Prayer is a primary way to connect with God, seek His guidance, and invite His intervention in our lives. The Bible emphasizes the importance and power of prayer. Ministry Sciences studies biblical prayer practices to inform Christian leaders about the best ways to pray and teach others to pray. Here are some key types of prayer:

1. Adoration: Worshiping and glorifying God.
   • Psalm 145:1-3 (WEB): “I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever. Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.”
2. Confession: Seeking forgiveness for sins.
   • 1 John 1:9 (WEB): “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
   • Psalm 51:1-2 (WEB): “Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.”
3. Infilling by the Holy Spirit: Requesting the Holy Spirit’s presence and infilling.
   • Luke 11:13 (WEB): “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
   • Acts 1:8 (WEB): “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
   • Ephesians 5:18 (WEB): “Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”
4. Supplication: Asking for God’s help.
   • Philippians 4:6 (WEB): “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
   • Matthew 7:7 (WEB): “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.”
5. Healing: Seeking physical, emotional, or spiritual healing.
   • James 5:14-15 (WEB): “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
   • Psalm 103:2-3 (WEB): “Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits, who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases.”
6. Thanksgiving: Expressing gratitude to God.
   • 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (WEB): “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.”
   • Psalm 100:4 (WEB): “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name.”
7. Spiritual Warfare: Battling against the spiritual forces of evil.
   • Ephesians 6:12-18 (WEB): “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace; above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints.”