 Okay, good morning everyone hope that you're keeping well. We'll pray and get into this morning's class So Vishnu, can you lead us in prayer? Heavenly Father you have come to your presence Lord, thank you for still, thank you for this precious moment you gave me Lord Jesus, please help in our studies, Lord, teach us Lord, teach us everybody more and more Lord Jesus help us in our studies Lord, Jesus might be in the way, amen Amen, amen So we've been learning about prayer and we saw how if there was one person who did not need to pray It was the Lord Jesus, but he is the one who gives us an example of a life of prayer So we must learn from his life because he is our teacher and we are the disciples So how should the disciples be? The disciples should have a pattern of life just like their teacher Okay, so which is why if Jesus can have a life of prayer, we must also develop our life of prayer So we've understood thus far and we said that if we pray the way God has instituted prayer or the way he has designed prayer, there should be no failure So today we will get into the next section in our notes which is the different kinds of prayer And in the last class, I had also mentioned that sometimes our prayers don't get answered because we pray the wrong kind of prayer So today we will look at the different kinds of prayers When we say prayer, it seems like there's only one category But when we look at scriptures, there are different types of prayers which we can pray through and relate to God with So what are all these different kinds of prayers? Firstly, let's go to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18 where Paul writes to the Ephesian church Ephesians chapter 6 is a very powerful passage because it talks about spiritual warfare And Apostle Paul, he is in the city of Ephesus and he's facing a lot of opposition When he's facing opposition, he says that it's not so much the people but it's got to do with the spiritual forces that they are the ones who are coming against him So then he talks about the armor of a believer that every believer should put on the armor because we have a real enemy who is that enemy? It's not human beings The enemy is Satan, the enemy is the demonic forces So as part of the spiritual armor, he describes different parts and towards the end he says you need to pray So what is prayer? Prayer is a weapon Prayer is you're using a force against the enemy So prayer is very important for us to fight the devil So in that context, in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18, he tells the believers Praying always How often? How often should we pray? Always praying always And what kind of prayer should we pray? It says with all prayer and supplication in the spirit Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints So he says praying always All prayer and supplication in the spirit So all prayer means there are more than one type of prayer So what are these kinds of prayers? That's what we want to understand this morning Now when we look at a particular scripture for a better understanding, we can look at versions of the same scripture in like different versions of the bible And as long as it does not contradict the original text or the meaning of the original text It's okay to look at those versions. So there is another version which is the good speed translation which says Use every kind of prayer So we just said all prayer but the good speed translation says every kind of prayer That also helps us understand that there is more than one kind or one type of prayer So this is our understanding now We are able to confirm that there are various categories Now we can look at we can keep looking at you know different versions There's another version given here in our notes where international standard version That also says every kind of prayer So good speed translation said every kind of prayer And also the ISV says every kind of prayer So there are kinds of prayers which you and I can learn And we can employ it use it in our prayer lives Even when we look at the instruction that Apostle Paul wrote to his You could say disciple or his mentee, Timothy He writes to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1 where he again lists out and he says Let all kinds of supplications, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made For the saints So again there he is not just using one term prayer But he is breaking it up into different sections or different parts We'll begin to look at each kind of prayer And the different way in which we must pray these prayers And the right usage of the prayer at a given point in time Sometimes we may need to use a combination of the different kinds of prayers So let's start looking at these prayers The first one is the common one which we are very familiar with Which is the prayer of asking and receiving So usually when we use the term prayer most people think it's only about asking God for something So people pray when they need something It almost becomes like just going to God when there is a need It's like you know how when we reach out to a friend who helps us or we have to go shopping We just say hey I need this, I need that, I need something else And that is asking and receiving But prayer to God is not just limited to asking and receiving There is so much more to prayer But this is the common kind or type of prayer which we are familiar with And people associate prayer with only this type of prayer When you need something, you ask God, he will give it to you Okay, so the prayer of asking and receiving And is it wrong to think like this that we can ask God and God will give us Is it right, is it wrong? What do you feel? Yes, it's right Okay, so one view is that it is right to ask God Any other view, any other opinion Is it unholy to ask? Is it like you know oh why should we ask God? We should be humble, we should not ask God anything, whatever he gives it's okay You know, so that's the other position Is that right or is it okay to ask God what we need? It's okay, it's okay to ask God what we need because it was Jesus who said ask Okay, and in my father's, in my name you pray to the father, you will receive it So Jesus encouraged us to ask Whatever our needs are So let's look at some scriptures that Teach us along these lines Matthew chapter 7 versus 7 through 11 So I won't make you read the whole passage But what it says is When we have needs Ask and you shall receive Okay, seek, you shall find Knock and the door will be open to you Because everyone who asks receives Everyone who seeks finds and everyone who knocks The door will be open to them Now if you look at the context in which Jesus spoke these words It was in the context of the Holy Spirit We ask the Father, we ask God for the Holy Spirit So he says if you ask Why will the Father not give you? If you ask the Father will surely give you So that was the point that Jesus was trying to make And he said if you ask, if you seek, if you knock In other words, when we make the effort To approach God Then God hears, God responds So ask, he is the one who is teaching us to ask for our needs Now let's look at Mark 11, 24 Mark 11, 24, I think somebody has to read this passage Whoever would like to read aloud can please read it Mark 11, verse 24 Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray Believe that you receive them and you will have them Okay, so whatever things can you repeat that Vishnu? Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray Believe that you receive them and you will have them Wonderful, so it's telling us whatever things you ask Right, so whatever things you ask is what? The things that we need The things that are essential for our lives The things that God has permitted in his word to give us So these things, what does it say? Those are whatever things that you ask We will be asking God for those things Isn't it? So when you ask what should we do? Go ahead, read further Believe that you receive them and you will have them Okay, so God is teaching us how to ask You ask but it has to be coupled with or it has to be together with believing You ask but you believe that you will receive and you will have it So this is the way to ask God anything in prayer So we will look at the next chapter very soon which talks about How to pray a believing prayer Okay, so anything that we ask God what is the next important element apart from praying? What should you put in that prayer? The verse is saying Believe faith remember we're talking about faith So when we ask we should approach God with faith If we don't have faith then the prayer will not be effective So we can ask God but believe that you receive it and you shall have it So we can ask God but we must ask God in faith What else? John 16 verses 23 and 24 If somebody would like to read this passage you can read it Or John 16 23 and 24 And in that day you will ask me nothing Most assuredly I say to you whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you until now you have asked nothing in my name Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full Okay, so Jesus was saying until now you've not asked anything But if you whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give it to you so three things we see About the prayer of asking and receiving One is God says we can ask when we are in need Second thing is we must ask in faith What is the third thing? He says ask in the name of Jesus These are the things that make our prayer effective or powerful Now let's go on to the next kind of prayer here So we saw the prayer of asking and receiving The second type of prayer here is prayer of supplication Supplication means to ask for a favor You know when we need a favor from someone how do we ask them You better give it to me do we say that Or I command you you have to give it to me Request okay we are very polite we are very You know sincere we are very honest we recognize that there is a need And I need the favor of this person or this organization institution or even God So supplication means a request making a sincere request asking for a favor Or in other terms honestly asking honest is with focus you need it So you're going to them with focus and with you know your full Everything that you've got and you're asking them requesting them Now we can use other words when we are desperate such as you know even like pleading Or crying out or you could even say like begging because you're so honest you need it You need that person to be favorable to you So you're reaching out as a sincere request So in this way we can come to God And we know that God is the one who gives us mercy right We're all here because of God's grace we are here because of God's mercy Now we may find ourselves in a certain situation Where we are you know we really need God's mercy Maybe it's a challenging time it's a time when there is a crisis So we cry out to God and we say God please I need your help God you know please I urge you to work on my behalf God I want you to be merciful to me Please hear my cry So there are times when we pray prayers like this to God So this kind of prayer is what is known as supplication Okay where we are requesting to God and a good example which we can look at To understand supplication is in Matthew chapter 20 Where we see that there are two blind men They are sitting in the crowd when Jesus is passing by And they know that Jesus is he's the healer And so they start to cry out to Jesus What do they tell Jesus? No they they say a son of David have mercy on us So they're they're beginning to cry to Jesus Call to Jesus request Jesus and say we need your help Jesus help us son of David have mercy on us And this is what is supplication So there are times in our lives where we may need to not just ask Sometimes we may just ask God I need your blessing I need your guidance I need you to help me We just ask him right ask and you shall receive But when it comes to supplication it's an earnest Cry or a request where we may continually say God Be merciful I need your help Lord please help me So that is what supplication means Okay, so it is a form of asking and receiving also But you know it's a more earnest version of the prayer Now another example of supplication is when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane Okay, we know that he prayed to God very very earnestly in those moments Because it was a very it was a painful time He knew that he's going to go to the cross So he cried to the father and said Lord Father if there be any way you know that you can take this cup away from me But finally he prays a prayer of consecration where he says But not my will let your will be done I want all these things but not my will let the will of God be done in my life But how does the prayer begin it begins as supplication Where Jesus is requesting the father in his trying times In his difficult times and he's saying Father I really need this I need your help I need you to answer me in these moments So this kind of prayer is known as the prayer of supplication And from time to time even in our lives You know we we need to approach God to have him move in our lives So this is the second kind of prayer that we see Let's move on the third kind of prayer is what is known as intercession In the earlier passage which is Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18 We saw Paul say that Praying always with all prayer and supplication So within that all prayer would come this intercession Where we are praying for others So the meaning of intercession is simply that when we pray for others It is known as intercession Throughout the word of God we are encouraged to pray for others We must not just pray for ourselves But also pray for others Will it be effective if we pray for others Yes, of course So we can pray regarding our needs But when we see that other people have needs Maybe they are sick Maybe they have financial requirements Maybe they are going through a rough patch in their lives Or they need something from God They need answers in their lives So when we know there is a need we can pray for them And it's such a privilege that you can be where you are And yet speak prayers over people's lives So God the way he has created the world How has he created the world? We are all individuals but there is also the sense of community Meaning we need each other So we pray for one another God doesn't say okay you are a believer You live your life Ask for every blessing be happy That's it No, there is a need to relate with others There is a need to understand their requirements And if God puts a burden in our hearts You know sometimes it happens We are talking to someone and they say That oh I'm having this problem I'm just not able to get a seat for my studies in the college And even though they did not ask you Please pray for me brother Please pray for me sister They didn't ask anything But what happens? Somewhere we receive a burden in our hearts We feel for them We feel oh so sad You know it's not happening is it? We may not even tell them And actually you don't have to tell them But you can pray for them We can go back and we can pray and say God This person is struggling We want you to do something in their lives Open the doors for them to get a seat in a college So we can pray for others And that is how God wants us to be Not just very selfish in our own circles But we have to step out And minister into the lives of other people That's where intercession is applicable Look at the instruction That Apostle Paul is giving Timothy We'll read the passage from First Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1 First Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1 Okay Serene please read I urge then first of all that petitions, prayers, intercession And thanksgiving to be made for all people Okay so what does it say? It lists out some categories of prayer And it says let it be made for all men Okay I think earlier I said saints But then it says all men Not just the believers But for everyone we can pray That is what intercession means Praying for others And particularly when somebody is going through a hard time We must pray for them In the Bible there is the example of Job Okay all of you know Job He went through many difficulties in his life He went through losses He even went through sickness and disease But at that time when we look at passages in the book of Job And some of them are listed here for us He really desired that somebody would be praying for him In those times Because when we are going through some crisis I don't know if you have come across this But I have When you know we have people maybe somebody is sick in their home And that person is admitted in the hospital We go to visit them They say pastor we are in such a situation That sometimes I am not able to pray I am struggling to pray Or I just don't get the words or even the focus to pray So when people are going through a very very difficult time They may be in a greater need for prayer from others So even Job he writes about it He speaks about it and he says I just wish somebody could go to God On my behalf and somebody could pray for me So he really desired for another person to pray for him And in the same way today God gives all of us an opportunity When we see that others are facing challenges difficulties We can pray for them And there are times when we pray for people Long term maybe they have gone away from God Or you know they are going through some issues Like sometimes you find people they are battling depression They are battling some psychological conditions So there are so many things that are sort of long term Over a period of time they may be going through these matters So we can be a prayer support for them We can pray for them one year or two years regularly Just pray for that person And we know that there is power in intercession We will talk about the importance of intercession a little bit later on But I hope you have understood what intercession means Okay great So that is another category of prayer Now let's move on We go to a prayer of thanksgiving We wonder how can thanksgiving be prayer If prayer is to ask God So how is it that we are including thanksgiving in prayer But remember we said prayer is communion with God And every single day there are so many things that we can thank God for Can you just take a moment maybe about 20 seconds And you don't have to tell anybody But can you list two things that you are thankful for today What are the two things that you are thankful for Just think about it Or if you want to write it down in your notebook You can write it down two things Okay I hope it's easy to think about two things It shouldn't take 20 seconds actually If we develop a grateful heart in God's presence It should be like that Because there are thousand things to be thankful We woke up this morning I think that in itself is a great blessing And we are so grateful to God Everything we need is provided for And God is helping us God is leading us We can see that So as we look at these matters That we are thankful to God for In our relationship with God We can begin with thanksgiving We can begin with adoring God And saying God I'm so grateful You know you've given me this life I'm so grateful for Jesus Because he died on the cross I have salvation I can walk with you Sin does not have dominion over my life So you see how you can actually begin to thank God For the revelation that we have The transformation in our lives The things that have been supplied to us The people who are in our lives So there is so much that we can talk to God about To be thankful for So thanksgiving is very much a part of our prayer life We can spend a certain amount of time Just thanking God Because sometimes we don't do that What do we do? We just go with the first category It's always the first category Oh, it's time to pray Ten minutes Where is my list? Heavenly Father Give me this Give me this Give me this Give me this Ten minutes over In Jesus name I pray amen Right And God is like What is this? No relationship No You know Building that friendship With me And not even expressing any gratitude Every day just give me this Give me that You know But God is so gracious He still He still says okay fine You know You're asking me in the name of Jesus You're asking me with faith Go ahead Take it He's very gracious But prayer is more than that We want to develop our relationship with God So thanksgiving plays a very key role In building our relationship with God So we can thank him for many things Now let's look at Some passages of scripture In 1 Timothy 2 1 It already has that category Thanksgiving is already included Philippians 4 6 Philippians 4 6 Nonsingh can you please read it Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6 Do not be answers about anything But in every situations By prayer and petition With thanksgiving present your request to God Okay So it says In every situation with prayer Petition and what else Thanksgiving So every time we come before the Lord This is something for us to develop In our prayer habit With thanksgiving Make your requests known to God While there are Needs where we are waiting upon the Lord There are so many things that he has already answered So many things that he has already provided So much that is already happening So we make our request But we submit it with thanksgiving We can even thank God for his nature And say something like Lord thank you that you hear my prayer Thank you that you have provided Through the cross Every blessing that I need today I am blessed with every spiritual blessing In the heavenly places Make your declarations And say God I am so thankful I am so grateful for what you are doing in my life So this is the way in which In every prayer we can include Thanksgiving Okay Another beautiful passage is Romans chapter 4 And we will study Romans 4 in the course About faith But in Romans chapter 4 The portion that we are going to look at is The life of Abraham Okay Abraham had a promise from God That God will bless him with his son But he had to wait upon the Lord for many years Before the promise actually fulfilled Right so 25 years he waited upon the Lord But in those 25 years There is a faith journey That Abraham made Okay we will talk about it in the course of faith However Over here I want to say that He grew in his faith before God And one expression of his faith was Thanksgiving So Romans 4 20 Can another person maybe read Yeah Romans 4 and verse 20 He did not wave or add the promise of God through To believe but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God Okay so at this point At this point okay do you think Isaac was already born Not sure he was born he was not born Only three categories So your heads I can't make out what your answers are Is that was he born was he not born Can't hear you Give me one answer Don't give me three answers Okay was he born I can't hear a yes I can't hear a no So what is this He was not born okay so Isaac was not born So notice Isaac was not born But in verse 20 what does it say But was strengthened in faith giving glory to God So when is Abraham giving glory to God After Isaac was born before Isaac was born That's the interesting part You see Thanksgiving Comes even before we get what we are expecting from God Okay so there are times when before the fulfillment of the promise We can give God thanks and say God I know you've done it I know it's coming I know it's upon my life I give you thanks It may happen many years from now But what are you doing today That's what we learn from Abraham Man of faith What did the man of faith do Give thanks to God In faith for what is to come Right so Thanksgiving is both After we get what we requested God And before we get what we requested God So this is how Thanksgiving can be a part of our prayer life All right so I'll quickly come to a question in our chat Quite an interesting question there So Okay so bless he's asking I have seen a pastor Who prays like whoever lost their hair Okay I'm praying you will get your hair again Is it correct prayer Is it right to pray for our personal favor Okay see the second part of your question Is it right to pray for personal favor Yes we can I mean if you don't ask God whom will we ask Right so it's okay we can ask God for our personal favor Now to pray for hair Okay Um if you ask me I think it's valid It's okay you can pray because Health and wholeness isn't the blessings of the cross And Jesus said that you know I mean God in his nature has revealed that I'm the God who heals you right So if there's what is normal Whatever is normal we can ask for it So if let's say you know normal is To have Healthy hair and the person has lost their hair That only means that they're experiencing you know some condition It could be anything you know stress whatever But they have moved away from optimum or normal health as you look at it So they're asking God for health And there's nothing wrong with that Yeah sure So but to keep praying only for hair I don't know about that Hey if they want to just impress all the people by you know praying for hair and I don't know anyway so that's my answer I hope it's helpful blessy Do you agree with it or you disagree Okay you agree great I give thanks to God for that So we don't have any further discussion on that So we've learned about the category of Thanksgiving Expressing our thanks to God Now we may speak our thanks or we can even sing our thanks So during our prayer times we may just sense that I just want to sing to God I just want to say thank you You can even express it like the way we express you know praise and worship Just take some time maybe you want to put on a song Many of us do that even I do that I just play a song that is really what is in my heart Right and sing along because you're just trying to express your Thanksgiving through A song of praise An affirmation of praise worship And that is so much a part of our prayer Okay so three categories that we have looked at Or rather four categories that we have looked at so far And we shall move on to the next category The next category is known as the prayer of consecration Consecration what is the meaning of the word consecration It simply means dedication It means dedication or in our more contemporary English Just for our understanding exclusive Exclusive So now when we look at the Bible and the way God taught us to worship We can look at the structure known as the tabernacle or the tent of worship That God had instructed Moses to set up Right and after the tabernacle you find that you know eventually there was the temple which was built But God is quite specific when it comes to how he wants us to worship him He instructs us he tells us what is the right about what is the right way to worship him So when we look at that we observe that in the tabernacle or the tent of worship There were certain materials or things that God told the people to make And he also told them this should be used only in the tabernacle And don't take it out for example there was a lamp stand So what is the use of a lamp stand? You can light and it will spread light in the room There was a lamp stand within the tabernacle but what was the instruction? Just because it gives light can you take it out in the darkness? You cannot because it is dedicated to the temple In the same way there are many other things within the tabernacle and God said Don't replicate it don't use the same design or anything outside Because it is only for worship it's exclusive it's dedicated Imagine nowadays we use in our churches we use communion cups You all know communion cups some small cups that we use In some churches we reuse it so we use it for communion and then it is washed And again the next time communion is served we use the same cup Have we ever seen the communion cup being used for something else? Like maybe if they're serving tea or they're serving something would they do that? We would never think of doing it because it's dedicated Right? It's dedicated for communion How can we even take it and think of using it for something else? It's very irreverent So consecration means that consecration means dedicated When I say God I dedicate myself to you I could also say God I consecrate myself to you I consecrate my life to you meaning I'm living for you Not for anything else not for anyone else So there are times in our journey with the Lord That we need to pray prayers of consecration To again come back maybe we've become a believer Maybe we have committed our lives to serve the Lord But still in a moment when we sense that God wants us to dedicate ourselves to him All over again we must consecrate And say God let your will be done in my life I dedicate myself to you That is known as the prayer of consecration And the prayer of consecration is very very powerful Because first of all we are committing ourselves to God Or it could be something else Sometimes we dedicate maybe our children Our home or anything else Any other thing that we have we dedicate it to God And we say this is set apart Another word is set apart Or this is meant to be holy only for the Lord So consecration that way is a very powerful prayer Because these are prayers of dedication And we find Jesus praying a prayer of consecration In the garden of Gethsemane Where he first says if I can do something else Let me know I mean you know Father allow me to do that Or not my will let your will be done So when he says that that is the consecration prayer And we also observe that whenever something is dedicated to God God can use that vessel Or God can use that person very powerfully So it's a very special kind of prayer That we pray the prayer of consecration And when we consecrate ourselves I've been telling you it's powerful We can even expect some bondages Or some strongholds in our life to be broken But that is the power of a prayer of consecration So let's do one thing We'll go in for a break And if there are any questions I would request that we ask them after the break So let's take a 10 minute break We will come back and we will discuss about the various kinds of prayers Thank you everyone