Last week we mentioned that there are many types of prayers.  This week we will discuss prayers of adoration and confession.  First of all, our prayers ought to be about worshipping God the Almighty. Prayers of adoration and confession are distinct from prayers of thanksgiving and supplication.  God is worthy of our undiluted praise even if He never gave us anything but life. Notice that when Jesus taught His disciples to pray that the first sentence out of his mouth was praise for the Heavenly Father, “Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. . . ” When David set to build the Lord’s House, he blessed God forever and exalted Him before the congregation with a prayer of adoration saying, “ Thine, O Lord is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.” (Matthew 6:9 and 1 Chronicles 29:10-13).

     Prayers of confession ask God to forgive us for our sins because we know that human sin blocks our spiritual union with God. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray for forgiveness, He also taught them to ask God for help in forgiving others who committed trespasses against them.  God’s will is not for any man to be separated from Him because He created all. God said, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  Daniel’s prayer of confession to God for His people was “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments . . .” (Matthew 6:12, 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Daniel 9:5).

     When children of God pray, we need to make it a habit to pray for others also.  That’s what Jesus taught his disciples to do and that’s what God told us to do.