Christian meditation and Christian contemplation, and they overlap. Meditation serves as a foundation on which the contemplative life stands, the practice by which someone begins the state of contemplation. In contemplative prayer, this activity is curtailed, so that contemplation has been described as "a gaze of faith", "a silent love".
6. The Prayer of Agreement: In Matthew 18:19, Jesus introduced the prayer of agreement when He said, "'Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven'" (NKJV). For the prayer of agreement to work, the individual believers involved in the prayer, must first all stand in agreement! You cannot know what someone else wants—what someone is believing for—and God cannot answer your prayer for someone else against his or her will. To utilize the prayer of agreement, you must be sure that the person with whom you are agreeing with, is in line with what you are asking for. If you are asked by someone to pray in agreement with them, your must first ask, them, "What specifically do you want to pray for?" You absolutely must make sure you are in perfect agreement about what the prayer request is about, before you join with another believer in a prayer of agreement.
7. The Prayer of Faith: The prayer of faith, also known as petition prayer, is the prayer that most people think of when they use the term "prayer." Petition prayer is between you and God. It is you asking God for a particular outcome. The key verse for the prayer of faith is Mark 11:24, in which Jesus says, "'Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.'" The rule to consider is when you pray, you must believe that you receive what you asked for. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Your faith is substance—it is something real, something tangible. It is evidence of things you cannot see.
Notice that Mark 11:24 does not say when you will actually see the result of your prayer. It does not tell you how long it will take for that prayer result to appear, and this is where many Christians loose faith. When you pray in faith, God immediately gives you what you prayed for—in the spirit realm. But in the natural world, due to a number of factors, it may take time for the answer to manifest itself. God answers prayers, and He will answer your specific prayer in line with His Word, but it is your faith that brings that answer out of the spiritual world and into the physical world. How many times in Scripture does Jesus say to someone, "According to your faith"? He referred to peoples' faith constantly, and even though it was His power that healed them, He always credited their faith with being the catalyst. In fact, when Jesus went to His hometown, we are told that "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matt. 13:58).
8. The Prayer Of Thanksgiving: We see another type of prayer in Philippians 4:5: thanksgiving or thanks to God. “With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Many examples of thanksgiving prayers can be found in the Psalms.
9. The prayer of worship: The prayer of worship is similar to the prayer of thanksgiving. The difference is that worship focuses on who God is; thanksgiving focuses on what God has done. Church leaders in Antioch prayed in this manner with fasting: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).
In conclusion, obliviously there are many other styles of and types of prayer throughout the bible. The above referenced examples were used for the purpose of being some of the most popular forms of prayer that are recognized in the bible. As stated above, the book Of Psalms in full of prayers.
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References:
1. King James Bible (1991)
2. Philip Zaleski, Carol Zaleski (2005). Prayer: A History. Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 0-618-15288-1.
3. Examining Religions: Christianity Foundation Edition by Anne Geldart 1999 ISBN 0-435-30324-4 page 108
4. Simple Ways to Pray by Emilie Griffin 2005 ISBN 0-7425-5084-2 page 134
1. King James Bible (1991)
2. Philip Zaleski, Carol Zaleski (2005). Prayer: A History. Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 0-618-15288-1.
3. Examining Religions: Christianity Foundation Edition by Anne Geldart 1999 ISBN 0-435-30324-4 page 108
4. Simple Ways to Pray by Emilie Griffin 2005 ISBN 0-7425-5084-2 page 134