The Prayer of Petition and Supplication

As the definition indicates, this kind of prayer is a formal request to God to meet a specific need.

First John 5:14–15 tells us: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” This speaks of specific requests, but what we seek must be according to His will.

To ask according to His will, we have to find what we’re seeking in God’s Word. We need to find out what the Bible says about our request, and then we ask the Holy Spirit how to take that biblical principle and apply it to the specific situation in our lives. When we do that, we’re praying according to God’s will, and we can have the assurance that those petitions are answered.

The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD accepts my prayer. —Psalm 6:9, MEV

God loves His children tenderly and cares about what’s going on in our lives. He wants us to pray in a way that He can answer. Paul instructed, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7). We already saw where Paul said for us to do “everything by prayer.” He continued by adding “supplication.” Prayer and supplication are closely connected, but they are different. Prayer involves many aspects of dialoguing with God while supplication is a matter of naming our request specifically and contending for it expectantly until it comes to pass.