Prayer is an integral part of your relationship and communication with the Father. How we pray is often a result of how we have been raised.
Silent prayer in our minds, connecting our spirit to the Holy Spirit, is the way most of us began to pray. As we grow in our spiritual walk, we should practice a variety of different ways to pray.
How can we pray differently—not better—to increase our prayer time and communication with the Lord?
Different Types of Prayer
Silent Prayer: Praying quietly in our mind is connecting our spirit to the Holy Spirit. There is value in being silent or quiet before the Lord. He gives us instruction and can speak back to us when we aren’t in the heat of the battle rolling out our prayer language or decreeing and declaring. The enemy can’t counterattack our prayers when we don’t release our words into the spiritual atmosphere. There is rest and refilling in the presence of the Lord when we connect with Him spirit to Spirit.
Audible Prayer: Speaking out and declaring audibly into the spiritual realm has power and get results. When we decree and declare audibly, we could be binding and restricting the demonic realm, and as we release positive proclamations, we are loosing angels on assignment and commanding the heavens to open and activate on our behalf. (See my books, Prophetic Proclamations and Speak Out.)
Praying audibly is especially important in binding and restricting spiritual warfare attacks. The devil and demons must hear what is spoken out. They can’t be bound and restricted from the prayers you pray silently because they can’t hear what you pray in your mind. Speaking out is equally important when trying to manifest heaven here on earth, such as releasing abundance, calling forth prophetic words or commanding physical healing to come forth in your body.
Jesus modeled audible prayer, and when we study the Bible, we see m any people who prayed out loud.
Tongue: Praying in the Spirit should be a daily practice for us as Christians. Praying in the Spirit is the Holy Spirit releasing the perfect prayer that He knows needs to be prayed and released on your behalf. Praying in tongues is instrumental in releasing our destiny. The Holy Spirit has an entire language inside you that needs to be released (See my book, Baptism of Fire and Power). Praying in tongues is still for today and has not ceased. It is our spirit connecting to the Holy Spirit, releasing the kingdom of God here on earth.
If there are different types of ways to pray, then how should we pray? We should take a combination of all three. I know people who pray in tongues all the time, but never speak out a prayer in their native language. We also need to be talking to Jesus with natural words in our mind to keep a strong relationship with Him.
There is value in silent prayer to get the intake of what we should output in prayer. And we should be praying in tongues. Therefore, I suggest to go throughout your day, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you. Follow His unction and where the anointing and presence are at the moment to pray and what prayer to release.
Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic deliverance minister releasing the love and power of God, to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and Be Love Outreach. Kathy hosts a weekly podcast show called Prophetic Spiritual Warfare on the Charisma Podcast Network. She is the author of several books, including Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Unshackled and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook at facebook.com/kathydegraw/ or visit kathydegrawministries.org/.
