Prayer XII

In the first article, I wrote on definitions on prayer, when prayer starts and some of the components of prayer. While in the second article I finished my brief exegesis on components of prayer. The third article is centered on those who should pray. The fourth is on some of the reasons why talk (pray) to our heavenly father. The fifth article is on places of prayer while the sixth and seventh centered on occasions that move men to pray unto God. The eight article is on period (time) that men can pray. The ninth article focuses on how we should be praying. In the tenth article I write on a type of prayer, which is the prayer of thanksgiving.

While in the eleventh article I talked about three types of prayers which are, prayer of praise, prayer of worship and prayer of dedication (consecration).

In this article I will continue with the types of prayer that we have in the christian fold.

This is the fifth type of prayer that I shall be writing on. This kind of prayer is the prayer that is prayed when one is entreating the Lord for something.

Requirement for this Prayer: For this prayer to be effective and powerful we need these.

(a) Zeal: This is the first thing that the person praying this prayer must have for the prayer to be effective. The burning desire to speak to our heavenly father must be there, if this is not there, then we may have problems. Take the issue of a child who wants to tell his father something as an example, if the child does not have the burning desire to speak to his father about that thing he may meet with some obstacles when the father returns which would kill what is in the mind of the child. But when the zeal is there all the obstacles that come across the child would be scaled through because of the zeal in his heart to tell his father what is in his heart. (Luk 11:2-13)

Check out the story Jesus said about Prayer in the book of Luke 11 and you will see that the man at first met with obstacles when he was presenting his case to his friend, but because of his zeal to get what he wants, he overcame the obstacles that was present.

(b) Being Hungry for God: Except we are hungry for God, then we shall not be able to present our entreaties to the Lord well. It was because Hannah was hungry for his God more than anything that was why she was able to present her case unto her God. (1 Sam 1:16; Jn. 16:24; Jam. 5:17-18; I King 8:37-40, 54-55; Eph. 6:18; Ph 4:6; I Tim. 2:1)

When these happen, our prayer would be fueled by God.

This type of prayer occurs when two or more people come together and agree with one another and the word of God that something specific will be done. When we stand together in unity with one purpose, sharing a joint vision and trusting God’s word to be fulfilled, God can work miracles.

“Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” (Mt. 18:19)

The two people praying this prayer must be in accord, else the prayer would not be answered. When praying this kind of purposeful prayer, a person must not be asking for X while the partner would be asking for Q substance from God, what they are asking God for must be the same.

This kind of prayer is powerful and should be employed by couples that is why it is important that a person a christian cannot pray with a christian should not be married to, a person whom you are always having different views and perspectives to life, you should not marry such a person as a believer, because this is one of the strongest weapons God has given believers especially couples because they are expected to have been in agreement before coming together as husband and wife.

This kind of prayer has assurance of being answered, and it is strongly advised that couples use them always.

This kind of prayer is being employed in a large gathering and for this prayer to be effective the followings are important.

(a) The Leader: The leader of the group or fellowship or church matters for this prayer to be answered by God. When the leader is not in the right standing with God it would affect the prayers being prayed by the congregants. We all know what the errors of King David caused the nation of Israel. (2 Sam 24)

(b) The members or Congregation: The congregation who have gathered for the prayer also matters. God would be checking the position of those members to see the ones whose hearts are right with him. I have said, therefore, some people would receive their miracles after being prayed with by the leaders during a corporate prayer while some people would not receive answers to their petitions. This happens because some people’s hearts are far off the prayer, their hearts have not been in alignment with the person leading the prayer. Thus, it is always good to move away from the ministry or church where you know you cannot be under the tutelage of the leader so that you will not be wasting your time there.

This is the prayer we offer when we put all our burdens on the Lord. We commit him to act on our behalf when we pray this prayer.

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (I Pet. 5:7; Ps. 55:22)

e-sword in her commentary says, Æschines calls imprecation διοριζομενην αραν which means the determinate curse. Macrobius in his book says, for this determinate curse to happen, the first thing is calling the deity to one’s side and the other is to devote the person or city to destruction. The destruction is supposed to take place because the deities protecting the person or city would have abandoned him then. It is said that it was the belief of the Romans that no city would be taken till its tutelary god (or gods) had forsaken it. Virgil intimates that, Troy was destroyed because excessere omnes adytis, arisque relictis dii, quibus imperium hoc steterat, "All the gods, by whose assistance the empire had hitherto been preserved, forsook their altars and temples."

This kind of prayer is being prayed by King David. It is common in the book of Psalms. Balaam also prayed this kind of prayer. (Ps. 7, 55, 69; Num 22-25)

Until devil falls as lightning before the people of God they were unable to do much exploit in the kingdom, until Jesus took the power from dead, death still have power over the righteous people who had died, until Jesus shed his life he could not save the world from destruction.

Because Jesus has arrested the devil, we can do exploits for Jesus today. We should continue to enjoy God in this light by continuing to be with him and offer our prayers unto him.

In this article I have talked about the following types of prayer: prayer of supplication, prayer of agreement, corporate prayer, prayer of commitment and prayer of imprecation. I will continue with other types of prayer in the next article.