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Bible Dictionaries
Prayer
The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia
or Prayer has been defined as the soul's converse with God, or communion with God in devotional exercises, and may be said to be a universally recognized necessity in the life of man. But prayer involves much more than simply asking for certain things, which seems to be the common conception of this duty. Properly speaking, prayer consists of five parts, as follows:
1. Adoration 2. Thanksgiving / which concern Gods glory. 3. Confession 4. Petition / which concern our individual needs. 5. Intercession, which concerns the needs of others.
The efficacy of prayer rests on the Mediation of Christ, and its warrant is to be found in the words, "Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." God our Father has promised to hear the petitions of those who ask in His Son's Name, and who faithfully call upon Him and we know that His promise cannot fail. There are many remarkable instances of the power of prayer to be found both in the Old and the New Testaments, as well, also, in the lives of many earnest and faithful men who, in this present time, continue "instant in prayer."
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Miller, William James. Entry for 'Prayer'. The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/acd/p/prayer.html. 1901.
