Prayer is essential in the life of a believer. One definition
of prayer is as being personal communication with our Almighty Creator. Since
God is relational, communication with him needs to be present in order to fully
embrace Christianity at its finest.
There exist
multiple kinds of prayer, ranging from thanking and loving God to praying for
others. Christians need to understand the different types of prayer and the
importance of each because it stimulates a growing trust in God, and therefore
makes the individual a stronger Christian.
Don't
make excuses
Many times, the lifestyle and habits for Christians today
can be a hindrance towards prayer. Unfortunately, laziness is a major reason
believers in Christ put off praying. Scores of Christians cannot seem to
realize that prayer actually does not require a big deal of energy. Just the
thought of taking time out to pray must seem like a hassle to many.
Another hindrance is just the fact of not having a set
time to pray . Although it is not 100% necessary to do this, creating a
schedule will greatly increase the chances of remembering to pray. Not creating
a schedule goes hand in hand with time constraints. A large amount of people
nowadays cannot find the time to pray, but when those people do find time, they
are too tired or not in the mood. Prayer can be done anywhere at any time, and
should be done in order to please God.
God delights in prayer and wants us to pray to Him
relentlessly. God desires for Christians to pray because it helps to build up
the believers trust in Him. Once the trust is developed, reliance will shift
from self to God. Further communicating with God will make the believer closer
with Him.
The true meaning of Christianity, having a relationship
with God, is what the praying Christian will experience. Lastly, it allows
Christians to give all the glory to Him. God created everything out of nothing,
and He deserves nothing less than everything from Christians.
Five
types of prayer:
Prayer
of Adoration
Of the five different types of prayer, the prayer of
adoration is probably the most important. The prayer of adoration is saying to
God, “God, I love you”. Christianity is based on faith, and without faith it is
impossible to develop a relationship with Him. Developing that trust and faith
in God is the key ingredient to living a full Christian life. Not only is it
important to tell God of the love for Him, but it is also important to thank
Him.
Prayer
of Thankfulness
Thanking God is next in line of importance when praying.
When asked to think of everything that a person is thankful for, not many
things come to mind. We can never thank God for too many things. God never gets
tired of getting thanked. Often the phrase, “count your blessings” is used to describe
the inability to know them all. When thanking God, Christians need to remember
to thank Him not only for the good things, but the trials and hardships.
God puts hard
times in Christian’s lives in order to better their relationship with Him, and
in doing so make them stronger individuals. But in the end, it is the
individual’s choice whether or not to turn the trial into a positive step
towards God or a backwards leap away from Him.
Prayer
of confession
The prayer of confession is also important in order to
straighten out issues and to begin the healing process in relationships. Some
of the three hardest words to say are,”I am sorry”. When two people are in a
quarrel, the fight is almost never resolved until one party admits their
apologies and says the three words above.
The ability to
throw away pride and admit the three words above can and will lead to better
relationships with everyone. God is the exact same with prayer. Christians
should repent for everything that is clearly not allowed by God’s law. Doing so
will lead to a much better relationship with God and a much better conscience.
But the important thing to remember is that the focus is on asking forgiveness
from God and not fixating on the sins only.
Prayer
of Intercession
The prayer of intercession is one that most Christians
forget about because intercession is praying for other people. Most people tend
to not think of other people. Christians consume much of their time with things
for themselves. This is the time when Christians would ask God to help or
intervene in the lives of other people.
When praying this prayer, one must be aware about the
situation of the people, and the must pray in accordance with God’s will.
Another addition that goes along with the prayer of intercession is to forgive
others. If Christians do not forgive others transgressions, then the
relationship with God will be interrupted and halted. Not forgiving others
trespasses is just going to be s stumbling block, even though it may not seem
like it.
Prayer of Petition
The fifth type of prayer is the prayer of petition. The
prayer of petition is what many Christians believe prayer is for. The prayer of
petition is the prayer where Christian’s ask God for needs and wants. Although
this is necessary, the way each want is put must be phrased correctly. For
example, instead of asking for the memorizing of a poem to magically happen,
the situation should be handled differently. Rather, the Christian student
should ask for the wisdom of God to fully embrace them so that the memorization
might come much easier. With God everything is much easier.
There's more than
one way to do it Not only are their
different types of pray, but there are different ways to pray. A very important
thing to remember is to pray according to the will of God. Although it is
difficult sometimes to determine what the will of God is, the Bible can always
give us a clue to what it might be. For something that is clearly stated in the
Commandments, it is easy to follow. But for things that are not explicitly
explained in the Bible, it is a little harder to determine the will of God.
The best way to
approach this is to read the Bible to figure out the best solution. Without
having at least a general understanding of God’s Word, it is very difficult to
determine the will of God. Whenever praying, think about the word usage. Paying
attention to the word usage will really affect how Christians pray. If
Christians paid that much attention to their prayers and how the words are
articulated, the better the relationship with Christ will be, and the better
Christians they will be.
Praying is definitely vital in every Christian’s life.
Without prayer, a Christian’s life will become dry and ineffective. Once
everyone realizes this truth, the world might undergo a serious revival. Prayer
is communicating with God, and because God is a relational God, prayer is
possibly the most important thing for becoming and remaining a Christian
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