Prayers of Supplication

A prayer of supplication is a prayer that lifts up requests before God. Supplications are often divided between those requests we make for ourselves (petitions) and those requests we make on behalf of other people (intercessions). We can turn again to the apostle Paul, who told us in Philippians,

“Do not worry about anything, but with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (v. 4:6 NRSV)

It is natural for us to ask God for the desires of our hearts, and we can be assured that God will answer our prayers. Just so, we feel the need to pray on behalf of others as well—our family and friends, as well as those whose needs we know even if we do not know them personally. God does answer prayer, even if we need to be mindful that God’s answers to prayer are not always the answers we want God to give!Jesus’ life and ministry are clothed in prayer. In that, he offers us a model of how to live as his followers. He invites us to be a people of prayer. We also find when we go to the Gospels that Jesus wants us to pray as well. The most precious prayer that we can pray is the prayer that Jesus taught to his disciples. It is called the Lord’s Prayer or the “Our Father.” It looks like this:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

We find Jesus teaching this prayer to his disciples in both Matthew 6:7–15 and Luke 11:1–4. If we want to be counted amongst his disciples today, we ought to offer this prayer to God daily.