Have you ever considered that prayer is like sports? If you want to win in sports, you need to know the rules.
The rules are different for each sport, but they are all sports. You wouldn’t say, “What are the rules for sports?”
The same is true for prayer.
Prayer has rules like different sports have rules. If you want prayers answered, you pray according to biblical rules.
Biblical prayer is communication with God but there are different types of prayers or ways to communicate with God. We can talk to Him, listen to Him, or just be in communion with Him by remaining in a state of prayer always.
Talking prayers are spoken according to His Word. Have faith that your prayer will be heard and answered if you pray according to His will. Mark 11:22 reads, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, have faith in God.” (He said this to His disciples right after they saw the withered fig tree he had spoken to earlier.)
A prayer of intercession is spoken and involves pleading someone’s case for them to God or “standing in the gap”.
A prayer of agreement, where two or more are gathered, is a spoken prayer. Jesus promised in Matthew 18:19 this kind of prayer would be answered.
Listening prayer is simply being still and knowing that He is God. Matthew 6:6 says, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
A prayer of faith is a prayer of agreement. It is like a prayer of committal, which is believing that God keeps His promises. You are believing for something that you may not see yet.
The prayer of binding and loosing, as described in Matthew 18:18 says, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This prayer means to bind or forbid while to loose is to permit or allow.
Praying without ceasing is being in communion with God. While Peter was in prison, the church prayed without ceasing and a mighty miracle took place (Acts 12:1-9).
We can also pray in tongues when we don’t know what to pray.
Prayer in tongues has not been utilized by every church but should be. Research conducted by a brain surgeon, Carl Peterson, MD, proved that Jude 1:20 is true because this type of praying boosts the immune system.
How amazing that God gave us a means to fight off the attacks of sickness and disease by praying in our spirit language. “But you beloved, building yourself up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit….”
Romans 8:26-27 asserts that when we do not know what to pray, the Spirit himself intercedes for us according to the will of God. Father really does know best.
Knowing the promises of God and the rules in His Word regarding prayer can assure us of answered prayer.
We don’t have to beg Him because we are not orphans. We have been adopted as His children.
When God gave us Jesus, as co-heirs in Christ, He gave us everything our Lord had. He wants His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Talk to Him. He hears the prayers of a righteous one.
His rules bring us life abundant and allow us to appropriate the Kingdom to others. We simply have to understand that the Spirit of God is in us to be His people.
