Tag Archives: Prayer

Divine Cooperation. Co-laboring with God.

What happens when Christians have a language that opens Heaven, and yet another that shuts it? One Language flows from faith, and the other from fear and doubt. Both sound like prayer. Both quote scripture. And both can come from sincere hearts. But, while one releases life, activates angels, and pleases God. The other denies God’s completed work and keeps us bound to the very thing we are trying to escape.

Most of us don’t realize that our words and prayers can work against us. Words and prayers spoken in fear and desperation aren’t faith. Faith begins when the will of God is known and believed.

Fear works on the same principles as faith. Faith and fear both come by hearing words. Are you stewarding what you hear? Or are you letting anything and everything have access to your heart?

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Our heart, in this context, includes our entire inner man. This is our soul, our mind, and our spirit. Our heart is the eternal part of our being. The parts that live on after the body dies. Our hearts are affected by what we see and feel, but mostly by what we hear. We must be very selective about the voices we allow to speak into our lives. The enemy understands the power of words better than we do, and he is relentless in attacking our thought life.

God wasn’t joking when He said to take every thought captive and make it obey.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

We are in a war where the primary weapon used is words. Words that create thoughts and images. Words and thoughts are spiritual, and every word has self-fulfilling prophetic implications.

Let me take you back to the garden. Think about the first words that Adam spoke after he fell:

Genesis 3:10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

From that day forward, we began to pray like a people separated from God, pleading, begging, any crying out for mercy. Why? Because man no longer saw himself as being one with God.That “fallen from grace” consciousness still shapes much of the Church today. We pray like orphans instead of heirs, like slaves instead of sons. When we pray from that posture, every word becomes a declaration of separation instead of an affirmation of our holy union with God through Christ

At the cross, Jesus restored what Adam lost. The veil in the temple was torn, meaning the thing that separated man from God has been dealt with, and the separation was removed.

Ephesians 2:13-18 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

This passage is describing redemption. Doubt and fear-based words deny the reality of Christ’s redemptive work. When we pray as though God is reluctant or withholding, we deny His nature. When we speak as though the problem is greater than the promise, we deny our position. And when we confess weakness more than righteousness, we are empowering the wrong kingdom.

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Notice that it does not say death and life are in the power of prayer; the power is in the tongue. God’s kingdom system is built on obedience to, and alignment with the truth, not rehearsing weakness and death. Our lips give life to what we truly believe. We confess who we are in Christ, not how we feel in the flesh. That’s what separates words with faith and power from words of fear and panic.

When we speak words of truth and life, we set ourselves in holy agreement with God. When we speak doubt and fear, we agree with the enemy. And both kingdoms are listening.

Imagine we receive a seriously bad medical diagnosis. One prayer sounds like this: “Lord, please heal my body, if it be thy will.” Another sounds like this: “Father, we thank You that by His stripes we were healed. This sickness cannot remain in the temple of the Holy Ghost. I am a member of the body of Christ and sickness has no place in Him.” Both sound sincere, but they are worlds apart in faith, authority, and understanding.

The first prayer pleads for what God has already provided. The second enforces what the cross already settled and what Jesus paid for with His own blood. Faith never begs; faith declares. Faith doesn’t plead for deliverance; it proclaims it. Faith comes from knowledge and understanding of God’s will before it ever speaks.

When Jesus faced Satan in the wilderness, He didn’t pray, “Father, please help Me resist. Please take this devil away from me.” He said, “It is written.” His prayer life was built on His position, not His predicament. His identity, not His circumstance. The words “It is written” weren’t just scripture quotations; they were faith decrees. They were defensive strikes from the sword of the Spirit.

Every time Jesus spoke, He released the spirit and life of the Word into the situation that overcame temptation, doubt, deception, and darkness.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Every time we speak in agreement with God’s Word, the Spirit of life is released through us.

This is why the devil works tirelessly to keep us talking from fear. He doesn’t mind us going to prayer meetings as long as they’re filled with worry, doubt, and fear. He doesn’t mind us fasting as long as it’s driven by desperation. As long as our words carry worry, doubt, and fear, they empower Satan and his kingdom, not the kingdom of God.

Satan was defeated at the cross, but words of doubt, worry, and fear give him a voice and access in our lives.

When we speak the truth in the face of opposing facts, we are not denying reality; we are redefining it. We are calling things that do not yet exist as though they already did. This was God’s idea. This process of calling things that are not as though they were is recorded, so we would understand how faith works.

Romans 4:17-22 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

This isn’t manifesting, and it’s not metaphysical mumbo jumbo. It’s the faith that God modeled for Abraham until he finally got it and started doing the same thing. This is recorded so that we can follow suit.

The creative power of God operates through His Word. The universe itself was spoken into existence, and we were made in His image by Words.

Words are not empty; they are carriers. Every word we speak carries prophetic implications. Our lives, our homes, our health, and our futures are shaped by the words we consistently speak. It doesn’t matter if a person believes this or understands it. It is an unchangeable spiritual law.

Mark 11:23-24 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

This is the language faith, not fear. And the Father hears and responds to the voice of faith.   

1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Confidence is not arrogance; it is holy alignment. When we speak what He has already said, He recognizes His own voice through ours.

Isaiah 55:11 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

The Word of God is powerful when spoken in faith. When we declare healing, we put ourselves in agreement with our covenant promise of health.  When we align our thoughts and words with the completed work of Christ, every faith-filled declaration of truth becomes an echo of the cross.

When we speak doubt and fear, we reverse the process of transformation. Instead of agreeing with God and aligning ourselves with truth, we invite demonic influence and torment. Instead of exercising our authority over sickness and disease, confusion, and poverty, we give him authority to steal our revelation of redemption.

James warns that the doubting person should not expect to receive anything from God.

James 1:5-7 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The words we speak reveal which kingdom we are in agreement with. We may be saved, but our words determine whether Heaven’s influence or hell’s pressure gains control of our circumstances.

The secret to transformation is not striving, it is a new way of speaking. Jesus said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). The moment we speak in faith, we begin to receive. The moment we speak in fear, we begin to lose ground. Our tongue becomes the steering wheel of our destiny.

James 3:3-7 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

We don’t need eloquent prayers; we need the living Word of God. We don’t need to convince God, we need to agree with Him. We need to say ONLY what He has said about us. Everything else is not truth and should not get any form of agreement from us.  Power is not found in emotion and religious activity, but in agreement.  

So the question is not whether power is available. It’s what power are we tapping into? When we agree with God verbally, we empower the life and light of His Word to come to pass in our lives. When we speak against what God has said, we open the door to death, darkness, and attacks by the enemy..

Every time we speak, something in the spirit realm begins to move. The moment we start speaking words of life instead of fear, the spiritual realm begins to realign. Heaven recognizes the sound of faith because it is the same sound that brought the universe into existence: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Words are the bridge between our unseen inheritance and visible manifestation of it.

Speaking life is not “positive thinking” it is divine alignment. We are not trying to get God to do something new, we are agreeing with what He has already finished.

Fear speaks from separation. It cries, “God, please come help us.” Faith speaks from union. It declares, “God is in us, and His power is working through us right now.”

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

That is a promise.  

So, when we face sickness and disease, fear will pray, “Lord, please heal us.” But understood identity will speak: “The same Spirit that raised Christ now quickens our bodies.” When we face lack, fear will say, “Lord, please provide.” But identity will speak: “My God shall supply all our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Fear declares what it sees and feels, faith declares what it believes according to God’s Word.

That is why the enemy works relentlessly to deceive us into talking about what we feel instead of who we are and what we have. If he can trick us into speaking from emotion, doubt, and fear, he can drain the power of our convictions. We rise or fall to the level of our declarations. This is not exaggeration; this is spiritual law. Every word we speak is either moving us closer to our God-given inheritance or moving us into the fleshly limitations of our carnal nature.

Words are spiritual containers. Theys are seeds of the kingdom of God, and our life is the harvest. We cannot plant fear all week and expect faith to grow on Sunday. We cannot speak doubt and death over our bodies, our lives, or our future, and then wonder why Heaven seems silent. The Spirit responds to faith, not fear.

The most powerful moment in prayer is when we speak. Crying may move our emotions, but speaking moves our mountains. God never told Israel to cry and beg at Jericho; He told them to shout. That shout was not an emotional response; it was a faith-filled declaration. The walls did not fall because of volume; they fell because of obedience. Obeying God’s Word and speaking God’s Word are the highest forms of agreement available.

Heaven responded to the sound of God’s Word in the mouths of God’s people. When we speak words of life, angels move and circumstances begin to bend beneath the weight of divine authority.

Psalm 103:20 Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word.

Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

Angels are here to minister on behalf of those who inherit salvation. That’s you and me. When we speak God’s Word, angels have the responsibility to act on it and perform it.

It is sad that many Christians pray endlessly but never speak with authority. They pour their hearts out to God, yet never release the power of His Word into the situation. They rob angels of their chance to help us. We keep them from fulfilling their God-given purpose, which is to minister on our behalf.

When we finally make the shift to stop speaking fear and start speaking life, everything begins to change. Our prayer becomes bold instead of begging. We stop questioning God’s will for what He has already revealed in His Word. Healing, peace, provision, and authority are our inheritance to enforce. Scripture says, “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:15). Fear makes slaves; sonship makes rulers.

The difference is not in God’s willingness; it is in our consciousness. When we understand who we are, our words change. We stop echoing the language of a fallen Earth and begin releasing the language of Heaven. Many of us struggle here because we feel unworthy to speak boldly. We think it is humble to constantly plead. But true humility is agreeing with God regardless of how we feel or what we see.

If He says we are righteous, calling ourselves unworthy is not humility; it is a contradiction. It is disagreement.

Are you comfortable contradicting God? If He says we are more than conquerors, calling ourselves defeated is not modesty; it is unbelief in what He said. Life-filled words begin where identity is known.

Scripture says, “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 1:6).

Faith becomes effective through agreement—not emotion, not desperation, but acknowledgement.  

Declaring the promises of our inheritance brings supernatural alignment. Divine cooperation. Co-laboring. It is participation in the divine nature.

2 Peter 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We are not trying to be God, we are cooperating with Him. Faith is never silent about what God has said. Silence is not humility; it is a passive surrender to defeat. Faith must speak.

Things will change in our lives if we start talking like God is telling the truth. The power of God in us is ready to move; it is waiting for the sound of our agreement.

JESUS IS COMING!

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Pray this over yourself to strengthen your relationship with God

The Prayer of Faith Explained

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 

Effective, Fervent = (Greek) energeo. This word is where we get our English word energy from. It is usually translated “work” but in this context it literally means to show forth your works of faith in prayer.

If there is effective prayer, then we can also conclude that there is ineffective prayer. Effective, fervent prayer starts with knowing God’s will and believing that God’s desire for us is always, “On Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Mark 11:22-24 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

The prayer of faith does not say, “If it be your will Lord.” The prayer of faith knows the will of God before praying. The prayer of faith makes a draw, or demand, on what God has already provided and promised through His word and by His grace.

When praying the prayer of faith, we must believe that we receive the answer at the time of the prayer.

Regardless of what we see or don’t see, feel or don’t feel, we must believe that we have received what we prayed for. This means that going forward we should be thanking God for the answer to our prayer. Our belief that God has answered our prayer is expressed by works. Our words and actions should confirm that we have received the answer. It is by these works that our faith is made alive.

If we truly believe that we have received the answer when we prayed, there should be a change in us. Our hearts will be excited, our hope will be strengthened, and our expectations will remain unwavering until we see the full manifestation of what we prayed for. Faith believes the prayer is answered before it sees the answer, and it speaks and behaves accordingly.

Most Christians pray, and if they don’t see an immediate answer, they stop believing. They don’t speak or behave like they have the answer, so their faith is dead. Dead things do not produce fruit. Just because we don’t see an immediate change in the circumstances we are praying for does not mean the prayer wasn’t answered.

Daniel was praying for understanding and seeking certain answers from God. Look what happened.

Daniel 10:12-13 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. 

The prayer of faith should be prayed once. As soon as our faith is expressed and released for the answer, our prayers and our conversation should change to reflect our belief that we have already received the answer. If we pray the prayer of faith twice in the same way, it reveals that we didn’t actually believe it the first time we prayed.

James 2:14-17 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

This passage compares faith to the body and works to the spirit. So, by our words and actions (works), we put a living spirit into our faith. If our faith is to be a living faith, then we must have the spirit of faith.

The Spirit of Faith

2 Corinthians 4:13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,

We will speak about what we believe. Our conversation is always a dead giveaway to what we believe in our hearts. Our faith in God is communicated by words and actions. We must pay close attention to both so that we don’t speak against our hope.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 

Our words have the ability to minister grace or corruption to the hearer, and when our words align with our faith, God imparts His divine influence into our situation to minister to us and bring the answer we are believing for.

Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The words we speak after our faith is released will determine what fruit grows. If we truly believe in our heart that we received the answer to our prayer the moment we pray, our attitude, our countenance, our words, and our actions will reflect that belief.

Before we pray the prayer of faith, we should look to God’s word and find His will concerning what we are praying for. Then we build ourselves up and strengthen our faith by reading and meditating on God’s word concerning His promises.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

When God’s will is known and our faith is built up by meditation on His word, we release our faith and believe we have the answer when we pray. If we do not see immediate results from our prayer, we must not let that discourage us. We simply receive it by faith, regardless of what we see, feel, or experience, and begin to call things that don’t exist like they already exist.

Romans 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 

God created the universe by faith and with His words called things into existence. We are created in God’s image and in His likeness, and by the precious blood of Jesus, we have the authority to do the same.

All authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to Jesus, and our life is hidden in Him. We are seated with Him in heavenly places, and we have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness, including the exceedingly great and precious promises of God. Such as, healing, favor, blessing, provision, wisdom, understanding, the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, and many more. We are promised these things, but we must obtain them by faith so that we can partake in God’s divine nature.

2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

JESUS IS COMING!

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Prayer School Crash Course Overview

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16

Prayer is our way of communicating with God. Just like a small child grows in their ability to communicate with their parents, we should be ever-growing in the quality and intimacy of our communication with God.

Understanding the different kinds of prayer and their specific function is crucial for us to pray effectively. The following is a list of thirteen types of prayer mentioned in the Bible, along with their purposes and associated rules. This is not an exhaustive list. It is intended to be used as a quick reference and guide to prayer.

My hope is that this will be a tool for the body of Christ to use as they grow in their communication and intimacy with God.

Our instruction is that all prayer and supplication are to be done “in the Spirit.” The prayer of salvation, prayers of sanctification, prayers of dedication, prayers of intercession, prayers of repentance, the prayer of faith, prayers of thanksgiving, and yes, praying in other tongues. They are all to be prayed “in the Spirit.” Supplications are specific requests. They are also to be prayed in the Spirit. So, what does that look like?

Ephesians 6:17-18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Everything God does is relational. Many of us have allowed our prayer life to become mechanical and lifeless, not relational at all, just religious and dead. We run through a prayer list and read our daily devotional, never spending time in silent reverence, so we can connect with the one we are talking to. Having a daily devotional is commendable. Having a daily devotion and never actually connecting intimately with your Father is tragic. Praying in the Spirit requires communion, not just conversation.

com·mun·ion – the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.

If all we do is pray from our limited thinking, our prayer life will lack the authority to bear much fruit. I am not saying that praying with our natural understanding is wrong, but let this be a launching point, a positioning of the heart and mind to a place of stillness and quiet so we can be receptive to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 14:15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

Different types of prayer seen in the Bible include:

  1. Prayer of Salvation:

The most important prayer we can pray is the prayer of salvation. The great commission is all about leading people to pray this type of prayer. God made this a simple thing so it would be hard for us to mess it up.

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

The prayer of salvation can be as simple as calling out to Jesus.

Romans 10:9-10…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

We are saved by grace through faith, so belief is required in the prayer of salvation.

  1. Prayer of Adoration (Praise/Worship): 

These are prayers that minister to the Lord. Not asking from Him, just acknowledging who He is and magnifying His splendor, wonder, greatness, and holiness. We see many of these types of prayers in the book of Psalms

Psalm 103 is a beautiful example of adoration, focusing on God’s attributes and His actions towards His people. It highlights God’s forgiveness, healing, redemption, and steadfast love. Verses 1-5 praise God for His benefits, while verses 8-14 emphasize His compassion and mercy. This psalm concludes by praising God’s eternal reign and His justice. 

  1. Prayer of Confession: 

Acknowledging sin to God is an ongoing part of our Christian experience.

Psalm 51 is a prayer of confession by King David after his sin with Bathsheba. It is a powerful example of the prayer of confession and repentance. David acknowledges his sin, asks for forgiveness, and expresses a desire for a clean heart. 

  1. Prayer of Faith:

James 5:13-16 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

The prayer of faith is widely misunderstood. The prayer of faith knows the will of God and the word of God before it is prayed. You cannot pray the prayer of faith and then say, “If it be your will, Lord.” This is one reason that Paul points sick people to the elders of the church, because elders should know how to pray the prayer of faith.

The prayer of faith is an exercise in using spiritual authority and is prayed with confidence in the answer before the prayer even starts.

Mark 11:22-24 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

We follow up a prayer of faith with prayers of thanksgiving for the answer. We also follow the prayer of faith with prayers of declaration (calling things that are not as though they were Romans 4:17).

If we pray the same prayer of faith again, it reveals that we did not believe we received the answer the first time we prayed. We must follow up with words and actions that affirm that we actually believe we received the answer when we prayed, regardless of what it looks like.

  1. Prayer of Thanksgiving: 

Expressing our gratitude and thanks to God for who He is and what He is doing in our lives. It is also a prayer that we pray while waiting in expectation and hope for our prayers of faith to be made manifest in our lives. Faith always says thank you.

6. Prayers of Declaration:

This is not merely a confession of scripture, which is healthy, but it is also the practice of lifting God’s word to Him in demonstration of our belief in His promises and the integrity of His word. It demonstrates our faith and expectation that His promises are coming to pass in our lives and that we actually received our answer when we prayed in faith.

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith and not by sight.

Both the prayer of thanksgiving and the prayer of declaration are two of the ways we give life to our faith by adding works. Our words and actions must line up with what we are supposed to believe. If they don’t our faith is dead, and dead things produce no fruit.

  1. Prayer of Supplication/Petition: 

Earnestly asking God for wants and needs, whether for oneself or others. With this type of prayer it is often acceptable to ask and keep on asking.

  1. Prayer of Intercession: 

Praying on behalf of others for various reasons. Intercession should be an ongoing part of every Christians life.

Examples in the Old Testament:

After the Israelites sinned by worshiping a golden calf, Moses repeatedly interceded with God, begging for forgiveness and pleading for the nation’s survival (Exodus 32:11-14)

Abraham bargained with God, asking if He would spare the city of Sodom if a certain number of righteous people were found there (Genesis 18:23-33). 

After suffering greatly, Job was instructed to pray for his friends who had wronged him, demonstrating forgiveness and intercession (Job 42:8-10)

When the Assyrian army threatened Jerusalem, Hezekiah prayed for God’s intervention to protect the city (2 Kings 19:14-19)

Daniel prayed for forgiveness and restoration for the Israelites in exile, recognizing their sins (Daniel 9:3-19)

Examples in the New Testament:

In John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples and all believers, asking for their unity, protection, and sanctification. 

Even in his final moments, Jesus prayed for his persecutors, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Paul frequently interceded for the churches he founded, praying for their growth, faith, and understanding of God’s will (Ephesians 1:15-23, Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-12)

In Acts 9:36-41, Peter prays for Dorcas (also known as Tabitha), and she is brought back to life, demonstrating the power of intercessory prayer. 

  1. Prayer of Submission and Consecration: 

This type of prayer is when we say, “If it be your will”. Prayers of dedication or commitment to God’s will. Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, expressing submission to God’s will before his crucifixion, is an instance of this type of prayer.

  1. Prayer of Agreement/Corporate prayer: 

Believers praying together in agreement and unity. The early church in Acts devoted itself to prayer as a group.

Mattthew 18:18-20 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.19Again 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. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

  1. Prayer of Meditation: 

This type of prayer is a practice of turning our hearts and minds toward God, reflecting on who God is and the power and integrity of His Word. This is primarily a prayer without spoken words, only thoughts and a disciplined focus in silence, with an expectation of hearing from God and experiencing His presence. This kind of prayer is an exercise in intimacy with God and elevates our understanding and awareness of His greatness. It is a catalyst for our transformation and anchors our faith.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

There is a certain depth of knowing that only comes through the prayer of meditation.

12. Praying in tongues

There is possibly more confusion over praying in tongues than any other type of prayer. Praying in tongues is a New Testament doctrine. I see no scriptural evidence of it ending or being “done away with.” However, I continue to see a lot of misunderstandings and unbiblical demonstrations throughout the Church, which need to be addressed. So, I will spend a little extra time with this type of prayer.

First, I will share my personal experience with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the first time I spoke in tongues.

On November 7th of 1988, I was born again. A few weeks after my conversion, being completely unchurched and having had no exposure to any teaching about praying in tongues, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues while alone in my bedroom. I had never been to a church service and never saw or heard anyone speak in tongues.

I was reading the book of Acts, chapter 8, for the second time. I saw that the Samarian believers were born again after hearing the preaching from Philip the evangelist, but later the apostles Peter and John came and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. I saw that there was more available to me than salvation that I had already experienced, so I lifted my hands to heaven and prayed, “Lord if there is more of You available to me, I want it.” The Lord then baptized me in His Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit of God came on me, I felt power like electricity all over my body, and it felt like my tongue was as big around as a soda can. I could hear these crazy-sounding words and syllables in my head but resisted saying them out of my mouth because this was all too strange. When I finally yielded to what was happening inside me, I said a few sentences in an unknown tongue and then stopped because it freaked me out. I could not deny that I had a genuine experience and felt the power of God all over me. I just didn’t understand what happened.

No one taught me, no one prayed over me, and no one laid hands on me. I simply saw it in His word and asked for it. God is good!

Here is my concern from over 37 years of observation. Many who claim to have the baptism of the Holy Spirit speak a sentence or two in “tongues” and repeat the same things. This is the limit of their so-called “prayer language.” I have also seen people repeatedly give “messages from the Lord” by tongues and interpretation, but use the same few words in tongues, maybe changing the order of the words a bit. However, the interpretation is always different.

This is not praying in tongues; it is a repetition and a parroting of what once may have been an actual utterance by the Spirit. I am not saying these people have not been baptized by the Spirit. I just question their understanding and their expression to the body of Christ. I believe that some things are out of order.

Praying in other tongues is a practice of listening with the heart, not the mindless repetition of past utterances. Speaking in tongues is a supernatural experience in which we should grow and develop. It should always be fresh, dynamic, and alive.

I still remember the first few sentences I spoke in tongues, but I rarely repeat them. Instead, I listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit on the inside and practice repeating what I hear. The utterance is almost always different. Sometimes the utterance is so unique and funny-sounding that I laugh at myself.

Praying in tongues should be done with an understanding that we are handling holy things and representing a sacred God. Is what we are doing done in fear of the Lord? Are these things edifying us and the Church? It is a serious thing to speak publicly in tongues and claim these words are from the Lord.

My understanding of scripture is that praying in tongues should be limited in public unless accompanied by an interpretation. 1 Corinthians 14 addresses this issue.

  1. Fruitless Prayer:

The tax collector and the Pharisee. Here is a perfect example of the difference between a fruitless prayer and a prayer that God answers

Luke 18:9-14 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

If we approach God with a wrong heart, many times He isn’t even listening. We see that this “Pharisee prayed thus with himself.” This is a great example of a fruitless prayer.

All types of prayer are not all mutually exclusive. They often overlap and can be combined. The emphasis on our part should always be on a sincere, humble, and heartfelt approach to prayer, prioritizing a relationship with God over an outward show of eloquence or empty words. 

JESUS IS COMING!

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