Why Some Prayers Don't Seem to Work: 9 Kinds of Prayer You Need to Know 1 Timothy 2:1
Have you ever prayed a Bible prayer and wondered why it didn't seem to work? Maybe you prayed and prayed, asked other people to pray, quoted the right verses, and still wondered why you weren't getting the results you expected. Could part of the problem be that you're using the rules for one kind of prayer while praying another? The Bible doesn't present prayer as one big pot where everything gets thrown together. There are different kinds of prayer, and each one has its own purpose and principles that govern it. So, if we want to receive direct answers to prayer from God, we need to know what kind of prayer we're praying and how the Word of God says that prayer works. So get your Bible and let’s take a look at Why Some Prayers Don't Seem to Work: 9 Kinds of Prayer You Need to Know, all on this weeks Light on Life.
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This Week: Go back over the nine kinds of prayer, look up the Scriptures for yourself, and ask, “Do I understand what kind of prayer I'm praying when I pray?”
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Know It. Pray It. Work the Word.
Have you been making beef stew out of prayer? Have you been taking something that belongs to one kind of prayer and trying to make it work with another?
This week, go back over the nine kinds of prayer. Look up the Scriptures for yourself. Don't just take my word for it. Ask yourself, “Do I understand what kind of prayer I'm praying when I pray?”
Don't get loose and sloppy with prayer. Get clear about what God's Word says.
Know what you're praying. Know how it works.
Scripture:
Ephesians 6:18 (KJV) —
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
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Each week's podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week's question:
Join the Conversation:
Have you ever discovered that you were mixing together the principles governing different kinds of prayer? Which of these nine kinds of prayer helped clear up your thinking the most?
Share:
Tell us what you're learning about prayer and how these distinctions are helping you pray with greater understanding and faith.
Remember:
Don't make beef stew out of prayer. Know what you're praying. Know how it works.
About Emery and Sharon
For nearly five decades, Emery has devoted his life to helping people grow in Christ through the power of the Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Together with his wife, Sharon — his partner in life and ministry for 44 years — he equipped believers to live Spirit-filled, practical lives of faith.
At the heart of the mission is this: helping believers apply God's words so faith becomes active and unstoppable.
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Podcast Notes:
Well again, welcome.
Let’s pray.
Father God, thank you for sharing with us how we can be successful communicating with you. Open the eyes of our heart so that we can see these truths in a greater way. Thank you for adding to our understanding in these areas in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
We are going to begin a series today that focuses on some steps you can take to receive a direct answer in prayer from God.
Don’t get hung up on the steps.
The steps are just an organization piece.
That’s all it is.
Steps help organize thoughts.
People get step-oriented—three steps to this and five steps to this and nine steps to this—and they’re missing the boat.
Steps are about organizing our thinking.
That’s going to be the gist of this short series for the next couple of weeks.
For today, let’s focus on this thought.
Have you ever prayed a Bible prayer and wondered why it didn’t seem to work?
Could part of the problem be that you’re using the rules for one kind of prayer while praying another?
Did you even know that there are different kinds of prayer?
1 Timothy 2:1–4 (KJV) — 1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Did you catch that?
Paul didn’t just say pray.
He said pray with particular kinds of prayer—supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks.
If prayer is all one thing, why would the Holy Ghost use different words for different kinds of praying?
Now, this passage we were visiting the earlier part of the year, especially when we were talking about verse two says, ‘praying for kings and all who are in authority.’
These four verses are primarily about lost people.
Verse four tells us that—we’re praying so that all men can be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
What’s interesting about this is that there are four kinds of praying mentioned right here in verse one.
There’s supplications, there’s prayers, there’s intercessions, and there’s giving of thanks.
Notice that they’re all in the plural meaning you can pray these multiple times.
Nine Kinds of Prayer
Just to introduce this, there are nine kinds of prayer that a Jesus follower could pray—nine kinds.[1. Kenneth Hagin, Bible Prayer Study Course]
What happens with a lot of Bible subjects is that people make beef stew out of them.
You know stew; I can get one persons recipe for beef stew, and I can get another individuals recipe for beef stew.
And I can get a host more, and the recipes will all be different. * So we often treat a lot of Bible subjects like beef stew, just throw it all in the same pot.
Instead, what we need to do is delineate to avoid confusion.
I am going to show you where things get confused. So, here’s nine kinds of praying and I am going to show you the scriptures for them.
And that’s going to be the majority of what we do today is just lay a little groundwork.
So, know what you’re praying. Know how it works.
Believing You Receive
First one is believing that you receive.
In the circles I came from, we would call this the prayer of faith, and that could be confusing because all of these nine we are going to list today takes faith.
To me, it’s just easier on the brain if you call it something that wouldn’t imply that this needs faith and the rest of them don’t. Believing that you receive is the first one and this primarily the prayer that we’re going to talk about in these steps to receiving.
Mark 11:24 (KJV) — 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Do you believe that?
Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will get it.
So, the first kind of prayer is believing that you receive.
Now out of the nine kinds of prayer that we’re going to show you: three of them are exclusively about you.
These are prayers that you pray for yourself.
Prayer of Consecration
Matthew 26:36–42 (NASB 2020) — 36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and told His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 And He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done.”
Notice the fact that Jesus didn’t just pray this kind of prayer one time to God.
He fell down and prayed again a second time—the same prayer.
What is this kind of prayer?
It’s a prayer where you dedicate yourself to God’s will, and it’s a prayer that you should pray often for yourself.
Nobody can pray either of these first two prayers for you.
Either of these first two prayers, believing that you receive and the prayer of consecration.
No one can ‘believe you receive for you’ and neither can anyone consecrate for you.
These prayers are uniquely you.
Prayer of Commitment
Now go to First Peter five.
1 Peter 5:6–7 (NASB 2020) — 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you.
So casting your care, casting your anxieties, that’s this prayer.
Look at what Wuest says about these same verses.
**1 Peter 5:6–7 (WUESTNT) — 6 Permit yourselves therefore to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, in order that you He may exalt in an appropriate season, having deposited with Him once for all the whole of your worry, because to Him it is a matter of concern respecting you.
God cares about what you care about.
So this is the third prayer that only you can uniquely pray about.
And this is where the battle is because doubt hits your mind, and you are wanting to pull it back the situation you committed to him, right?
What God is saying is, ‘If you deposit it and leave it with me, I’ll handle it for you.’
Again, these three are the three prayers you uniquely pray for you, and nobody can pray these prayers for you.
No one can lay hands on you and pray the prayer of commitment.
This is something you have got to do, uniquely.
While we are at it, notice that none of these three are mentioned in the list in 1 Timothy 2:1.
Let’s go to prayers that you can pray with others, and for others.
Prayer of Worship
Worshiping God, thanking God is prayer, and it is an expression of faith.
All of these prayers take faith, right?
And this prayer is one that’s listed in 1 Timothy 2:1.
John 4:23–24 (NASB 2020) — 23 But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
So if you look at all of the prayers that Paul prayed, you will see that thanksgiving is connected to that.
Worship, praise, and thanksgiving are vital to the Jesus life.
They balance the request side of prayer.
We pray and we thank God for the answer because He heard us.
You know people think that an abidance of asking, and getting other people to pray and ask gets the job done.
People keep praying and praying about the same request.
Lots of requests, lots of prayers—we think if we pray long enough, and hard enough that that gets it done.
But there has to be a balance.
Thanksgiving must balance off the asking side of prayer.
Jesus said to the Father at the tomb of Lazarus, ‘I thank you at that you always hear me.’
He was thanking God before he ever entered into that supernatural raising from the dead encounter.
A Side Journey On God’s Perspective on Time
There’s a marvelous truth to understanding what prayer sounds like to God in 2 Peter 3:8.
Let’s take a side journey and look at this—it will help you with this subject of getting answers to prayer.
2 Peter 3:8 (NASB 2020) — 8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
So with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years.
Have you ever heard the seven-thousand-year prophecy timeline that suggests when Jesus should be coming back?
If you haven’t here it is.
We have four thousand years of history from Adam to Jesus, then from Jesus to our current day is two thousand years. * So that’s six thousand years.
Then add the Millennium which is a thousand years.
Add all that up and it comes to seven thousand years total.
So one theory says seven days is seven thousand years because one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.
All of that means that Jesus should be coming back right about now.
Second Peter three and verse eight is premise for this but it must be thrown out completely.
The Spirit of God through the Apostle Peter did not say one day equals a thousand years.
He said it was as or like a thousand years.
Go to Psalm ninety and verse four, and you’ll be able to see why this line of thinking concerning the timing of Jesus Second Coming is inaccurate.
Psalm 90:4 (NKJV) — 4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.
Did you hear that?
Peter’s quoting this verse and when you read it, you can see that Psalm 90:4 says something different about the thousand years.
It says one day is as yesterday, which was the part Peter quoted.
But he also says a thousand years is as a watch in the night.
How long is a watch in the night?
It’s not twenty four hours.
Hear the Lord Jesus on this.
John 11:9 (NKJV) — 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
If there are twelve hours in the day, then there are twelve hours in the night.
In the Old Testament, a watch was four hours, and in the New Testament, a watch was three hours.
Matthew 14:25 (KJV) — 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
Do you see it?
Jesus walking on the water in the fourth watch of the night.
Jewish people broke up the night into four watches or three hours.
So, one day is with the Lord as a thousand years or as a watch in the night, which is as little as three or four hours.
That definitely means the whole timeline thing of prophecy is way off.
According to the Bible, a thousand could be as little as three hours.
So the numerology used by some doesn’t work.
One day as a thousand years is a simile.
It’s as a thousand years not equal to a thousand years.
Prayer from God’s Perspective
Now, that’s what the Word of God shows us about the tremendous difference between God’s perspective on time and ours.
But if we apply this concept to the realm of prayer?
What if we look prayer from heaven’s perspective?
One day in heaven is like a ton of time down here on earth.
So, here you are, you’re praying. *Understand how God the Father hears you from His dimension when you are praying from yours.
What does prayer sound like to Him who’s sitting on the Throne?
So you bring your request to the Father today.
Then, you pray again tomorrow.
Then you do pray the same prayer the next week.
You continue on next month.
You persistently pray multiple times over.
Then you ask seventeen other people to pray.
Bombard heaven—that’s your thought.
Bombs away.
You stay at it because that’s how you view prayer.
No answer, you keep praying.
You keep bombarding.
Here’s the question: ‘What does all this sound like to your heavenly Father?
From His viewpoint, it sounds like those requests are coming right one after another.
Split seconds between requests.
The Father heard you the first time you prayed in faith.
Now we’re coming back to the Prayer of Worship.
You pray in faith and then you thank Him that He heard you.
You thank the Father that He is true to His Word.
“I thank you. I thank you, Lord. I’m expecting and I thank you.” * “Maybe today’s the day I have full manifestation, Lord. I just praise you for that. I give You the glory.”
You see, He already heard the first time.
You won’t be heard for the abundance of your praying.
Now take this back to 1 Timothy 2:1 and you can see that thanksgiving (the Prayer of Worship) is to be offered for kings and for all their own authority.
Worship is prayer.
Thanksgiving is prayer.
You can offer this pray with people and you can offer it for people.
The Prayer of Agreement
Let’s move on to the fifth kind of prayer, the Prayer of Agreement.
Matthew 18:19 (KJV) — 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
So did you hear it? Anything that they shall ask.
Part of the problem with the subject of prayer is that we get loose and sloppy with our terms.
Have you ever hear anybody say to you, “I’ve got this need, brother. I want you to agree with me?”
That’s not what the Lord Jesus said.
He didn’t say get people to agree with you.
He said ask in agreement.
It’s praying and being agreement about what you pray not just agreeing.
And that brings us to one thing about this kind of prayer is that it only works if both people who are praying really agree from their hearts.
Some mouth the words that say that they agree but in their heart they don’t.
That won’t work.
I know of a particular minister who said he traveled miles to pray with one person, because he knew that person would really agree with him in prayer.
It’s not just agreeing on something; it’s agreeing when you pray.
That’s another beef stew moment.
Somebody just threw that in there, and it’s not right.
Again, know what you’re praying. Know how it works.
United Prayer
Acts 4:23–24 (KJV) — 23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. 24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
So in verse twenty three, the disciples get released from the Jewish Council and they go to their own company.
They give the report of how they were threatened to not preach or teach in the Name of Jesus.
Verse twenty four says that when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said.
And then what follows is the prayer THEY prayed.
Do you see that?
They prayed all together.
They lifted their voices—that’s United Prayer.
The Prayer of Supplication
Moving on to the seventh kind of prayer, the Prayer of Supplication.
Ephesians 6:18–20 (KJV) — 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Notice the word supplication.
The Greek word for ’supplication’ [deēsis] is the one we want to look at and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
Supplication is an asking, or entreaty from a sense of need and is always addressed to God in the New Testament.
This word is used twice in verse eighteen and it’s also one of the four kinds of prayers mentioned in 1 Timothy 2:1 that we pray for kings and the lost.
Supplications are prayers prayed that plead your case.
Praying in the Spirit
Also in this same verse in Ephesians six, we have the eighth kind of prayer, praying at all times In the Spirit.
Do you hear that?
Notice also the words ‘praying with all prayer.’
That phrase means all manner of prayer or all kinds of prayer.
Notice that all of these prayers are prayers that should be prayed from the realm of the Spirit.
Praying in the Spirit can take many forms.
1 Corinthians 14:2–3 (ESV) — 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
Notice praying in tongues is praying in the Spirit.
Notice also that basic prophecy which is an inspired utterance in a known tongue also comes via the Spirit.
You can speak in a known tongue and you can pray in your known tongue all in the Spirit.
You can do the same in an unknown tongue.
That’s what we are going through today—the nine kinds of prayer you can pray.
Once again, know what you’re praying. Know how it works.
The Prayer of Intercession
When we come to the last kind of prayer, the Prayer of Intercession, out comes the beef stew again.
All kinds of excesses here and wrong thinking here.
Have you ever heard anybody say, "I want you to intercede for me over this situation?
Have you ever heard somebody say, “I want you help me to intercede for my ministry or intercede about this decision I want to make”?
Welcome to the world of beef stew.
The Prayer of Intercession is not something you decide to pray.
This is a prayer that the Lord prays through you.
He’s using you to pray for someone else.
In the case of 1 Timothy 2:1, you are praying for the lost.
Here are some wonderful and marvelous verses that will help you think clearly about intercession.
Romans 8:33–34 (NKJV) — 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Notice in verse thirty four why all this is ignorance: Christ dies, Christ is risen, Christ makes intercession for me. Who’s the one that intercedes?
So intercede with me for my ministry or intercede for me about a certain situation is ignorant language, because Jesus is doing the interceding, right?
He’s the one that intercedes.
You don’t decide to do that.
You go to your place of prayer, and sometimes the Spirit of God will move through you, but that’s Him interceding through you.
You’re not interceding for other people.
He is.
What you do is obey Ephesians 6:18: you supplicate for the saints, you plead, and you do that via the Spirit God.
Speaking of Jesus, the writer of Hebrews says.
Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV) — 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus intercedes.
So while the enemy brings charges and condemnation, Jesus is interceding for you and saving you to the uttermost.
Satan accuses you before the righteous Judge, and he says, "Hey, they didn’t do this or do that right.”
And Jesus standing there in front of His Father says, “Father, he’s one of Mine,” and the Father says, “Case closed.”
That’s how it works.
Let’s finish this off.
Go back to Romans 8:26–27.
Romans 8:26–27 (NKJV) — 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Who’s making intercession here?
The Holy Spirit of God.
So, we have intercession from Jesus.
We have intercession also from the Holy Spirit, and actually they’re working together because the Spirit of God is in you all the while Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father.
He’s pleading for up here, and then the Spirit is praying through you down here.
So, you don’t intercede of your own volition.
Jesus does it—the Spirit of God does it.
Again, many use Bible terms loosely.
That’s the reason why we need to understand that there are different kinds of praying and know which one you’re praying and the rules that govern that particular kind of prayer.
Where Does This Leave Us?
So, where does all of this leave us?
Don’t make beef stew out of prayer.
Don’t throw every scripture about prayer into the same pot and assume that every kind of prayer operates exactly the same way.
It doesn’t.
Believing you receive is not the Prayer of Consecration.
The Prayer of Commitment is not the Prayer of Agreement.
Supplication is not Intercession.
Praying in the Spirit covers all realms of prayer.
These are different kinds of prayer with different purposes.
That’s why we need to know what kind of prayer we’re praying and the principles from God’s Word that govern that particular kind of prayer.
Know what you’re praying. Know how it works.
Get loose and sloppy here and confusion is going to be the result.
Get clear about these kinds of prayer and then you can pray with understanding.
You can pray with faith.
You can pray knowing what the Word of God says about the prayer you’re praying.
And that’s where we’re headed in this series.
We’re going to take one of these nine kinds of prayer—believing that you receive—and begin looking at the steps that will help organize our thinking so that we can receive direct answers to prayer from God.
Remember, don’t get hung up on the steps.
God is our focus.
His Word has the answer.
So in next week’s podcast, we will look at some steps that help organize our thinking surrounding how we can get an answer by believing that we receive.
Call to Action
So here’s what I want you to do this week.
Go back over these nine kinds of prayer.
Look up the scriptures for yourself.
Don’t just take my word for it.
Ask yourself, “Do I understand what kind of prayer I’m praying when I pray?”
Have I been making beef stew out of prayer?
Have I been taking something that belongs to one kind of prayer and trying to make it work with another?
Get these different kinds of prayer settled in your thinking.
Then pay special attention to Mark 11:24.
Jesus said, “What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”
Read it.
Think about it.
Meditate on it.
Because that’s where we’re going next.
We’re going to begin looking at how you can take God’s Word, believe that you receive when you pray, and receive a direct answer to prayer from God.
If this podcast helped you, consider sharing it with someone else.
These and other podcasts are available at emeryhorvath.com.
Why Some Prayers Don’t Seem to Work: 9 Kinds of Prayer You Need to Know.
Until then, remember: Know what you’re praying. Know how it works.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.
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- Kenneth Hagin, Bible Prayer Study Course. ↩︎