7 Ways Prayer Changes Things – 5 Types of Prayer and Their Powerful Impact
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The Bible is full of scriptures about the power of prayer. It has been said that “Prayer changes things in life.” Prayer can be a powerful force, and it doesn’t have to be reserved for just times of trouble or need. The Bible tells us that God’s Spirit intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). When we pray, God answers our prayers according to His will.
There are a lot of people in the world who don’t understand how prayer works or the “why” of it all. Prayer is one of the most misunderstood and underutilized tools at our disposal that can make positive changes in our lives.
In this post, we’ll explore five common types of prayer and look at the power that prayer will bring into your life to help you find peace, strength, hope, courage and love when everything else feels like it’s falling apart around you!
How the Power of Prayer Changes Things
Prayer does not always change things in the physical sense, but prayer changes how we perceive and think about our world. Prayer can be a way of bringing us into conversation with God so that He may help direct our lives according to His will for our good.
When you pray in your day-to-day life, it will bring a sense of peace and comfort into your heart. The Bible tells us that the Lord is close to all those who call on Him with their whole hearts (Psalm 145:18).
“Adonai is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.”
tlv
7 Ways Prayer Changes Things
- Through prayer we will feel closer to God and have an increased love for others because they are important to Him and He loves them as much as He does us.
- Prayer changes things in life because it transforms the way we think about ourselves, others, and what lies ahead of us.
- Prayer brings hope to a broken world by reminding us that though this life will not always be easy, Yeshua has overcome death so that one day there will be a world of peace, in His Kingdom. God’s promises have helped me through some tough times in my own life. It has seen me through an unexpected stroke, chronic pain, and now a serious illness.
- Prayer changes things in life because it can shift your perspective. It can comfort you when the world seems bleak and give you the strength to carry on during trying times.
- Prayer can empower you to forgive and move past whatever pain or hurt you might be holding onto or what may be the cause of grief; prayer can even help restore peace in your home or family.
- Prayer can deepen your faith as you learn to lean more on God and less on yourself. As you see God move in your life, your faith will grow in ways you never imagined.
- Prayer can bring about healing; physical, emotional, spiritual and relational.
Prayer does not guarantee that all will be the way we want, but the Word does unconditionally promise that the Lord hears us! That gives us the confidence and expectation that our prayers will be answered, even if the answer isn’t always the one we expect.
The Lord has shown His goodness and His chesed or loving-kindness to me time and time again, even when I didn’t get the answer I thought I wanted.
When I give it to God and trust Him, I always get the answer that is best.
And what God does for me, He will do for you!
Prayer Changes Things – 5 Types of Prayer
1. Prayer of petition – praying for specific needs:
A prayer of petition is really about going before God with an open heart as we humbly approach Him – asking for His specific help or grace. This type of prayer involves seeking God for our needs; need such as strength, wisdom and patience, for example. It’s important to remember that when we share with the Lord what we need, He always knows what is best. So we have to be willing to also pray that He gives us a heart that knows His will, not just our own.
2. Prayer of thanksgiving – thanking God for what he has done:
A prayer of thanksgiving is about going before God and giving Him glory for all that He has done. When we thank the Lord, it gives us a heart full of gratitude that can see past our difficulties through to our blessings.
In Judaism (including in Messianic Judaism), we begin our day with thanksgiving. Before we even get out of bed we say a blessing called “Modeh Ani” (Modah Ani if you are female). It says, “I thank you, oh living and eternal King, for giving me back my soul in mercy. Great is your faithfulness.”
The very first thing we do is thank the Lord for waking up. Then we thank Him for many things throughout the day like our food, seeing a rainbow, experiencing something new.
A life of prayer can be difficult, if we are being honest. Living a prayerful life is not without disappointment. As I mentioned, sometimes our prayers are not answered the way WE want them to be. But in the end, it is always the best answer, even if we think we knew better.
Prayer turns messy things into miracles every day!
So never give up on praying, even when you feel like your prayers aren’t being answered or have been ignored; I can assure you that you are never ignored by God.
Prayer turns messy things into miracles every day! Share on XOne way to remember this is by keeping a prayer journal or a gratitude journal.
A prayer journal or war binder should include other things you’re thankful for too, aside from just answered prayer: friends, family members, opportunities at work…whatever makes your life full!
3. Prayer of praise – praising God for who He is:
When we sincerely offer a prayer of praise, it fills our hearts with joy and renews hope for the future.
In the prayer of praise, we are praising God for who He is. We praise Him for His character, His attributes, his love for us.
The difference between the prayer of thanksgiving and the prayer of praise is that we praise Him, not for what He does but for WHO He is. We praise Him because He gave us life and sustains us.
That’s why you’ll find thanksgiving and praise side-by-side, back to back. They do often go hand in hand.
In Judaism, praise is a very large portion of our daily prayers. The Psalms that praise Hashem are all throughout our prayer book or Siddur.
If you want to begin praising the Lord more in your daily prayers, one way is by going through the alphabet and thinking of one attribute of God or one thing He created and praise Him for that! You could even pick 4-5 letters a day and then work your way through that way.
This is also a great way to teach children how to add praise to their prayers!
4. Prayer of confession and repentance – turning away from sin in your life asking forgiveness, and letting go of the guilt:
In prayers of confession and repentance, we turn away from sin in our lives asking forgiveness. In fact, repentance means ‘to turn from’.
We let go of the guilt that so often accompanies sins when we confess them to God.
Many people have a hard time with prayer because they feel unworthy or guilty. That’s why it is important for us to remember that through Yeshua, God still offers mercy and grace to us in every moment. His Word says in 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
tlv
It says “all” unrighteousness; it doesn’t say some! So confess, repent and know you are forgiven.
Many people have a hard time with prayer because they feel unworthy or guilty. That's why it is important for us to remember that through Yeshua, God still offers mercy and grace to us in every moment. Share on X5. Intercessory prayer- praying on behalf someone else:
Lifting others up in prayer is a blessing.
We can pray for others, that they might be helped in their trials and have peace. We can pray that others would find joy and hope in the midst of their struggles. We can also ask for guidance, wisdom or an increase of faith for those who need it.
We can stand in the gap for those who either are unable to pray for themselves or who don’t know the Lord.
Prayer also has an impact on those around us–it impacts friends, family members and co-workers! Praying for other people actually does something more powerful than they realize: Prayer changes them in ways they may not be able to explain but it also changes US.
For instance, when we pray for our enemies we actually begin to see them in a new way. We begin to see them as God sees them; as His children and His creation.
The Bible says He made the sun to rise on the good and the wicked (Matthew 5:45). They belong to Him just as much as we do, even if they are in a rebellious or unrepentant state.
So as we pray for them, our hearts soften somewhat and begin to show us His heart for them, which encourages us to pray for them even more. It exacts change not only in their lives but in ours.
Praying for our communities, our states or regions, our countries and our world is intercessory prayer. Our world certainly needs more of that.
It is a privilege to be able to carry someone to the Lord in prayer so this is a type of prayer we should all be practicing daily!
Again, you can keep a prayer journal or war binder so you can keep track of those with prayer needs and also record answers to those prayers!
Prayer Changes Things, Including the Bonds of the Past
Prayer helps you grow closer to God by allowing Him into every aspect of your life. This includes your past as well as your present.
He loves you unconditionally despite what mistakes you’ve made.
Prayer is not just about making our needs known to Him, but it’s also a reminder for us that He loves us unconditionally.
Prayer Is a Powerful Weapon
Prayer is a powerful weapon against the enemy and offers us the most effective way to do spiritual battle. Why? Because it brings us into alignment with God’s Word and He will for our lives. When we pray, we’re declaring His promises over our situation rather than trusting in ourselves or others.
Prayer also keeps our eyes on the Lord in times of trial and keeps us from trying to take matters into our own hands.
When we pray in the midst of the fire, we will see Him show up like He did in the fiery furnace and we will come out not even smelling like smoke. (Daniel 3:27)
Prayer changes things like our moods our attitudes; it helps us stay strong when life gets tough.
Prayer can also change our lives in areas where we may feel nothing will change.
For instance, a marriage that may seem to be beyond repair. Prayer can help bring change about in that marriage because, when you rely on prayer and rely on God to exact that change, WE release control and when we do that, change can actually take place because we stop trying to steer things in the direction WE want it to go, which only causes further disputes and disagreements.
By allowing God to take over, our prayers let us step back and we can stop striving so much. We can trust Him with whatever outcome results, knowing we were obedient to Him.
Yes, Daily Prayer Changes Everything
Hopefully you can see that daily prayer does change things in our lives and in the lives of others. In fact it changes everything about our lives. It changes who were are, how we react to situations and what we prioritize in life.
Prayer is about SO much more than just asking for things. It is about relationship with our Creator, it is about putting the needs of others before our own, and it is about learning to be thankful when all we want to do is keep our eyes on what is wrong in life.
Yeshua gave us a model for prayer known as the Avinu or Lord’s Prayer. This is a great place to start if prayer is new for you.
If you ARE new to prayer and are not sure where to begin, or if you are just looking to deepen your prayer life, I have a great post on the ACTS Prayer Method that can help you get started!
You can also download a FREE ACTS Prayer Method Workbook below!
Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.