Why Should I Pray?

Spending time in prayer is a very important aspect of our day. It gives us a chance to spend time alone with God, to have a conversation with him, to make our requests made known to him, and listen to him.

We need to be obedient in praying.

Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.

Deuteronomy 8:6

First of all, Who Should Pray?

Everyone should pray at all times of the day, every day. Everyone should let their requests be made known to God -Philippians 4:16. God will supply every need of yours (Talking to everyone) according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus -Philippians 4:19. Everyone should pray without ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

And For Whom Should We Pray?

We should pray for ourselves, our family, friends, church family, co-workers, neighbors, homeless, anyone struggling, and your enemies.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Matthew 5:44

God also wants us to pray for our Nation -Psalm 22:28. No matter what nation you are in. God wants everyone’s hearts, not just some. He wants us to pray for the world –John 17:9.

When we listen, God will ask us to pray for certain people as well.

What Should We Pray?

There are many different ways in which we can pray. In my post “Why We Pray and the 12 Forms of Prayer” I go through 12 ways to pray. Here I am going to add to my list because there are so many ways that we can pray.

1. Adoration and Blessing: Adoration is a deep love and respect, a form of worship. (Psalm 84:11, Luke 4:7). A blessing is God’s favor and protection. (Nehemiah 1:11)

2. Communion: Communion is sharing or exchanging your intimate thoughts and feelings with God, all day, all the time. (Psalm 72:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:17)

3. Petition: Petition is your formal request to God with respect for a particular cause. (1 Timothy 2:1)

4. Supplication: Supplication is when you ask or beg for something earnestly or humbly. Lifting up your needs. (Psalm 119:170, Matthew 6:9-13)

5. Intercession: Intervening and praying on behalf of another person. (1 Timothy 2:1, John 17, 2 Corinthians 1:11)

6. Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving is an expression of gratitude to God (Philippians 4:16, 1 Timothy 2:1, and a lot of the Psalms have thanksgiving prayers)

7. Praise: Praise is when you express admiration, respect, and gratitude toward God. (Acts 13:2-3)

8. Spiritual Warfare: Spiritual Warfare is when our Spirit engages in or is involved in war or conflict with our own mind or when dealing with Satan and demons. (Ephesians 6:11-12, Romans 7:23, Hebrews 2:15)

9. Agreement: Agreement is when you are in harmony or accordance in opinion or feeling with the person you are praying with or in agreement with God. (Acts 1:14, Acts 2:42)

10. Faith: Faith is complete trust, confidence, or a strong belief in God. (James 5:15)

11. Consecration: Consecration is making or declaring something. (Matthew 26:39, 1 Timothy 4:5)

12. Watch and Pray: Watch and Pray is when you are constantly aware and praying. (Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38, Luke 21:36)

13. Immanuel prayer: There is a bit to learn with this prayer. You can learn how to do this prayer at www.immanuelapproach.com. The Immanuel approach is the same thing but a different name for Emmanuel prayer or Immanuel process. Immanuel means God with us. This prayer deepens intimacy with God, resolve past pain, and discern God’s guidance. Related scripture can be found in Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:21, John 15:4-5, and Revelation 3:20.

14. Repentance: Repentance prayer is repenting for sin asking for forgiveness. (Matthew 3:8, Luke 5:32, Acts 13:24, Mark 1:4)

15. Binding and loosing (taking authority): Binding and loosing prayer is when you bind or put chains on something or a situation, such as bind the devil against his attacks, bind under law or authority, bind to a spouse, etc. or when you loosen something such as loosening chains, break free from someone or something, break free from bondages, or to declare something that is unlawful. (Matthew 16:19)

16. Fasting: Fasting prayer is when you fast and pray, saying a fasting prayer is asking God to help you with your fast and to focus on God, rely on him for wisdom and guidance. (Esther 4:3, Matthew 6:16)

17. Declaration: Declaration prayer is like the consecration prayer- when you declare change, you declare breakthrough, or declare something in your prayer. (1 Chronicles 16:24, Psalm 22:22, Psalm 51:15)

18. Proclamation: Proclamation prayer is proclaiming your prayer. Praying out loud to God. Sometimes Satan wants us to be silent so we should proclaim and say them out loud. (1 Peter 3:19)

19. Prophetic: Prophetic prayer is having a conversation with God, not only talking to him but listening to what he has to say and acting or responding accordingly. You can pray with revelation, given to you by the Holy Spirit. You can receive prophetic insight before you pray but use that when you pray or the Holy Spirit can guide you while you pray. Prophetic prayer can be intentional or spontaneous. Know when and how to apply this prayer. Some situations require God’s immediate intervention. (1 Corinthians 14:32, Romans 16:26, 2 Peter 1:19)

20. Praying Bible verses: Praying Bible verses is when you turn to a scripture in the bible and pray it over your life or someone else that needs prayer. For example, I pray strength among other things over my children, one scripture is “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” -Philippians 4:13. So, I pray it like this “Heavenly Father, My children can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens them. Amen”. You can do this with many verses in the Bible for strength, faith, courage, peace, provision, direction, protection, joy, compassion, justice, wisdom, guidance, hope, love, fruits of the spirit, and the full armor of God. Praying Bible verses is praying God’s Word back to him.

21. Promises: Promises prayer is praying God’s promises to you back to God. When you look for scripture that has promises that relate to your situation, pray that scripture and trust God to bring them to pass. (2 Corinthians 1:20, Psalm 106:12, Joshua 21:45)

22. Travailing: Travailing prayer is a very intense form of prayer. It involves expressing a great deal of time and emotional energy. The manifestation of the grief of the heart of God or God desiring to manifest a measure of life or growth. (Mark 6:7-13, Mark 3:13-15, 1 Kings 8: 44-45)

23. Listening: Listening prayer is when you spend time with God and just listen for what he wants of us and being obedient. (Luke 10:39)

24. Prostration: Prostration is when you put your body in a submissive position in the presence of God, whether it is kneeling or bowing, but with your hands on the ground. Submitting fully to God in prayer. (Numbers 22:31)

Forms of #Prayer Share on X

So, When Should We Pray?

We should pray always: Pray without ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions will all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

-Ephesians 6:18

When we pray we don’t have time to sin, to turn away from God or our faith. We will notice more prayers answered when we pray without ceasing and with faith.

Making time for God should be a priority in our lives. Pray when you first wake up thanking him for letting you see and live another day. Pray during the day about your day, safety, guidance, family, among other things. Pray at night before bed, before you fall asleep.

OK, Where Should We Pray?

We should pray anywhere and everywhere but also God wants us to pray in our prayer closet: Go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen Matthew 6:6

You can pray in your bed, in the shower, on the toilet, while making breakfast, lunch or dinner, in your chair or on your couch, in your car, at church, at work, at school, or anywhere else. You can make time for God at any time of day. You can pray to God in your head all day long, having one constantly long conversation with him.

Why Should We Pray?

1. We are God’s Children and should have a close relationship with our Heavenly Father. He wants us to have a relationship with him. He wants us to dig deeper.

2. Ask for forgiveness of our sins and receive God’s Forgiveness. God wants us to repent for our sins so that he can forgive us. He also wants us to forgive others.

3. We give thanks to God for all he’s done in our lives and for our many blessings. We have so much to be thankful for and we are beyond blessed by our Heavenly Father. Why not take a moment out of your day to let God know how thankful you are.

4. It helps us call on God, depend on Him and trust in Him. Having a conversation with God is one of the best parts of the day. It’s one way we really get to know him and how he works.

5. It gets our hearts ready for what God wants us to do in our lives and what he wants to for us.

6. Gives us an opportunity to listen to God. We should take time out of our day to listen to God and be obedient.

7. We can pray for God’s guidance. Where is God leading us, what does God want us to do? He answers all of those questions when we pray and ask for his guidance.

8. We can make requests, pray for our needs and desires spiritually, physically and mentally.

9. We ask for God’s blessings. God wants to bless us and pour his favor on us.

10. We get to Praise God. No better time of day than Praising God for who he is. Praising and Worshiping God is such an intimate time with God, you really don’t want to miss this time with him.

11. Show God in one way that we love him. He wants to be shown our love. He shows us his love every day in many ways, we can show him that we love him back.

11 Reasons we should pray Share on X

Finally, How Should We pray?

Finally, there are many was that we can pray. I listed many ways that we can pray in “what should we pray”.  Those are all ways in how we should pray. God listens to all prayers, he sees and knows your heart. There is no specific way in how you should say every prayer. As long as you are praying to God our Heavenly Father there is no wrong way to pray. God hears our hearts, even our complaints, struggles, and when we mourn.

One way we can pray to follow the pattern of The Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13

Pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

Job 22:27

In closing:

No matter who prays, what we pray, when we pray, where we pray, why we pray, or how we pray, we should pray to God our Father.

God wants us to pray at all times, with all requests, everywhere we go, with all kinds of prayer because he wants to have conversations with us. He hears us and he wants us to hear him and obey him.

Spending time with God in prayer is the best kind of relationship we can have with God. He wants our heart and we can give him our heart by praying.

Spending time in prayer is the best kind of relationship we can have with God. #whypray @purposeandlove1 Share on X

I like to keep a prayer journal, I write in it every morning. This gives me a chance to go back and see what prayers have been answered and it keeps me focused in what I am praying for.

Do you keep a prayer journal? Why or why not? If not, have you thought about starting one? Let me know in the comments.

Please share this on your social media with your friends.

With Love,