The Bible talks often about supplication as a substantial type of prayer (Philippians 4:6, etc.). But what is supplication? It is not simply asking God for things. Rather, it is making a case before God.
JP Moreland explains this well in Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul
WE should use our minds more carefully in supplication before God. Martin Luther said that ‘in supplication’ we strengthen prayer and make it effective by a certain form of persuasion.’ For Luther, supplication is a form of reasoning with God, and in this point he was correct. The Scriptures regularly depict supplication as a way of approaching God in which the worshiper brings his ‘case’ before God (Jeremiah 12:1; 20:12). The Hebrew word for ‘case’ is rib, and it means a reasoned legal case brought before a judge of some kind.
In supplication, we carefully think through our requests and the reasons for them before we approach God. We then reason that case before His throne and trust that He will take our case into consideration.