Types of Prayer
It has been said that Bible Study is God talking to us and in prayer we are talking to God. This has also been likened to breathing. Bible Study is inhaling and prayer is exhaling. We have talked in this series about the acronym ACTS. There are many other types of prayers in the Scripture. Let us look at some of the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic words we translate as pray or prayer. These definitions come from Strong’s Concordance. The number in front of them is Strong’s number so that you can do further research and see what verse uses these specific words. A Young’s Analytic Concordance is also very good for this. Both should be in your library. Again, I strongly encourage you to get into doing word studies. These will greatly enhance your understanding of the Word.
3908 lachash (lakh’-ash); from 3907; properly, a whisper, i.e. by implication, (in a good sense) a private prayer, (in a bad one) an incantation; concretely, an amulet: KJV-- charmed, earring, enchantment, orator, prayer.
Compare that to repeating Buddhist prayer wheel prayers or rosaries which Jesus calls vain repetition. (Matthew 6:7) It is also the opposite of flowing public prayers, which bring no reward to the prayer except from men. (Matthew 6:6)
7879 siyach (see’-akh); from 7878; a contemplation; by implication, an utterance: KJV-- babbling, communication, complaint, meditation, prayer, talk.
Ever talk your thoughts aloud to yourself? Although to someone walking in on you it may seem like babbling, you are contemplating issues and trying to find a solution or mediation to a problem. When we take our cares to Jesus we sometimes sound like we are babbling, but we are communicating our heart’s cares to Him. Samuel’s mother was involved in this kind of prayer to have a child and the priest thought she was drunk because only her lips were moving. He thought she was just babbling, but she was pouring out her complaint of her barren womb to God. Praise Him that He heard even if the priest did not. Hmm, what does that say about auricular confession? (I Samuel 1:9-18)
1162 deesis (deh’-ay-sis); from 1189; a petition: KJV-- prayer, request, supplication.
This is simple enough. You are asking for something, but as our study on this one shows much is entailed in our asking.
1783 enteuxis (ent’-yook-sis); from 1793; an interview, i.e. (specially) supplication: KJV-- intercession, prayer.
Here we are interceding for someone and in a sense interviewing God about what He is going to do about the situation.
2171 euche (yoo-khay’); from 2172; properly, a wish, expressed as a petition to God, or in votive obligation: KJV-- prayer, vow.
We are making our petition or plea and at the same time entering into a vow. We need to do this carefully because it is better not to ever vow than to vow and not live up to it. (Ecclesiastes 5:5)
4335 proseuche (pros-yoo-khay’); from 4336; prayer (worship); by implication, an oratory (chapel): KJV-- X pray earnestly, prayer.
This is the prayer we make we are just worshipping God for who He is without wanting anything. We are praising Him. We do not pray in this way often enough.
4336 proseuchomai (pros-yoo’-khom-ahee); from 4314 and 2172; to pray to God, i.e. supplicate, worship: KJV-- pray (X earnestly, for), make prayer.
As earnestly as we pray in worship of who He is, we can also pray for our needs in the same sense worship and earnestness because of who He is.
2470 chalah (khaw-law’); a primitive root [compare 2342, 2470, 2490]; properly, to be rubbed or worn; hence (figuratively) to be weak, sick, afflicted; or (causatively) to grieve, make sick; also to stroke (in flattering), entreat: KJV-- beseech, (be) diseased, (put to) grief, be grieved, (be) grievous, infirmity, intreat, lay to, put to pain, X pray, make prayer, be (fall, make) sick, sore, be sorry, make suit (X supplication), woman in travail, be (become) weak, be wounded.
"Are we weak and heavy laden? Take it to the Lord in prayer." It may be an illness or a spiritual weakness or wound that we are praying about, but we are in grief and beseeching the Lord in sorrow.
6279 `athar (aw-thar’); a primitive root [rather denominative from 6281]; to burn incensein worship, i.e. intercede (reciprocally, listen to prayer): KJV-- intreat, (make) pray (-er).
This can be asking others to pray for us or to intercede for us, or when we listen to someone’s prayer request and go to the Lord on their behalf. Praying is primarily an asking concept. When we say, "Pray tell me what is the secret," we are not worshipping the person. We are asking them to tell us what is going on. "Pray tell me" would be modernized to "I ask you to tell me."
6419 palal (paw-lal’); a primitive root; to judge (officially or mentally); by extension, to intercede, pray: KJV-- intreat, judge (-ment), (make) pray (-er, -ing), make supplication.
We go to God in intercession for ourselves or someone else. We are assessing a situation and asking God to move in a certain direction based upon that assessment. We often get frustrated because God’s answer is the opposite of our desire or it takes longer in coming than we wish. It is because we have asked in the wrong spirit or our judgment is incorrect. (James 4:3; John 7:24) We need to incorporate Abraham’s attitude of "Shall not the judge of the earth do right?" We will have more peace in our prayer life knowing that God’s answer or timing is right. (Genesis 18:25)
This is not an exhaustive study. We could have discussed at least ten other words just from prayer and pray. I just wanted to emphasize that English is not always very expressive. We need to do word studies to get some of the juicy and tender meat of the Word. We are to mine it for gold, not skim it like milk. We all know the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2) Actually; it is more accurately called the Disciple’s Prayer because Jesus was teaching them how to pray. Jesus’ Priestly Prayer is in John 17. If you need an order to your prayer, then follow this example. You can pray extemporaneously or from your heart. He did not give us this to repeat mindlessly as we doze off, but rather to show the topics we should consider in our prayer. He does not want robots, but children coming to Him in love. We studied the pattern of:
A - Adoration
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplication
I think you will find all of these in the Disciple’s Prayer. I believe this is the proper order for any prayer, and we should spend most of our time in the first three areas rather than the fourth. I would challenge you to do two things. First, pick up at least one of the study tools on the attached list and use it in your study this week. Second, pray more. If you do these things, you will have learned from this series. All that remains is to be active in both for the rest of your life. Your faithfulness, your fruit and fullness of joy depend on it.
STUDY TO SHOW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD
STUDY TOOLS
TITLE PUBLISHER
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of NT Words Revell
Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary Zondervan
Young’s Analytical Concordance Eerdmans
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Nelson
Theological Wordbook of the OT Moody
Wilson OT Word Studies Kregel
Lectures in Systematic Theology-Henry Thiessen Eerdmans
SUGGESTED READINGS
TITLE AUTHOR PUBLISHER
The Power in Prayer Charles Spurgeon
The Power of Prayer in a Charles Spurgeon
Believer’s Life
Prayer O. Hallesby
Born Crucified L.E. Maxwell Moody Press
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs Spire Books
Principles of Spiritual Growth Miles Stanford Back to the Bible
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
and The Holy War John Bunyan Baker Book House
God’s Way Out Of Futility Richard Halverson Zondervan
Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis MacMillen
Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life William Law Baker Book House
David Brainerd’s Personal Testimony David Brainerd Baker Book House
Christian Counseling and Occultism Kurt Koch Kregel
Competent To Counsel Jay Adams Reformed Presbyterian
None Of These Diseases S.I. McMillen Spire Books
Tongues In Biblical Perspective Charles Smith BMH Books
The Corinthian Catastrophe George Gardiner Kregel
Final Authority (A Christian’s Guide
To The King James Bible) William P. Grady Grady Publications
Anything from Creation Life Publishers PO Box 15666 San Diego, CA 92115 www.icr.org
New Age Bible Versions G. A. Riplinger AV Publications
Excellent Authors or Biographies
Andrew Murray A.W. Tozer Horatius Bonar Charles Finney E.M. Bounds Oswald Chambers
J. Sidlow Baxter Richard Wurmbrand Bill Gothard D. L. Moody R. A. Torrey George Mueller
Disclaimer - I do not unilaterally concur with everything in these books. For example, Jay Adams is an excellent counselor, but he is a 5-point Calvinist, which I do not support or endorse. Richard Wurmbrand suffered under Communism and his testimonies are good for us to hear, but he is a Lutheran and will make some statements that are not what Baptists hold to. As you grow in grace, and in His Word, you will be able to read men like you eat fish. You will enjoy the fillet and cast away the bones. Some of these resources are not necessarily for a new convert or one weak in faith. Please feel free to ask me about any one of them before you purchase or read them. I have a mixed group in this class and I wanted to provide something for everyone.
