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First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people (1 Timothy 2:1, ESV).
First Timothy 2:1 is an energy bar for prayer.
When I ride my bike for a couple of hours, it’s essential to take sustenance. Lately I’ve been carrying a Kind® apple cinnamon protein bar containing both protein and carbs. When I buy granola bars, I check ingredients.
Paul writes about four kinds of prayers (ingredients) that should be included in our morning devotions. In the Greek, each of these words has a nuance that defines the type of prayer and why it’s effective. I buy energy bars containing carbs and protein as I need both when cycling.
In praying, we need four ingredients — supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings. Let’s understand the value of each.
Supplications
The word “supplications” in the Greek is also translated as “entreaties” and “petitions.” One Greek scholar says the word implies a “heartfelt specific need.” This is not the type of prayer that says, “God bless me,” or “I pray for this need,” but an intense prayer that implies, “God, please, I need an answer for this specific request.”
When asking for ourselves, it is known as a “supplication” or “petition”; when asking for someone else, it’s known as “intercession.” Richard Foster writes…
Petitionary Prayer remains primary throughout our lives because we are forever dependent upon God. It is something that we never really “get beyond,” nor should we even want to.
Prayers
Yes, “prayers” is a type of prayer, and the Greek word translated as “prayer” is the word most often used for prayer in the New Testament. One pastor wrote, “This word is used thirty-seven times in the New Testament for one reason — God wants us to pray.”
But the word “prayer” in the Greek translated as “prayer” can also be translated as “an exchange of wishes.” Wow, this suggests Psalm 20:4, “May God give you the desires of your heart.”
Praying opens the doors of possibility, because our request must sync with the true nature of our personal calling, allowing the wildest imaginations of God’s intentions to be answered through our prayers!
Intercessions
The root of this word means “hit the bullseye” and is the antonym of the Greek word for “sin,” which can be translated as “missing the bullseye.” Intercession waits until we know God’s will. Jesus was interceding in the garden before His arrest (with great drops of blood), and finally He said to His Father, “Not my will but yours be done.”
When we intercede, we correctly discern God’s will, and like Daniel in the Old Testament, whose prayers opened the path for Israel to return from captivity in Babylon to the Promised Land, our prayers can refocus history in compliance with God’s will.
Thanksgivings
“Thanksgiving” in the Greek is “eucharistia,” from which we get our word “eucharist.” As we read in Luke 22:19a, “And he [Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them.”
Thanksgivings as prayer begin with gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin.
Losing heartfelt gratitude brings a bitterness or coldness of soul that can no longer focus on the greatness of God, but turns to accusations about what He should have done. When we lose the prayer of “thanksgivings,” anger keeps us from the appreciation of a God who sacrificed His Son, and we stop asking for anything at all.
The four ingredients of great praying — supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.