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Effective prayer begins with recognizing that you are entering into the very presence of God for the purpose of building relationships with Him. And, relationships that work are built with praise, gratitude, honesty, trust, forgiveness and intimacy. They also are motivated by love. Consequently, the way that you pray should reflect these same relational elements.
Types of Prayer:
1. Praise and Thanksgiving:
"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,And into His courts with praise.Be thankful to Him, and bless His name" Psalm 100:4 (NKJV).
They our hearts and cause joy to well up in our spirits. The Word tells us that praise and thanksgiving are Kingdom keys that open the doors to God's heart. The source of praise is the Holy Spirit activating your spirit to express approval and adoration for God's greatness. His patience, mercy, faithfulness and everlasting love. Praise Him for His character and develop the habit of praise and thanksgiving daily during your prayer time.
2. Confession and Forgiveness:
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9 (NKJV).
Confession and forgiveness are the appropriate responses to the holiness of God. And, you must set your will to have pure, committed heart and a right attitude toward every person, including the Heavenly Father. This all help with the reassurance to effective intercession or as an Intercessory. You can confess your sins, since confession means "to acknowledge or disclose something damaging or inconvenient to one's self; to acknowledge or admit something." Forgiveness means "to excuse a fault or offense; to pardon; to relinquish anger, resentment or bitterness against a person; to absolve from payment of."
3. Intercession:
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" Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV).
Jesus is our great High priest who provides the earthly and heavenly example of how to intercede when He was on earth, and assured you that He continues to intercede even now in heaven. The initiative for intercession comes from God, as an intercessor, we must be compassionate, sensitive and responsive to the direction of prayer the Holy Spirit places on our heart. When Abraham was interceding for the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 18:16-33 NKJV). Abraham was trying to save the whole city, not just Lot and his family. God communed with Abraham as a friend. Intersession has been described as a love response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit for an urgent need. It can be a very simple cry to the Lord for someone you love. God is pleased when you are a burden-bearer for others, coming in intercession on their behalf.
4. Petition:
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"Matthew 7:11
Petition is humbly making a formal request or supplication (to beg or beseech) to one in authority. When petitioning, you are asking the Lord for a specific grant or benefit, earnestly entreating Him for grace, mercy and favor toward a particular meed. Make sure that your petition is properly motivated and that it will glorify the Lord. Your petition should be asked by faith without any doubt or fear, because asking and believing equals receiving when it all done according to God's will. So, when the Holy Spirit places a need or desire upon your heart, agree with Him, yield your will to His and begin to make your requests known to the Lord. The Heavenly Father wants us to petition Him - to ask, to seek, to knock. He has promised that if you ask, you will receive. "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV). It is the Lord's pleasure to answer prayer, if it glorifies Him to fulfill your request. However, He wants you to do your part, which is to ask, to petition and to be specific in prayer.