Basic Understanding of Prayer

Prayer is the way we communicate with our Heavenly Father. Many people are taught and assume that when they pray, God will hear them and fulfill all their desires. However, Scripture is very specific about who God listens to, who He does not listen to, who we are to pray for, and even instances where we are told not to pray. As we study the different aspects of prayer, we will see clear themes in what godly people prayed for, as well as when God answers prayer—and when He does not.

There are multiple words used in Hebrew and Greek to describe “Prayer” and below the words are grouped in word families, which is a group of words sharing a common core meaning

HEBREW:

Palal: Strong’s: The Hebrew verb palal (6419): pray, prayed, praying
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: entreat, judgment, make prayer make supplication; to judge (officially or mentally); by extension, to intercede, pray
Tephillah: Strong’s: The Hebrew feminine noun tephillah (8605): Prayer
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: prayer From palal; intercession, supplication; by implication, a hymn -- prayer.
Athar: Strong’s: The Hebrew verb athar (6279): To pray, entreat, supplicate
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: entreat, make prayer. A primitive root (rather denominative from Ether); to burn incense in worship, i.e. Intercede (reciprocally, listen to prayer)
chanan: Strong’s: The Hebrew verb chanan (2603): To be gracious, show favor, have mercy
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: beseech, fair, be, find, show favorable, be deal, give, grant graciously, A primitive root (compare chanah); properly, to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow; causatively to implore (i.e. Move to favor by petition)
techinnah: Strong’s: The Hebrew feminine noun techinnah (8467): Supplication, plea, entreaty
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: From chanan; graciousness; causatively, entreaty -- favour, grace, supplication.
Techinnah: Strong’s: The Hebrew Proper name masculine Techinnah (8468): Supplication, plea, entreaty, prayer for favor
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: favor, grace, supplication. From chanan
tachanun: Strong’s: The Hebrew masculine noun tachanun (8469): Supplication, entreaty, plea for mercy‍ ‍
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: Earnest prayer. Or (feminine) tachanuwnah {takh-an-oo-naw'}; from chanan; earnest prayer -- intreaty, supplication.

GREEK:

Proseuchomai: Strong’s: The Greek verb proseuchomai (4436): To pray
- HELPS Word-studies: 4336 proseúxomai (from 4314 /prós, "towards, exchange" and 2172/euxomai, "to wish, pray") – properly, to exchange wishes; pray – literally, to interact with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for His wishes as He imparts faith ("divine persuasion"). Accordingly, praying (4336/proseuxomai) is closely inter-connected with 4102 /pístis ("faith") in the NT.
Proseuché: Strong’s: The Greek feminine noun proseuché (4435): Prayer
- HELPS Word-studies: Cognate: 4335 proseux (from 4314 /prós, "towards, exchange" and 2171/euxe, "a wish, prayer") – properly, exchange of wishes; prayer. See 4335(proseuxomai).
Deomai: Strong’s: The Greek verb deomai (1189): To beg, to beseech, to pray, to request earnestly
- HELPS Word-studies: 1189 déomai (from the root deō, "having deep personal need, to be in want," see also 1162 /déēsis, "felt-need") – properly, to feel pressing need because of lack – hence, to make urgent appeal; to have deep personal need causing one to beseech (make earnest, specific request).
Deésis: Strong’s: The Greek feminine noun deésis (1162): Prayer, supplication, petition
- HELPS Word-studies: Cognate: 1162 déēsis (deō, "to be in want, lack"; see the cognate 1189/déomai, "praying for a specific, felt need") – heart-felt petition, arising out of deep personal need (sense of lack, want).

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 17:3 NASB® 1995

“Know”: Strong’s: The Greek word for “Know” is the verb ginóskó (1097): To know, to come to know, to recognize, to perceive
- HELPS Word-studies: 1097 ginṓskō – properly, to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance).

Paul preaches a simple message explaining how to come to know God.

The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Acts 17:24-31 NASB® 1995

Problems in Communication

Oftentimes, people say they cannot hear God or ask how to hear Him speak. The Word of God gives clear instructions on how we are to come to Him. First, we must seek His kingdom above all things.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:24-34 NASB® 1995

James gives us more understanding of how we must come to God.

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
James 4:1-10 NASB® 1995

We see from these two sections of Scripture that we cannot be friends with God and friends with the world. Our focus must be on knowing God—His ways of thinking and doing things—so that we may be considered His friends and have eternal life.

How To Communicate

People often ask whether prayer must be spoken aloud or can be silent—does God hear prayers in our thoughts? Scripture shows that it is not about how vocal we are in prayer, but about the condition of the heart. What matters is whether our desires align with God’s will or come from selfish and sinful motives. It is also important to understand that God will never act against His own nature to give us what we want. We can be confident in approaching God when we live His Word in our actions and learn His desires, which shapes what we ask for in prayer.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
1 John 3:18-24 ESV

God Knows Your Heart

Do not be deceived. God knows every heart. Nothing is hidden from Him, including what lies behind our prayers. If we seek Him sincerely and desire His ways, He will reveal Himself to us.

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD;
Teach me Your statutes.
With my lips I have told of
All the ordinances of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts
And regard Your ways.
I shall delight in Your statutes;
I shall not forget Your word.
Psalm 119:9-16 NASB® 1995

With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!
I will keep your statutes.
I call to you; save me,
that I may observe your testimonies.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
Psalm 119:145-148 ESV

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NASB® 1995

“Heart”: Strong’s: In Jeremiah 29, the Hebrew word for “Heart” is lebab (3824): heart, hearts, mind
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: bethink themselves, breast, comfortably, courage, faint, tenderhearted. From labab; the heart (as the most interior organ); used also like leb
- NAS Exhaustive Concordance Definition: inner man, mind, will, heart
“Heart”: Strong’s: In Psalm 119, the Hebrew word for “Heart” is leb (3820): heart, hearts, mind
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: care for, comfortably, consent, considered, courageous, friendly, broken, hard. A form of lebab; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything
- NAS Exhaustive Concordance Definition: inner man, mind, will, heart

He knows when people cry, but not truly to Him.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!
Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!
I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.
And they do not cry to Me from their heart
When they wail on their beds;
For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves,
They turn away from Me.
Hosea 7:13-14 NASB® 1995

Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 3:10 NASB® 1995

“Treacherous”: Strong’s: The Hebrew word for “Treacherous” is bagod (901): Treachery, deceit, betrayal Hebrew
“Deception”: Strong’s: The Hebrew word for “Deception” is sheqer (8267): Falsehood, lie, deception, deceit
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: without a cause, deceitful, falsehood feignedly, liar, lie, lying, vain thing, wrongfully

Put the trumpet to your lips!
Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the LORD,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
They cry out to Me,
“My God, we of Israel know You!”
Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.
With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
That they might be cut off.
Hosea 8:1-4 NASB® 1995

“Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? Are not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’” Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying, “Thus has the LORD of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts; “but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
Zechariah 7:5-14 NASB® 1995

Here is an example of a desperate cry to God. We see that Hannah’s prayer aligned with His will. In her desperation for a child, she vowed to dedicate him to the Lord for His service. At times, God allows us to reach places of desperation so that we surrender ourselves completely to Him. We also see here that Hannah was speaking in her heart while praying, not aloud.

Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She, greatly distressed, prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.” Now it came about, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. Then Eli said to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.” But Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD. Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.” Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” She said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
1 Samuel 1:9-18 NASB® 1995

Examine Who You Truly Seek

Thus says the LORD,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD.
“For he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without inhabitant.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD
And whose trust is the LORD.
“For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.
“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
“I, the LORD, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.
Jeremiah 17:5-10 NASB® 1995

Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.
How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;
Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;
The LORD protects the strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.
The LORD will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 146:3-10 NASB® 1995

“Gather yourselves and come;
Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations;
They have no knowledge,
Who carry about their wooden idol
And pray to a god who cannot save.
“Declare and set forth your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who has announced this from of old?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the LORD?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:20-22 NASB® 1995

“Pray” in Isaiah 45:20 is the Hebrew word pālal (6419).

In 2 Chronicles 16:12, we see an example of a king who sought physicians instead of seeking God.

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.
2 Chronicles 16:12 NASB® 1995

Personal Testimony

When I first began learning to be obedient to God, I did not understand how to hear Him. I could not discern the difference between my own thoughts, His voice, or other voices I was hearing.

One of my main problems was that I did not truly understand the gospel. I did not know how to come to God or how to enter His kingdom and become part of His way of life. I was still thinking according to my own understanding instead of His.

I also did not realize that in order to hear God, I needed to understand His “language”—His way of thinking and speaking. I did not yet understand what sin truly was, nor did I know that I needed to stop practicing it. Because of this, it was very difficult for me to recognize God’s voice or understand how He works.

At times, I would hear different voices, but I didn’t know which one was from God.

In 1 John, the word “confess” comes from the Greek word homologeō, which means “to speak the same language.” This helped me understand something important: I could not clearly hear God because I wasn’t yet speaking the same “language” as Him.

As I began learning His ways—how He thinks and what He says through Scripture—I started to recognize His voice more clearly. I could also begin to distinguish between my own thoughts and other voices that were not from Him.

I also learned that while God communicates in different ways, His message is always consistent. He may speak through inner conviction, clear direction, dreams, or other means, but it will always align with His truth. He does not contradict Himself.

To see more about this, see Testing the Spirits

Weighing What We Hear

With that being said, God has also given us direction in His Word to guide us—especially when our personal feelings might make it difficult to hear Him clearly.

1 Corinthians 14:31-33 tells us this.

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
1 Corinthians 14:31-33 NASB® 1995

“Subject”: Strong’s: The Greek word for “Subject” is hupotassó (5293): To subject, to subordinate, to submit, to be under obedience
- HELPS Word-studies: 5293 hypotássō (from 5259 /hypó, "under" and 5021 /tássō, "arrange") – properly, "under God's arrangement," i.e. submitting to the Lord (His plan).

This passage is speaking about mature believers—those who know the Word of God and have developed discernment. They are able to carefully weigh what they hear.

In other words, they don’t immediately accept everything at face value. Instead, they take what is spoken, bring it before God in prayer, and seek the Father’s mind on the situation.

This shows us that hearing from God is not just about receiving something—it also involves testing, discerning, and aligning it with His truth. God’s voice will always produce clarity and peace, never confusion.

References

"Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”
Strong’s Greek/Hebrew: Biblehub.com
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: Biblehub.com