What is Prayer? Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines prayer as “an address (such as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought” and “an earnest request or wish.”

Prayer is/should be much more than making requests.   The scriptures offer many examples of prayer, suggesting that prayer is:

  • Two-way communication – speaking to and listening to God
  • Spending time with God – building a relationship with Him
  • A time to re-focus our minds on God and his Kingdom purposes
  • A time to lay out the issues of life before the Lord and seek His guidance, insight, wisdom and intervention
  • Reflecting on life – thanking God for His blessings and goodness

Why do we pray / What to Pray for: There are many many reasons to pray, and I’ve already started listing them in the above section.  Perhaps the most important is that God cares about us and longs to have communication with us through prayer.   Here are additional reasons:

  • God tells us to
    • Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. John 16:24
      I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. 1 Timothy 2:
    • Pray without ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17
    • Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matt 7:7-8
  • That God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven / To Be in Harmony with God’s will and God’s pan for the situation (Example – the Lord’s Prayer Luke 11:1-4)
  • For help in time of trouble (Psalm 18)
  • Wisdom, strength, faith, understanding and love

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  James 1:5 NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Colossians 1:9

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16 (see James 5:14-20)

  • Intercession for Others (2 Corinthians 1:9-11, Romans 8:26-27 , James 5:16-18)
  • To follow Christ’s example – Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. (Luke 5:16)
  • To fight spiritual battles in heavenly places
    “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:18-20
  • Protection against temptation

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Mark 14:38
And said to them, Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Luke 22:46

How to pray:

  • In the name of Jesus Christ: Jesus has given Christians the authority of his name. There is no other name higher than Jesus, and Jesus tells us to pray in His name (John 16:23-24).
  • With a repentant heart: Acts 8:22; Psalm 51:1-2
  • With praise: Most of Psalms contains many examples of praise in a prayer context; Praising God is a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare
  • With confession and thanksgiving: Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 , 1 Timothy 2:1
  • With faith and expectancy: Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:6 – Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountain!
  • With humility and earnestness: Supplication (Philippians 4:6-7, Colossians 4:12)
  • Persistently: Jesus illustrates this in his parable about the man knocking at his friend’s door late at night. The friend gets up and answers the door because of the man’s persistence (Luke 11:5-10). That is how we are to pray to God! Jesus also emphasizes this concept in the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).

What will hinder prayer?

  • Arrogance
    He does not answer when men cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked. Job 35:12
  • Cherishing sin 
    If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened Psalm 66:18
  • Un-confessed  sin
    But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2
  • Wrong motives
    When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3
  • Disobedience / Rebellion / hardening of heart toward God
    Then the LORD said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers. Therefore this is what the LORD says: `I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. Jeremiah 11:9-11
    One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9 NKJV
  • Unforgiveness / Grudges
    Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:24-25

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:36-38
Also see: (Matthew 6:14; Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13)

  • Lack of faith / Doubt

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:6
Mistreatment of spouse
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 Peter 3:7

  • Out of God’s will
    This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1 John 5:14

Spiritual Warfare Prayer

Prayer is like strategic artillery in spiritual warfare. Prayer foils the schemes of the enemy (Satan, fallen angels and evil people) and calls forth God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Warfare prayer is best developed and honed through continuous use. Examples of warfare prayers are noted below:

  • Intercessory prayer: Interceding on another’s behalf with God
  • Praying God’s Word/ Using the Sword of the Spirit
  • Praying for protection and defeat of evil
  • Prayers to bind forces of evil
  • Prayers for strength in battle
  • Prayer and anointing with oil
  • Prayer in the Spirit: Prayer in the Spirit is a type of prayer that can be very effective in spiritual warfare…especially when we do not know exactly what we are facing and how to pray about it. Paul encouraged Christians to pray always in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).
  • Prayer while fasting:  Fasting is a tool by which we can humble ourselves before God and grow in spiritual power to accomplish His work.  The Bible has several examples of how the combination of fasting and prayer brought about victories in spiritual and physical realms.

Sample Prayers 
Binding Evil
Breaking curses
Breaking Soul Ties
Double-mindedness and backsliding
Forgiveness and unforgiveness
Fresh Filling of the Holy Spirit
Generational Healing
Intercessory prayers (praying for another person)
Inviting God to work in your life
Healing Memories of sexual sin
Occult involvement
Protection 
Armor of God Prayer
Repentance, Deliverance and Cleansing from sin
Strength
The Lord’s Prayer
Praying the Word – The Sword of the Spirit