Prayer is talking to God. Does that sound hard or mysterious? Prayer should be as easy and natural for the Christian as talking to any friend. You don’t need a special language, certain words, or even to speak out loud, because God easily reads your mind (Heb. 4:12-13). We are told to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16 NKJV). Of course, we should not be careless or disrespectful in our language just as we wouldn’t be with our parents, our boss, our teachers and others whom we should respect.
The Bible speaks of some special aspects of prayer, all of which may and probably should be included whenever we “let our requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). These are:
Prayers: (Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:1). This is the general term used for talking to God.
Supplications: (Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:1). Supplication has the thought of asking for mercy – imploring or respectfully begging God for a particular need that you have.
Intercessions: (1 Tim. 2:1). With intercession you pray for someone else – for a particular need of that person.
Thanksgiving: (Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2; 1 Tim. 2:1). In thanksgiving we thank God for His kindness to us in the hundreds of things daily that we have for which to be thankful. In fact we are told, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Th. 5:18).
Worship: (Ps. 95:6). In worship we thank God for Himself. We tell God how worthy He is. In the pattern-prayer of the Gospels (Mt. 6:9-13; Lk. 11:2-4) worship comes first: “our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Mt. 6:9). All effective prayer must include worship!
It is our duty to pray. Samuel told the Israelites, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Sam. 12:23). The Lord Jesus plainly said that “men always ought to pray” (Lk. 18:1). We can’t all be great evangelists or great teachers – but we can all pray. No special gift is required!