Ephesians

Two Forms of Prayer

What is prayer? Is it a mere superstition as some people think? Is it mumbling, talking to yourself, under the deluded dream that you are addressing a mythical deity?

Or is prayer a form of magic by which we summon God like a mythical genie? Is prayer an Aladdin’s lamp that we rub to bend God’s will to ours?

Or is prayer a form of “self-talk,” a psychological-religious form of navel-gazing in which you plumb the depths of your being, your soul, your conscious and subconscious mind?

None of these notions of prayer accord with the description of prayer we find in Scripture. Paul recognizes two categories of prayer, which in Ephesians 6:18 he calls (1) “all kinds of prayers” and (2) “requests.” Let’s examine each category of prayer and understand why Paul makes this distinction.