March 31, 2026

The Prayer of Supplication

Today I want to focus your attention on the prayer of supplication. Ephesians 6:18 tells us,

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

When Paul says, Praying always with all prayer, the Greek word he uses for prayer is just a general term for prayer used throughout the New Testament.

But the word he uses translated supplication means prayer for definite, specific needs. Most generally, you will find that this is a prayer prayed for others, as is the case in this verse.

In Philippians 1:4, Paul uses this same word for supplication, when he says,

Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.

Both the words translated prayer and request are the Greek word for supplication that we just read in Ephesians 6:18. But here it is translated as prayer and request.

I want you to notice who he is saying to pray for, Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all. It is for someone else.

Recently, I had a pastor friend ask me to pray for his church and their finances. He said things were really tight. So several times I brought the issue before God and made specific requests about it…or supplications.

Now, I did not pray, “I believe I receive it.” That is not my place. What I did do was pray for God to help them. I prayed that God would give them wisdom, that God would inspire the people in the church to give, that people would have a heart for souls, and a number of other specific requests over the following several days.

That is the prayer of supplication…praying specific requests for specific people.

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