Our September 2024 story The Hymn in Her Heart featured Reverend Anne Saunders, who was called to be a minister in the early 1980s. Her journey as a teacher, a wife, a mother, a caretaker to her parents, and as a minister is one of profound faith. During these tumultuous times, comfort can be found by praying. Not all of us know how to pray. To learn how to pray or to learn to become better at praying, we sought wisdom from Reverend Anne Saunders.
Prayer is your Encounter with God
Prayer is speaking with God. Speaking with God can be hard until you get used to what you are doing. And you learn by doing it. Everyone has to get into their own place. Everyone has to get grounded and really understand that they are speaking to God and that the conversation is controlled by the Holy Spirit. Your prayer is from the core of your heart to God’s heart.
Speak to God in your own words
Speaking to God in your own words is much more personal than just repeating something from memory. The Our Father, The Lord’s Prayer, is a really important prayer, but unless you really think about each word that you’re saying, it can just be hollow if you're just rattling off words. You’re not just saying the words. Prayer has to come from the heart.
Types of Prayer
There are eight different types of prayer: Invocation, Petition, Supplication, Thanksgiving, Intercession, Benediction, Praise, and Confession (Asking for Forgiveness).
1. Invocation
Invocation a prayer given by clergy. It is the beginning of prayer—You ask God to come in contact with you. You ask God to be present. You ask God to be present with you. You ask God to be present as you gather. You ask God to be present in the meeting and in the gathering. Address the Father, address the Lord, address Jesus, address the Holy Spirit or just plain God or the Lord God. Wait on the Lord. Wait for the Lord’s presence. Wait for the Lord to speak. You really can’t pray without the Holy Spirit. Prayer that is not done with the Holy Spirit is really not prayer.
2. Petition
You ask God to do something for you. God, please heal me. Please God, give me something, or God, please do something for me. Petitioning is asking God to do something for you.
3. Supplication
Supplication is a deeper kind of asking. Supplication is asking for something the same as in Petitioning, but you are asking more strongly, with more emotion. You are asking for something in a very deep way. By asking for something, you are expressing a very deep desire. Lord, heal my daughter. Lord, my son is on drugs. Help me. Help my son. Help us, Lord.
4. Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving could go on for five years and you still would never be finished! What are you thankful for? List what those things are. Whatever you’re thankful for, say it! Thank the Lord for all of the things he has done! Be thankful with all of your heart! Thank you for waking me up this morning! Thank you for giving me the right mind!
5. Intercession
Intercession is when you pray for someone else or pray in place of someone else. My mother is sick, Lord. My husband does not know you, Lord. You pray for someone else. You pray for what someone else needs. Your prayer doesn’t have to be for an individual, it could be for a group of people, for your school, for your church, for your country or it could be a prayer for all countries—the world.
6. Benediction
Benediction is the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6:24 in the Bible. It is a prayer given by clergy from God over the people, usually at the end of the sermon. It’s a prayer that God prays for all of his people. Raise your hands! Raise your hands because the power of God is coming down on your hands. The Catholic Mass says—go in peace—that is a benediction. The most famous ones are May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make you safe and shine upon you and be gracious to you. May The Lord lift up his countenance upon you. May the Lord give you peace. In the Hebrew, peace is Shalom, and it covers everything, every blessing, and it gives you peace.
7. Praise
Praise is giving accolades to God for what he is: God almighty, powerful, wonderful, beautiful, a loving God. The Our Father is the prayer that God gave to his disciples. Hallowed be thy name. The petition: Give us our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen —that is praise. A prayer should always begin and end with praise.
8. Confession (Asking for Forgiveness)
Confess your sins to God and seek forgiveness. Ask God to pardon you for something you’ve done or something you’ve not done. Ask God to give you the spirit of prayer. Ask God to deliver you from evil. If the prayer is adequate, one of the feelings you get is the feeling of peace.
Always Wait on God
Read the scriptures all of the time in the King James version of the bible. One of the ways is to read scripture constantly and to meditate on the scripture. Read until you find something that impacts you or really gets your attention, then think deeply on that and ponder it. As you begin to do that, then prayer will just rise up in you. It has to be a daily thing, and it takes awhile. Then you will go into the spirt and live in the spirit. Always wait on God.
LINK:
Editor's Note: conversation about prayer took place with Reverend Saunders on May 17, 2024.
Category: