"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18). Williams Translation of this verse reads, ”keep on praying in the Spirit, with every kind of prayer and entreaty, at every opportunity, be ever on the alert with perfect devotion and entreaty for all God’s people."

There are different kinds of prayer for the different needs that we have in life. And there are varying rules that govern the different kinds of prayer that we use. Many times we treat all prayer the same and don’t realize that different rules apply according to who we’re praying for and what we are praying about. Sometimes our lack of effective praying, or lack of praying that gets results, is due to praying about a certain thing using the wrong rules for that type of prayer.

We could compare the rules of praying with the rules that govern the different sports that are played. It would be silly to play basketball with tennis rules, or football with baseball rules, but that is sometimes what we do in prayer. We sometimes pray about the right thing the wrong way, and then don’t get answers, and wonder why God did not hear and respond. And most of the time, it’s not God’s lack of hearing at all; it’s our lack of following the rules needed to get an answer for a given request.

“When praying the prayer of faith, we are to believe the moment that we pray that God has answered our prayer.”

In the next few issues, we will discuss seven different kinds of prayer and the rules that apply to them. We will discuss: 1) the prayer of petition or the prayer of faith, 2) the prayer of supplication, 3) the prayer of intercession, 4) the prayer of consecration, 5) the prayer of agreement, 6) united praying, and 7) praying in the Spirit.

In this issue, we will begin discussing the prayer of faith or the prayer of petition. The prayer of faith is a prayer that you primarily pray for yourself when praying about your own personal needs. The prayer of faith is based on Mark 11:24, where Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

When praying the prayer of faith, we are to believe the moment that we pray that God has answered our prayer. This is a prayer that you pray one time. It is not necessary to pray this kind of prayer for a certain matter more than once. Once you pray the prayer of faith, you begin to speak, act, and plan as though God has answered your prayer. That’s the believing that you receive part of this kind of praying. Because there is a period of time between the time that we believe we receive and when the answer is manifested, it is important to stand fast, and, as much as possible, demonstrate that you believe that God has answered the request.

One of the best ways to stand in faith is to praise God each time you think of the thing you have asked for of the Lord. Romans 4: 20 reveals that Abraham was “strong in faith, giving glory to God,” when he was fully persuaded that God was performing what he asked. That means that Abraham praised God even before he could see the answer to his request. Psalm 106:12 says, “Then they believed His words; they sang His praise.” Praise is really faith in action! A strong praise life reveals a strong faith life!

I have prayed the prayer of faith hundreds, perhaps thousands of times over the twenty- eight plus year period that I have known the Lord, and have found that He always brings the answer to my personal requests when I stand in faith after I pray!

This prayer is a past tense or present tense prayer. Keep it in the past or present, and never in the future tense. You must believe that God has answered or is answering for this kind of prayer to work. To say that you believe that God will answer is to put this kind of praying in the future tense. And the future tense is associated with hope and not faith. It’s not hope that receives answers to prayer, it is faith. And faith is always now!

Many years ago, while I was attending Bible School, I was trusting God for a certain job in the town where I lived. I needed to make a certain amount of money to be able to afford the costs of paying for school and also for my living expenses. I knew that I was qualified to work in the field of endeavor where I was looking, and the pay was what I needed at this certain company that had many locations in the city.

"Understand that the prayer of faith will always work for you, but you can’t always get it to work for someone else."

I prayed the prayer of faith for this certain job, and began to believe that I received the answer. I had to stand for many weeks, and it looked like nothing was coming through for me regarding this job. But I spent time every day praising God because I believed that I received this particular job. I would pace back and forth in my apartment and would not pray about it again, but would praise God as if I already had the job. I would say, “Thank You Lord for being so good to me in providing this wonderful job. It’s just what I wanted and needed, and You have so graciously provided it for me. Thank You so much!” I would just go on and on about it and talk to the Lord and praise Him just as though I was already working there.

As you might guess, I was hired to work for this company after weeks of it looking as though I would not receive it. In fact, I was hired on making more than people who had worked there for many years! God always brings the receiving if you and I will just simply do the believing! The prayer of faith works!

Please understand that the prayer of faith will always work for you, but you can’t always get it to work for someone else. Another person may be hoping that God will answer in the future while you’re praying, believing, and acting as though He has answered your prayer for them now! You can sometimes pray this kind of prayer for others if you can get them to agree with you, but the effects of your prayer for another may be nullified by them if you can’t get them to believe with you and agree with you about what you’re praying for them. That’s often the reason we don’t see answers when we’re praying for others. We are actually praying the wrong kind of prayer for them. We should be praying the prayer of supplication, which we will discuss in our next lesson.

Begin today to exercise your faith in God’s Word, and to believe that right now you receive the thing for which you prayed. He is faithful who has promised!