Prayer is one of the
oldest manifestations of religion. The forms that prayer takes in the religions
of the world, while varying, usually follow certain fixed patterns. There are
different types of prayers that you may use on different occasions. Some of the
types of prayer include the following:
1. Intercessory prayer: It's when
you pray for someone else who's in need. Whether spiritual or physical
intercession, it is a prayer for God to work in their lives. Intercessory
prayer is important today because when you pray for others, you are asking God
to work in their lives. This can be a way that believers can join God in His
work of saving souls for eternity. Interceding for others is not only a
privilege, but also a duty that God places on you. Today you can intercede for
family members, friends and colleagues. You can pray that God will work in
their lives, bringing them to salvation.
2. Prayer of forgiveness: This is when you come
to God with a sincere and repentant heart and ask Him for forgiveness for your
sins. When you pray to God, you are begging for forgiveness. You understand
that sin separates you from God, but through forgiveness you can find peace,
understanding, and guidance. It gives your Heavenly Father great joy that you
are experiencing His forgiveness. And you can also experience a soothing joy
when you forgive those who hurt you.
3. Corporate prayer: This is when you pray
with a group of people united in unanimity. This may be when the family comes
together to pray, perhaps during worship. Praying with others leads to
awakening. In doing so, you bear each other's burdens and thereby fulfil the
law of God.
4. Secret prayer or personal
prayer: This is when you pray alone. This prayer is the most important
prayer for you. It is the strength and life of the soul. For when you come with
life open to Him, He heals the broken-hearted and binds up wounds. You can
offer your prayers to God in a secluded place or when you are walking down the
street. You can pray silent prayer in the busiest of circumstances. And you can
know that God inclines His ear to your petitions. By being in prayer throughout
the day, you can walk with God and bear fruit to His glory.
5. Praise
and thanksgiving: Prayers of praise originated from meditation or the experience of
religious elevation and have used various patterns in both public and private
ceremonies. Praise among most ancient peoples was expressed in a hymn, which
was primarily a laudatory prayer (whether ritual or personal) to the gift of
the created world. Thus, the contemplation of the grandeur of the universe
often gives rise to prayer, which is not always completely free from the divine
in everything. Praise - in addition to caring for the created world - plays an
important role in the prayer of mystics, for whom it is a form of worship.
Praise in this case is an essential element of mystical experience and
glorifies God no longer for His works, but for Himself, His greatness and His
mystery. When the great works of God become a subject of praise, it becomes a
blessing and thanksgiving. Even when the words for thanksgiving are absent, the
essence of thanksgiving is revealed. Prayers during meals give thanks for the
blessings of the earth and are associated with offerings. Thanksgiving is seen
as a human response, as a spiritual response to the benefit received. By
cultivating this expected response, praise and thanksgiving are central to
prayer.
6. Adoration: Adoration is generally
considered the noblest form of prayer, a kind of prostration of the whole being
before God. Among the adherents of indigenous religions, even if the prayer of
request prevails, they are seized by a feeling of fear and awe before the
spiritual power of everything that is endowed with the power of the sacred is
prohibited due to involvement in the sacred. To express their admiration,
people often fall to the ground and prostrate themselves. The feeling of humble
reverence is also expressed by body movements: raising hands, touching or
kissing a sacred object, deep bowing of the body, kneeling with the right hand
on the mouth, prostrating or touching the forehead to the ground.
7. Mystical union or ecstasy:
Ecstasy
literally means a departure from, a tearing away from, or a surpassing of human
limitations, as well as meeting with and embracing of the divine. It is the
merging of living being with Supreme being in which the mystic experiences a
union: "God is in me and I in him." The mystic experiences God in an
inexpressible encounter that is beyond mundane human experiences. Mystical
union may be a clear and conscious continuation of contemplative prayer, or it
may take a more passive form of a “seizing” by God of the one who is praying.
8. Conversational prayer: In it a
person enters into an informal conversation with God about daily affairs,
seeking guidance and counsel, or expressing gratitude for life and well-being.
9. Meditative prayer: In it a person reflects on spiritual topics
and the relationship of the divine to the human.
10. Ritual prayer: It takes the
form of reciting or reading of well-known prayers.
These forms of prayer are not mutually exclusive,
and the type of prayer will depend on the needs and circumstances of each
individual.
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