If you struggle knowing what to pray, or how to pray, one of the best practices is to prayerfully (Psalm 119:18) read biblical passages/prayers and then pray a current version of them. The Bible is full of passages that will help you pray. Here are some suggestions to get you started . . .And consider watching the video at the end!
| Text | What It’s About | How It Can Help You Pray |
| Neh 1:4-11 | Nehemiah was broken because Jerusalem, which was central to Old Testament worship, was a mess. | Follow Nehemiah’s example in seeing our messed up world through the eyes of the gospel (Jesus is the only answer!) and cry out to our great and loving God to use us.
If you read Ezra and Nehemiah, you will be motivated to pray for the “Good hand of the Lord on our lives”! See this post. |
| Matt 6:9-13, 7:7-11 | The Lord’s Prayer: Jesus outlined the categories which should be the handrails of our prayer life. | Pray the Lord’s prayer – – don’t chant it! See this post: http://chrisbrauns.com/2015/09/pray-the-lords-prayer-dont-chant-it/ – – Ask our heavenly Father for good things. He won’t give us serpents! |
| Luke 18:1-8 | Jesus taught this parable to his disciples so that they would not give up. | Persist in praying with an expectation that our heavenly Father, who is is far more generous than a crooked judge, will hear our prayers. See this post for more explanation. |
| Acts 1:6-8 | Jesus repeated the Great Commission to the disciples and stressed the role of the Holy Spirit. | Pray that we would be a church that keeps its eye on the mission of making fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Remember: “A local church is not a local church.” |
| Acts 14:19-23 | The early church appointed elders after fasting and prayer. | Pray that God would use our pastors (our elders) to give overall leadership to our church and that other gospel centered people would be used in leadership in our church. Pray our church would be committed to biblical leadership. |
| Eph 3:14-21 | Paul prayed that the Ephesians would not only objectively know the good news of Christ, he prays they would experience it as well. | Pray that the Lord would give an experience of the Holy Spirit that we cannot even put into words: that we would experience the unknowable love of Christ. |
| Eph 6:19-20 | Paul asked the Ephesians to pray for his proclamation of the gospel. | Pray for all the teaching ministries of our church – – and our pulpit in a special way – – that the Holy Spirit would anoint the Word so that it would go out with boldness and power. Notice the explanation of the word “fired” in this post. |
| Col 1:9-14 | Paul prayed for the Colossians to be strengthened in patient endurance. | Consider how Paul positions his prayer for the Colossians in the context of the gospel. It is only as we are in Christ – – only as we have been delivered from the dominion of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of His beloved Son – – only as believers – – that we find patient endurance. Meditate on this prayer and ask for patient endurance with joy. |
| Revelation 22 | John shared a vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth | Notice how many times John uses the Word “soon” relative to Jesus coming back. Think about all the pain in the world, and the people you miss, and pray “Thy Kingdom come!”
Remember: We are meeting at the 5th Tree on the Right Side of the River! |
Love this! In Bible study, and with Ken, I have prayed a passage with someone else, taking turns at each verse. I love the way you said, “pray a current version of the verse”.
Thank you Shannon!
I’m always thankful for the times when I know God is untangling my hard to explain pleas. Nehemiah’s example is one I need to remember daily! And what about adding the prayer of Jabez. 🙂