The Power & Protocol of Prayer - Part 7 & 8: The Different Kinds of Prayer & Supplication

​THE POWER AND PROTOCOL OF PRAYER
Parts Seven & Eight –
The Different Kinds of Prayer & Supplication  
 
REVIEW
 
Now we are continuing our look at the “The Power and Protocol of Prayer” where we are learning not just about prayer itself, but specifically how to unlock the power and potential that is in it. You see, we all believe that there is power in prayer, but not everyone sees that potential in their own lives. So, why is that?  Well, what we have been learning is that the power of prayer is found in the protocol of prayer—that is, in the official procedure or principles that govern prayer, given to us by God.
 
So, we have learned what prayer is, what prayer is not, and how to pray. We have also learned the importance of praying the will of God and the spirit by which our prayers need to be prayed. We have also learned that incorporating things like thanksgiving & rejoicing are the appropriate seasoning for our prayers.
 
And, most recently, we learned that another virtue that we need to bring into our prayer lives is perseverance. We found that things like patience, persistence, and perseverance are critical to our prayer lives because as it is with everything in our Christian lives, it’s not how we start; it’s how we finish. 
 
Church, perseverance is just so vital to the Christian life and something we see emphasized time and time again throughout the New Testament. I mentioned how things like patience and endurance are what the early church craved for—because they knew that if they could stand through the persecution, they would always be victorious. Likewise, we have need of endurance so that after we’ve prayed the will of God, we can receive the promise of answered prayer (See Hebrews 10:36). Yes, I am convinced that if we can have the virtue of patience working in our prayer life then we will see the answers to our prayers every single time. The reason why we sometimes fail to see the manifestation of those answered prayers is because we either grow weary or we simply let the emotions wear off. When this happens, we tend to let go of our faith and stop seeking the answers like we did in the beginning. So, like many see “patience” as one of their greatest weaknesses, I see patience as one of the biggest weaknesses in our prayer lives too.
 
I understand that we live in a microwave society where we want everything, and we want it now, but I also know that God is not in the business of “drive-thru breakthroughs!” He is called the “God of Patience.” Therefore, He is obviously not in a hurry! So likewise, we need to develop the fruit of patience and not be in such a hurry to see the answers to our prayers!
 
In fact, we saw that just as it takes the seed of a man and the egg of a woman to conceive a child, it takes both faith and patience to inherit the promises (See Hebrews 6:12). And we learned from James chapter one, how patience works in us to make that conception have its perfect work so that the baby will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So, while we there is the excitement of faith when we find out that we are “expecting,” the patience is there to carry us all the way to full term. Amen?
 
So, this is why these virtues like patience & perseverance are so needful in our prayer lives: It is because, more often than not, there will be a process of time from the time we pray and the time we receive the answers, and we will need these power p-words to bring the answers to our prayers to pass.
 
Jesus taught us the power of persistence in our prayer lives, and He called this “knocking and keep on knocking” kind of prayer, faith. But He made sure to illustrate to us that it’s not because God is unwilling to give us what we desire, but that there are reasons in both the spiritual and physical world that require perseverance on our part to press through for the answers.
 
Yes, God is willing to answer our prayers! He wants to meet our needs! So, seeing Him as that good and gracious Heavenly Father is one of the keys to removing the hindrances that keep us from receiving from Him.
 
So, we do need to understand that the reason we are persistent is not because God is unwilling to give us what we are asking for and that we have annoy Him into doing it. The reason we need to be persistent is because it is a form of faith in God. It is a confidence and reliance upon God’s ability and willingness. And when we operate in faith, we will see results! There is also something that happens in us when we wait on the answer. We develop character. We develop patience. We develop faith. These are all things that need to take place in us, and God wants to make sure we trust Him.
 
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRAYERS AND SUPPLICATIONS
 
So, let’s pick back up where we left off in Ephesians 6:18, which I made the point, is a verse that generally does not get the attention that it deserves.
 
You see, this verse is a continuation of the apostle Paul’s brilliant exposition of spiritual warfare and the whole armor of God. So, after specifically describing our spiritual armor in verses 14-17, he moves right into this verse. This teaches us that prayer is evidently a spiritual weapon! Yes, it is one of the weapons of our warfare that is mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, etc.! Amen!
 
Now let’s continue looking at this verse that is chock-full of some awesome prayer principles: In it, Paul says, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”
 
Now we covered the part of this verse that refers to the watchful and persevering part of our prayer life last time. So, now that we have seen the attitude in which our prayers are to be prayed, let’s now look at how Paul described these prayers. Again, Paul said, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit …” I feel that the wording of this particular translation can leave us a little confused. Let’s look at this phrase in more detail …
 
First of all, when Paul said, “with all prayer and supplication” he was actually saying “through every kind of prayer and supplication.” What this shows us that there are both various kinds of prayer and various kinds of supplications.
 
Now as we have seen already in this series, there is a difference between “prayer” and “supplication.” Supplications are petitions & requests, and prayer is more on the relationship side of our conversations with God. So, the different kinds of prayer might be the prayer of thanksgiving, praise, & worship, the prayer of meditation & the prayer of tongues. The different kinds of supplications might be (I will just call them “the prayer of …” for the sake of changing terminology) the prayer of faith, the prayer of petition, the prayer of agreement, the prayer of consecration, & the prayer of intercession.
 
A PRAYER FOR EVERY SEASON
 
Now before we begin looking at these specific kinds of prayer, let’s look back at the words “praying always” at the beginning of this verse: The word “always” is a translation of three Greek words— en kairos pas. The word en means “in or in the sphere of” and the word pas means “every or all.” Now the word kairos is the interesting part of this phrase: This word describes “an opportune, seasonable, or appointed time.” So, the literal translation of “always” could be “in all seasons” or “in every appropriate time.” This shows us that these different kinds of prayers and supplications are to be used “in specific instances”—meaning, there are specific and appropriate times for every different kind of prayer and every different kind of supplication.
 
Let me give you some examples— The specific kind of prayer the Bible calls “the prayer of faith” would not be appropriate when praying for the salvation of someone. Why? Because we cannot pray once and believe we receive their salvation when their will is involved. What would be called the prayer of intercession is what would be most appropriate when praying for the lost because when free will is involved continuous, repetitive prayers are necessary. The prayer of faith would be more appropriate when praying for things that God has already both promised you and I and accomplished through Jesus like healing, financial provision, and protection.
 
Another example might be using the prayer of other tongues when praying for someone else’s financial need. That wouldn’t be the right kind of prayer because the Word teaches us that the prayer of other tongues is for our own self-edification. So, what would be the most appropriate form of prayer or supplication for asking the Lord to meet someone’s financial need. Well, there are a couple—one being “the prayer of petition” because you are asking the Lord to meet that need in their life. You might use “the prayer of agreement” as the two of you talk about the need, you ask the Lord together, and then agree concerning the thing you’ve asked.   
 
So, as you can see, it is important for us to understand the many different kinds of prayers & supplication so that we can use the right prayer in the right situation.
 
Now this beginning of the verse is not translated according to the proper sentence structure of the original Greek. It actually says, “through all manners of prayer and supplication, praying in every appropriate time in the Spirit …” The Amplified Bible translates this verse— “Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty …” This is important because it will help us to understand what Paul was saying better.
 
PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT
 
Notice that in the original Greek language, the three words “in the Spirit” follow “praying always.” So, this shows us how we can effectively pray with the specific kind of prayer in the specific and appropriate times. We don’t have to know what kind of prayer to use every time. All we need to do is pray “in the Spirit.”
 
Now this is not just praying in other tongues, although it can include that. Praying in the Spirit is simply prayer that is prompted, inspired, and empowered by the Spirit of God on the inside of us. This is the Holy Spirit helping us in our prayers as Paul described in Romans 8:26 when he said, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
 
Church, when we pray under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to pray the way we need to pray in every situation. For example, say we have an hour allotted for prayer each day: Sometimes He might lead us to pray in other tongues for the entire hour, and sometimes He might lead us into 15 minutes of intercession and another 45 minutes of worship. Then another time, we might lead us back and forth between thanksgiving & praise and intercession for various needs. My point is, when we pray “in the Spirit,” it can vary and is not going to necessarily be consistent.
 
I believe the New Living Translation brings out the true meaning of the words “in the Spirit.” It translates this verse— “Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit …”
 
Saints, it is so important that we learn how to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit in our prayer lives! If we pray in ourselves, then we are limited to what we know but when we pray in Him then we will find a much more enjoyable flow. I would liken praying in the Spirit (as opposed to praying in our own abilities) to like going down a river in a boat as opposed to swimming down a river. It is like riding an escalator rather than climbing up and down stairs. It is so much easier and certainly more effective. Amen?
 
So, the question that should come up then is— “How do we pray in the Spirit?” There are a couple of ways that I believe we can tap into that flow of the Holy Ghost …
 
First of all, as we have been learning, we need to obey the law of prayer’s proper protocol and enter into His gates with thanksgiving and walking through His courts with praise. It is then from there that we will be in the Holy of holies where the presence of the Holy Ghost resides! This is when we will be in better position to be led by the Spirit because thanksgiving, praise, and worship (if it is done right) will always put us on the frequency of the Spirit. This is what the apostle Paul taught us in Ephesians 5:18-19 when he said that being continuously filled with the Spirit comes through speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
 
So, thanksgiving, praise, and worship put us on His frequency, but I’ve also learned that another practical way to get into the Spirit in my prayer times is to pray in other tongues. As we have learned, praying in other tongues builds us up! It charges our battery! And when we get charged and built up, we begin to operate more out of the inner man (the place where the Holy Spirit resides) than the outer man (where our intellect and our own strength resides). Sometimes it might take just 5 minutes and sometimes it might take an hour, but praying in other tongues will eventually transfer us from the flesh realm to the spirit realm. Amen.   
 
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRAYER
 
So, now that we’ve learned that there is an appropriate time for different types of prayer and that the Holy Spirit is here to inspire and empower us to pray the right prayer in those times, let’s begin looking at these different kinds of prayer and supplication Paul referred to …
 
Let’s begin with the various kinds of prayer:
 

1. The Prayer of Thanksgiving, Praise, and Worship – One that we have covered already, but is certainly worth reiterating, is the prayers of thanksgiving, praise, and worship. (I am going to put all of these together for discussion sake even though you can make a case that they all three are different types of prayer) You see, since we have defined prayer as simply “the vehicle which drives our relationship with God” and not just our requests and petitions, then we ought to begin with the kinds of prayer that should lead the pack! Church, I believe these three kinds of prayer are the most important parts of our prayer life and are, therefore, what need to be prayed the most. Yes, I believe that thanksgiving, praise, and worship are not seasonal, but are just about always appropriate forms of prayer to be prayed. Of course, there are the times where we need to be interceding, speaking to the mountain, listening to His voice, etc. and not necessarily praising & worshipping the Lord, but more often than not, it’s always a good time to give Him thanks, declare His praises, and worship His beauty. Now I am not talking about us walking around saying, “Praise the Lord” anymore than we would go to someone else and say, “I thank the Lord.” To “praise” God means to proclaim His goodness and greatness. So many times, we think we are praising God because we say, “Praise God!” but technically just saying that is not praising God. Praising God as a form of prayer towards Him would be like saying, “God, You are so good!”, “Lord, You are awesome!”, or “There is no one like You! I think You’re amazing!” You see, we praise our kids, our spouse, or famous people all the time, and we don’t even know it. We don’t do it by saying, “Praise, Pastor Robert!” We praise him by talking about how much of a blessing he is to our church. Likewise, we need to regularly tell our Lord and God how wonderful, good, and awesome He is. We need to repeatedly thank Him specifically for the people, things, and other gifts He has given us in this life. We also need to constantly worship Him by telling Him how much we love Him and expressing our devotion to Him. So, worship involved other aspects of prayer such as vows or consecrating ourselves to Him. Can you see how these three types of prayer should be the predominant theme of our prayer life? Yes, they are just about always in season.   

 

1. The Prayer of Tongues – Our personal prayer language is certainly another kind of prayer and is one of the most edifying types of prayer for us personally.  First Corinthians chapter 14 gives us the most detailed description of what praying in other tongues accomplishes: In verse 2 the apostle Paul said, “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” First of all, notice that Paul said that when we pray in the Spirit that we are speaking “to God.” We are not just aimlessly babbling a bunch of weird syllables together. We are speaking directly to the God of the universe! Then in verse 2, Paul goes on to tell us what we are speaking to Him— “mysteries.” Are these “mysteries” for God’s benefit? Of course not! So, then they must be for ours! But I want you to notice how this verse does not indicate that we are petitioning or requesting God for anything. We are simply “speaking” these “mysteries.” This is why this kind of tongues is another kind of prayer—because we are communing with God through the Holy Spirit about these truths. So what are these “mysteries” that we are praying? This word “mysteries” is the same word that Paul used in his epistles when describing the “mystery” of the New Covenant. These mysteries that we are praying in the spirit are the mysteries hidden in God before the foundation of the world. They describe the wonderful works of the Cross– that is, all that Christ is in us, and all that we are in Christ. In Colossians 1:26-27 Paul explains the mystery perfectly! He says, “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The mystery is how Christ has come to make His abode in our hearts and how this results in us having a glorious expectation of the future. So when we pray in other tongues we are praying the revelation of the New Covenant so that we can become enlightened to its truths. Not only that, but Paul goes on to say in First Corinthians 14:4 that “He who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself …” The word “edifies” literally means “to build up.” So “praying in the Spirit” is also what Jude had in mind as a major factor to “building ourselves up on our most holy faith.” Jude is saying that when we pray in the Spirit, we build ourselves up upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets—that is, the truths contained in the mystery of the New Covenant.

 

1. The Prayer of Meditation – This form of prayer is also one of the most important kinds of prayer that we can operate in because it is us doing the listening! I made the statement earlier in this series in describing what prayer is that it is a dialogue and not just a monologue. In other words, prayer is not to be one-sided by us doing all the talking; it is also us doing some of the listening. If all we ever do in our prayer times is run our mouth, then we are missing one of the most special parts of prayer—which is, hearing from God! You would think that in a conversation between the Creator and the creation that the creation would be smart enough to be quiet sometimes and listen to what the Creator had to say, seeing that He knows infinitely more than we do, right? But as is the case with so many Christians, we are doing all the talking and never take the time to be still and listen for that still small voice in our hearts. So, how do we listen? How do we hear His voice? It’s through meditation upon the Word of God! You see, the Word of God is God speaking to us, so when we take the time to be still, get quiet, and begin to meditate on His Word, we are, in essence, communing with God! Meditating the Word of God is one of the greatest ways we can spend our prayer time with God.  

 

1. The Prayer of Consecration – The prayer of consecration is when we set ourselves apart from the things that we enjoy or are a part of our daily routine and commit that time to the Lord in prayer. This is also where fasting comes into prayer. Fasting is the abstaining of our favorite things to do in order to seek the Lord more diligently. So many think they are being effective because they simply are not eating but that is not the end to its purpose. The purpose of fasting is to seek the Lord more in prayer! That is why throughout the Scriptures fasting is tied into prayer. It is usually referred to as “fasting and prayer.” But the fasting of food is not the only way we can consecrate ourselves. In 1 Corinthians 7:5 Paul says, “Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you give yourselves to fasting and prayer…” He was advocating that it is good to have times where you fast the physical intimacy that you have with your spouse in order to seek the Lord more heartily. You see, there are many different elements to fasting. It is basically laying aside something that is a great desire of yours or is time consuming so that you can spend that time in prayer and supplication. And it is not easy! Look at Jesus in the garden. He, in consecrating Himself to the Lord, began to sweat great drops of blood.   

 

1. The Prayer of Confession – The prayer of confession can range to anything from us confessing what we’ve done (See First John 1:9) to us confessing what He’s done. What I mean by this is there is that time in all of our lives where we knew we missed it in some area, and we had to go before the Lord to confess our sins before Him. This is a specific kind of prayer that is necessary from time to time where we are “saying the same thing” as God. But this type of prayer can also be used when it is time to declare what God has said He will do. This too is a very important type of prayer because the Lord loves it when we remind Him of His Word. He loves it when His children say what He has said. So, our confession of God’s Word is also a very valid and relevant type of prayer.  

 
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SUPPLICATION
 
But as we’ve made the point of throughout this series, there is a difference between prayers and supplications. Yes, we’ve learned that the term “supplication” describes more of the request side of our communication with God and, therefore, prayer is not just our petitions.
 
In fact, when you look up the Greek word that Paul used for “supplications” (Greek deesis), you will see that it always referred to asking God for things and presenting petitions to Him. It is defined as “to ask for humbly or earnestly; a humble petition; an earnest request; an entreaty.” 
 
Let me give you an example where this word for “supplication” was used, but not translated that way--James 5:16. 
 
At the end of verse 16, James gives us a tremendous promise concerning prayer. He says, “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” The words “effective fervent” are the translation of the one Greek word energeo. This describes a prayer that is continuously active and energetic (This word is where we get our English word “energy” from). In other words, it is a prayer that does not lose its passion and zeal. But rather, it is a prayer that remains full of energy and power after time.
                               
Now the word that is translated “prayer” in this verse is that word for “supplication”—the Greek word deesis. So, this is a poor translation, and since the word deesis describes the requests and petitions in our prayer times, James is talking about fervent, continual supplications being lifted up to God.  And just by the context of this verse, we can see that is exactly what James is referring to because he goes right into talking about Elijah and how he prayed earnestly for the rain to both stop and start. This is our biblical example of the power in supplication!
 
So, what we see in Ephesians 6:18 is that there are not just different kinds of prayers, there are also different kinds of supplications. This means that there are also different kinds of ways in which we petition the Lord. Yes, there is not just one way to present our requests to Him; there are several ways. And that’s what I want us to look at this week—the different kinds of supplications …   
 

1. The Prayer of Petition- I will begin with this specific kind of supplication—the prayer of petition—because it is what would be considered the general way in which we make a request from the Lord. This kind of “supplication” encompasses everything that God has not already promised us specifically but that we desire or have need of. But like we’ve made the point of already, while our general requests of God like this have their place, they are not how we are to “supplicate” the Lord for everything. So, let’s get into some of the other kinds of supplication that we might be less familiar with.  

 

1. The Prayer of Agreement- The prayer of agreement is one of the lesser understood ways in which we can present a request to God. You could say that it is the way in which two or more of us present a petition to God. We see Jesus describe this in Matthew 18:18-20 when He talked about the authority we have when we come into unity. Jesus said in verse 19, “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 …” You see, if we are just going around agreeing with what others are asking for, then we are not actually doing this verse. According to this verse, we must ask together in order for us to be in agreement. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you and I cannot be in agreement if we do not pray together, but in order for us to pray the prayer of agreement, there must be some corporate prayer first. But the key to understanding the prayer of agreement is in understanding what the word “agree” means in Matthew 18:19. This word literally means “to sound together” or “to be in one accord or harmonious.” The Greek word used is sumphoneo and is where we get our English word “symphony” from. This means that to pray the prayer of agreement is to pray in one accord. So, you could say that the church was praying the prayer of agreement in Acts chapter 4 when they came together in one accord and prayed for boldness. You see, the prayer of agreement is not asking someone to agree with you and then never asking the Lord together for what you need. The prayer of agreement is corporate prayer—where two or more believers get together in one accord and make their requests to God as one. This is why it is so important that when we come together in prayer—whether it be two or twenty of us—that we are praying in the Spirit (Again, praying inspired and empowered by the Spirit of God). This is also why we need to really consider what we are praying about before we present our requests to Him because we need to be in agreement as to what our focus is to be on.

 

1. The Prayer of Intercession- Now the prayer of intercession is different than the prayer of petition and the prayer of agreement because it requires repetition and continuance. Yes, when we are “standing in the gap” for someone or something, it will require some endurance and patience until the manifestation of the thing we are praying for occurs or we feel the release of the Spirit that we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. And what we need to understand about intercession is that this is something we are all capable of doing and should be doing because there is a difference between the prayer of intercession and one who feels called as an intercessor, just as there is a difference between prophecy and one who is labeled as a prophet. So, my point is that just because we do not see ourselves as an intercessor does not mean that we cannot be used to intercede for someone. We are all called to occasionally intercede for the lost or for backsliders. So, what does it mean to “intercede” for someone or something? Well, it has two possible references: First of all, to “intercede” means “to act between parties with a view of reconciling differences.” Therefore, intercession literally describes “mediation.”  So, from this definition we can see one of the primary times when the prayer of intercession is appropriate. It is used when reconciliation between God and a person is needed. This would obviously include salvation, but it would also involve an individual who has strayed from God. The other situation when intercession is needed is when someone needs us to stand in the gap between a person and the devil. Jesus did this for Peter in Luke 22:31-32 when He said that Satan desired to sift him as wheat. Jesus said in verse 32— “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail …” Abraham and Moses also knew the power of their covenant with God. We too can stand in the gap for other believers so that the enemy cannot overcome them! In Luke 13:1-9 we are given a situation where Jesus was asked why tragic things happen to some people. There have been books written that attempt to explain why bad things happen to good people. And in many of these attempts well-meaning ministers have said that God is just trying to teach us something or to humble us in some way. But this is not true! Jesus actually gives us the reason in a parable in these passages of Scripture. Luke 13 begins with some people telling Jesus about how Pilate had put to death some Galileans who had come to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices. So, Jesus answered them in verse 2 by saying, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?” Apparently, someone had asked Him that question for Jesus to “answer” them. His explanation was just a simple “no” in verse three. Then Jesus brought up another situation where eighteen people were killed when the Tower of Siloam fell on them (verse 4). And again, His explanation was just a resounding “no.” But then Jesus goes on to explain why these tragic accidents occurred in parable form in verses 6-9. Verse 6 starts off by saying, “He also spoke a parable …” The word “also” shows us that this parable is tied into his previous conversation. Many have separated verses 1-5 from 6-9 but this should not be the case because Jesus was going on to explain why these things happen. In this parable Jesus describes a certain man who had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He had come for 3 years seeking fruit on it and found none. So, he told the keeper of his vineyard to cut it down because it was a waste of space. But the keeper of his vineyard “stood in the gap” for the fig tree and asked the man to give him another year to dig around it and fertilize it. The owner of the vineyard is God, the keeper of the vineyard is a believer, and the fig tree is a group or individual that God is looking for fruit from. The purpose of this parable is to show us the power that we have as intercessors! We have the ability to delay God’s judgment on a group or on an individual. This is the authority that we have being in covenant with God! So, one of the main reasons that some people that are the pillars of the community and do many good deeds have tragic things happen to them while a horrible scoundrel crawls out of a totaled car completely unscathed is because of those keepers of the vineyards that are willing to stand in the gap! It is usually those that have the most problems that walk away from tragedy! That’s because those people usually have an old grandmother that has been standing in the gap for them for years. But the upstanding person that seems to have it all together does not usually have an intercessor because they do not have as many glaring problems. So, I say all of this to say that intercession is needed in the Body of Christ as we have the authority to stand in the gap between people & things from being destroyed, stolen, and killed. God has given us the authority to intercede.     

 

1. The Prayer of Faith – But as I have heard stated before- “There is a time to pray and there is a time to say!” There are times when we need to make requests and petitions from the Lord, but there are other times that we need to declare and command—using our authority that way. We see the prayer of faith specifically mentioned in James 5:15 when James said that those who are sick in the church can call for the elders and they will come and anoint the person with oil in the name of the Lord. But it was not the oil that raised the person up. It was not the elders who healed him. This verse says that it is the prayer of faith that will save (i.e. heal) the sick. So, that reinforces what we’ve been learning in this series—that we can have people praying, but if we don’t pray the right way, we can fail to receive the Lord’s best. And in this case, the prayer of faith was the appropriate kind of prayer. So, what is the prayer of faith? I believe the perfect example of the prayer of faith is found in Mark 11:22-24: The day before this situation Jesus had found a fig tree that did not have any figs. So, the Bible says, “In response Jesus said to it, ‘Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.’ (vs.14)” The next day Jesus and His disciples came back by the fig tree and Peter noticed that the tree Jesus cursed had withered away. When Peter brought this to Jesus’ attention He responded— “Have faith in God!” The Greek language literally says— “Have the faith of God!” Jesus commands us to have the God kind of faith! In other words, we need to let the creative force that abides in the Word of God abide in our words as well! Then Jesus goes on to explain how this faith works in verses 23&24 … Verse 23 says, “For assuredly, I say to you (This is something that is reliable and that we can be assured of—It is absolutely true!), whoever (not just preachers) says to this mountain (i.e. seemingly immovable obstacle), ‘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.” Notice that Jesus made three references to what we say and only one reference to believing in this verse. You see, too many times we will talk to God about our problem when we should be talking to our problem about our God! God has given us the authority to wipe out the works of Satan on this earth. He has told us to “Go, therefore and lay hands on the sick, cast out demons, etc.” We need to “say’ to those mountains in our lives “Be removed and be cast into the sea!” For example, when we talked about praying for the lost what did we say was one of the most important parts of our prayer? It is to rebuke the blindness and deception and to loose the light of the glorious gospel! This is us exercising our authority! Now look at verse 24 because then Jesus turns from our “saying” to our “praying.” He says, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Now of course the “whatever” here is not referring to whatever carnal selfish desire we have. It is referring to whatever is according to the will of God. Notice Jesus said that whatever we ask in our prayer time that we are to believe that we receive them. In other words, believe that they are ours the moment we asked for them. If we are praying the prayer of faith then we only pray once because once we lifted up the desire to the Lord we believe that we receive it. You must believe that it is yours! Now this does not mean that you are to live in make-believe pretending that it is in your hands. This just means that you know it’s on the way … You have it in the spirit, and you are expecting it to show up in the natural. I like to think of it as placing an order for something over the telephone. Say, for instance, that you order a brand-new bedroom suit from a Department store… You already gave them your credit card number and they charged it. At that moment you own that bedroom suit, but it is not in your possession yet, but you are expecting the arrival. That is what faith is … You know it’s yours, but you are just looking out the window expecting that UPS truck to pull up any day now. Another good example is of pregnancy. You know the baby has been conceived and is in there, but you are just waiting for the manifestation of that baby in the natural realm. Don’t misunderstand me—all our prayers should be prayed in faith but there is a difference between the other kinds of prayer and “the prayer of faith.” The prayer of faith is appropriate when your prayer involves something that you know God has already given you! In other words, a promise He has already said is yours. This is extremely important because many use the prayer of faith when God has not promised them the answer. For example, someone applies for a job and then they ask the Lord for the job and believe they receive it. The problem is God has not promised them that job. He has just promised to meet their needs. In order to believe they receive that job they must have a foundation for their faith to stand on. And if God has not said it is theirs, then they have nothing to believe in. In that situation the believer would need to use the prayer of petition because it might not be God’s will for them to have that job. But then they could thank God that He has promised to never forsake them and that He would meet their financial needs. So when is the prayer of faith appropriate? Well, think about something that God has promised you. Take for instance, “healing.” How are you to pray if your baby gets sick? Are you to continually ask God to touch your child’s body? No! You are to find where it is written that God has promised to take sickness and disease away from the midst of you and how Jesus is the God who heals you and then say something like— “God, I thank you that you are the Lord our healer and that this family is blessed by you. Lord, this sickness is trying to invade my baby’s body, so we are laying hold of your promise of divine health right now and we deny its right to stay in her body! So, God I thank you for taking this sickness away from her body and we call her ‘whole’ in the name of Jesus! Amen!” “But what if they are still sick after you pray that?” you might ask. That is where the faith comes into play! You just continue to thank God for the healing and continue to rebuke the infirmity. This is why it is so important to know what kind of prayer is appropriate because if I pray the prayer of intercession when I should be praying the prayer of faith, I can be shooting blanks, and vice versa. I remember an instance where I got a word of wisdom in a church gathering: We were talking about the prayer of faith and believing we receive when we pray, and a young lady asked, “How do I know when to pray once and believe I receive and when to pray continually?” That’s a good question, isn’t it? Well, I was just simply attending the class and not teaching it, but the Holy Spirit got all over me and gave me the answer. He said, “When it involves God’s will and your will alone, you pray once and believe you receive, but when it involves the will of another person, you pray continuously.” And the reason why is because when it involves someone else’s will—like say you were praying for them to be saved—you can’t receive that by faith because their free will is involved in that. Therefore, I must continuously pray for them so that the Lord can repeatedly work in their heart until they choose to receive Him in their lives. But when it is my own personal healing which I know is God’s will for me, those are not the things I am to continuously pray for. No, I can pray once and believe I receive because it only involves my will and God’s will. Amen?

 
Church, there are obviously different kinds of prayers and different kinds of supplications, and we need to understand what these are. But as I said, what is of the utmost importance is that we pray in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit because He will lead us into the right kind of praying for every occasion if we just let Him guide us.
 
So, lets study to show ourselves approved by searching the Scriptures to learn more about the various kinds of prayers and supplications and combine that with us walking in the communion of the Holy Spirit. If we do this, I can assure you that our prayers will be prayed in the right protocol and we will see great fruit as a result.