How to Pray with Others: Tips for Group Prayer

Conversational prayer can be used anytime two or more people pray together. It differs from what we often experience in group prayer … talking in detail about our prayer needs so there is little time to pray or one long monologue prayer after another. Conversational prayer recognizes that prayer is really dialogue, and includes God from the outset. We converse in prayer not only with him but also with the others present. It is prayer in which we invite the Holy Spirit to lead us and expect his edifying work among us.

You will find a suggested focus for your group prayer throughout this study. You have the freedom, of course, to shift the focus as the Spirit is leading. When you pray as a group outside of the study, it is wise for the leader to articulate a focus or purpose of the prayer gathering, and to start the prayer time with praise to the one to whom we pray.

Getting started

• Don’t take time to share prayer requests unless very briefly. Let them come out as you pray.
• Agree to confidentiality if this is appropriate.

Basic guidelines for praying

• Be brief. Limit yourself to a couple of sentences at a time, covering one thought instead of many.
• Use everyday language.
• Pray spontaneously instead of going around the circle.
• Build on the prayers of others as in conversation. When a topic is complete, it will be clear by the silence. Anyone can move on to the next topic, not just the leader.
• If a scripture comes to mind, do pray it if it seems at all related. This is often how the Holy Spirit edifies our prayers.
• Pray loud enough so others can hear you. For those with soft voices, don’t pray with your head down.
• Pray along silently with the one who is praying. Discipline yourself not to be thinking about what you’ll pray but to stay actively involved when you are not praying.
• Don’t rush to fill a silence. Silences are normal, and can actually be restful.
• If someone is uncomfortable praying aloud (very common), give them the freedom to pass and to pray along silently.
• Don’t close each prayer in Jesus’ name, Amen. Assume that every prayer is prayed in his name. This fosters a continuity or flow in prayer until the very end, when the leader of the group will close in Jesus’ name for the entire prayer session.

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Adapted from the Navigator’s Conversational Prayer guidelines for Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2006.

Biblical Meditation

Benefits of Biblical Meditation

Psalm 1 shows a way to seek God for the prayers on His heart.

Psalm 1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;” This is a clear warning of what not to do. If you do not walk with God, where will you get your counsel? If you do not stand for God, who and what will you stand for? If you sit in the seat of the scornful, you will become a scoffer and soon youwill walk, stand and sit with those who oppose God. Invitation: walk, stand and sit with God. What is your response?

WALK: Seek to walk in God’s counsel for the prayer time by meditating in the Word first as the source of your prayers. “Can two walk together unless they are agreed?” Amos 3:3 Respond to what you receive during the quiet time of meditation in the Word.
Come into some kind of honest agreement with God about what you receive. How could you pray for someone else what you are unwilling to do yourself? Agreement with God’s will suggests answered prayer. (1 John 5:14,15)

STAND: You stand for and with God protected, equipped in the armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-18) You stand for the things God stands for – For example, His Word, His commands as sanctity of life, His words on marriage. You stand with God and pray for those who practice alternate life become your concerns; His prayers, your prayers.

SIT: You sit with the Lord at His table to receive the Word, then sit with Him at the place of prayerin submitted authority as the Word goes forth.As you sit on a regular basis, the Word becomes the bread of life to you. You learn to recognizeGod’s voice through the Word and sense the direction the Holy Spirit gives as Teacher. The table of the Lord is where your soul is restored and your spirit strengthened; it is a place of counsel, dialogue, fellowship, a place of delight.

Psalm 1:2
“But his delight is in the law (Word) of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

To meditate day and night requires a conscious choice to keep God’s Word before your face, and in your heart. Choose to delight yourself in God’s Word. This is not impossible as you meditate negatively day and night without realizing it when you worry or complain. How much more will the Holy Spirit help you meditate on the Word if you ask?

Benefit: v3 “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Whatever
this meditator does shall prosper because He is in fellowship and agreement with God. He walks, stands and sits in alignment with God, therefore what he does will prosper. Prosper here means a breaking forth. This means you will find the breakthroughs you need. The intercessor who becomes rooted and grounded in the Word has a constant source of spiritual water from the washing of the Word, and draws strength from the wells of salvation within each believer. (Ephesians 5:26, Isaiah 12:1)

The prayer time prospers because it is supernaturally sourced and directed. There is fruit from the prayer meeting that endures. 
The intercessor is refreshed and strengthened from the Word; their leaf does not wither. This is a classic meditation scripture, perfect for a prayer meeting or as a private devotionalwith prayer. The context of the final three verses contrast the lack of blessing for the unsaved and can touch your heart to pray for the lost. There is a separate Psalm 1 meditation for this.

Application: 

Meditate to hear from God, go back through Scripture and reread it. This can be as simple as your attention being drawn to a word, a phrase. Let God peak to you through your thoughts and impressions
Receive and Respond personally to what God is saying to you through the Word. He knows your every thought. Be honest; He will meet you where you are.

Share: If in a group, share briefly just to get the full prayer picture and so others can pray with you and you with them. Pray out simply what you receive, pray with others about what they received. Pray for the Church, the Body of Christ and you will touch believers around the world and be blessed yourself.  http://www.asknetwork.net/teaching_resources.html 

Saint Augustine on Prayer by Tim Keller

Saint Augustine on Prayer
March 2014
by Tim Keller

Anicia Faltonia Proba (died  AD 432) was a Christian Roman noblewoman. She had the distinction of knowing both St. Augustine, who was the greatest theologian of the first millennium of Christian history, as well as John Chrysostom, who was its greatest preacher. We have two letters of Augustine to Proba, and the first (Letter 130) is the only single, substantial treatment on the subject of prayer that St. Augustine ever wrote. 

I had the chance to read the letter over the Christmas holidays and was impressed with its common sense and some of its unusual insights. Proba wrote Augustine because she was afraid that she wasn’t praying as she should. Augustine responded with several principles or rules for prayer.

The first rule is completely counter-intuitive. St. Augustine wrote that before anyone can turn to the question of what to pray and how to pray it, they must first be a particular kind of person. What kind is that? He writes: “You must account yourself ‘desolate’ in this world, however great the prosperity of your lot may be.” He argues that no matter how great your earthly circumstances they cannot bring us the peace, happiness, and consolation that are found in Christ. The scales must fall from our eyes and we must see that—if we don’t all our prayers will go wrong. 

Second, he says, you can begin to pray. And what should you pray for? With a bit of a smile (I think) Augustine answers you should pray for what everyone else prays for: “Pray for a happy life.” But of course, what will bring you a happy life? The Christian (if following Augustine’s first rule of prayer) has realized that comforts and rewards and pleasures in themselves give only fleeting excitement and, if you rest your heart in them, actually bring you less enduring happiness. He turns to Psalm 27 and points to the Psalmist’s great prayer: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, one thing will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord to behold the beauty of the Lord.” This is the fundamental prayer for happiness. Augustine writes: “We love God, therefore, for what He is in Himself, and [we love] ourselves and our neighbors for His sake.” That doesn’t mean, he quickly adds, that we shouldn’t pray for anything else other than to know, love, and please God. Not at all. The Lord’s Prayer shows us that we need many things. But if God is our greatest love, and if knowing and pleasing him is our highest pleasure, then it transforms both what and how we pray for a happy life. 

He quotes Proverbs 30 as an example: “Give me neither poverty nor riches: Feed me with food appropriate for me lest I be full and deny you…or lest I be poor, and steal and take the name of my God in vain.” Ask yourself this question. Are you seeking God in prayer in order to get adequate financial resources—or are you seeking the kind and amount of resources you need to adequately know and serve God? Those are two different sets of motivations. 

In both cases the external action is a prayer: “Oh, Lord—give me a job so I won’t be poor” but the internal reasons of the heart are completely different. If, as Augustine counseled, you first became a person “desolate without God regardless of external circumstances”—and then began to pray, your prayer will be like Proverbs 30. But if you just jump into prayer before the gospel re-orders your heart’s loves, then your prayer will be more like: “Make me as wealthy as possible.” As a result, you will not develop the spiritual discretion in prayer that enables you to discern selfish ambition and greed from a desire for excellence in work. And you will be far more crestfallen if you have financial reversals. A Proverbs 30 prayer includes the request that God not give you too much, not only that he not give you too little. 

The third rule was comprehensive and practical. You will be guided, he said, into the right way to pray for a happy life by studying the Lord’s Prayer. Think long and hard about this great model of prayer and be sure your own appeals fit it. For example, Augustine writes: “He who says in prayer… ‘Give me as much wealth as you have given to this or that man’ or ‘Increase my honors; make me eminent in power and fame in the world,’ and who asks merely from a desire for these things, and not in order through them to benefit men agreeably to God’s will, I do not think he will find any part of the Lord’s Prayer in connection with which he could fit in these requests. Therefore, let us be ashamed to ask these things.” 

The fourth rule is an admission. He admits that even after following the first three rules, still “we know not what to pray for as we ought in regard to tribulations.” This is a place of great perplexity. Even the most godly Christian can’t be sure what to ask for. “Tribulations…may do us good…and yet because they are hard and painful…we pray with a desire which is common to mankind that they may be removed from us.” 

Augustine gives wise pastoral advice here. He first points to Jesus own prayer in Gethsemane, which was perfectly balanced between honest desire “let this cup pass from me” and submission to God “nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” And he points to Romans 8:26, which promises that the Spirit will guide our hearts and prayers when we are groaning and confused—and God will hear them even in their imperfect state. 

Anicia Proba was a widow by her early 30s. She was present when Rome was sacked in 410 and had to flee for her life with her granddaughter Demetrias to Africa where they met Augustine. Augustine concludes the letter by asking his friend, “Now what makes this work [of prayer] specially suitable to widows but their bereaved and desolate condition?” Should a widow not “commit her widowhood, so to speak, to her God as her shield in continual and most fervent prayer?” There is every reason to believe she accepted his invitation.

See Augustine’s Letter 130 (AD 412) to Proba found in Philip Schaff, ed., “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,” First series, vol. 1, 1887. Christian Classics Ethereal Library pp. 997-1015.

Wrestling For A Blessing Can I Really Say That To God? By James Banks

“I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Gen. 32:26).

In one of the boldest prayers in the Bible, Jacob cries out during a wrestling match with God. His words hardly sound like something anyone should say to God. But the context indicates he is talking with God here: “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared” (Gen. 32:30, NLT).

Throughout the Bible we find “wrestling prayers”—prayers made in those challenging moments when we don’t know what God is doing and may even disagree. These are prayers from the ragged edge, when we’re walking by faith but struggling with the next step:

David prayed, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1).
Isaiah inquired of the Lord, “Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now?” (Isa. 63:15, NLT).

Elijah, afraid that Jezebel would kill him after God had shown His power against the prophets of Baal, fled into the wilderness and prayed, “I have had enough, Lord. . . . Take my life” (1 Kings 19:4).
When Jonah was angry with God for His mercy on the repenting citizens of Nineveh, the prophet responded with an I told you so! He complained to the Lord: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish!” (Jonah 4:2, NLT).
Even Jeremiah “grappled with God.” Although he obeyed God and warned His people that Jerusalem would be invaded if they didn’t repent, he then lamented that instead of being blessed for his obedience, his only reward was rejection: “O Lord, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me” (Jer. 20:7, NLT).
All of these prayers are raw and rough, giving vent to the deepest emotions of the human heart. They combine belief and unrelenting candor, pushing the limits in a struggle to understand what God is doing. These are prayers that make us uncomfortable, pressing us with the question, “Can I really say that to God?”


God Can Take It

There’s more faith in these prayers than first meets the eye. Underlying these prayers is the firm conviction that God is strong enough to take it. He has allowed these prayers to be included in His Word for a reason. “Wrestling prayers” teach us that we can be absolutely honest with God and hold nothing back.

This is one of the most painful and rewarding lessons we learn as we grapple with what it means to have a personal relationship with a Heavenly Father who is sovereign over even the most intimate details of our lives. Painful because these are prayers wrested from the grip of life’s difficult circumstances, and rewarding because somehow, through it all, God has a way of showing Himself faithful. The result is the strengthening of our faith.

I prayed my first “wrestling prayer” before my final year as a philosophy major in college. I had resisted God’s call into ministry for years. Then, as soon as I became obedient, the circumstances of my life became more difficult. A financial crisis, a personality conflict with a professor, and a broken relationship with a girl I loved—all within a few months—left my emotions ragged and my head reeling.

One afternoon, angry and frustrated with God, I sat in my old Dodge behind my apartment building and wondered where the money was going to come from to finish my senior year. I prayed, “Father, I did what You called me to—and look what happened! Now I hardly know what to believe. If You’re really there and You want me to go into the ministry, do something! Do something so that I know it’s unmistakably the power of the living Lord Jesus Christ.”

I resolved to wait, thinking that if God really wanted me in the pastoral ministry, He would make it clear. And if an answer didn’t come I would be free to go in another direction.

Two days later I received a phone call from the college. The public relations department had just received word about a new scholarship offered locally. “All you have to do,” they told me, “is go to the First Baptist Church and sit down and have a talk with the pastor.” The next afternoon I was sitting in his office.

“This scholarship was given by a family who was nationally successful in the restaurant business,” he explained. “They were saved through the ministry of our church. But you need to know that it is given for one reason only: to show the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

One week later, a check arrived at the college in my name, covering all the remaining funds needed for my senior year. God had grappled with me, and He had a new hold on me, pinning me in a way I would never forget. My calling was set, and in the following years God provided for every need until my education was complete.


Not a Neat Package

As I’ve told that story over the years, some have responded: “You shouldn’t have prayed like that. It was almost like you were giving God an ultimatum.”

But wrestling prayers don’t always fit into neat theological packages. Gideon put his fleece out not once but twice (Judges 6:36–40). Hezekiah asked for the shadow on the sundial to go backward ten steps (2 Kings 20:8–11). Few theologians would argue these prayers are models for anyone’s daily practice, but they point to the rough beauty of wrestling prayer. God loves us. And, in His mercy, He meets us where we are—even with our limited vision, self-focus, and struggling hearts. Why? Because “he knows how weak we are” (Ps. 103:14, NLT).

Our Heavenly Father accepts our brutally honest prayers. He uses them to deepen our relationship with Him and give us new confidence in His wisdom, goodness, and strength.

Jesus once encountered a man who cried out to the Lord, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” The Master responded, not by rebuking the man for his lack of faith, but by healing his demon-possessed son (Mark 9:24).

We know God “looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7, ESV) and discerns even our “secret motives” (Jer. 17:10, NLT). He sees when we’re sincerely seeking Him. He understands that we may struggle to understand what He’s doing at any given moment. But the fact that we’re struggling doesn’t mean we are doubting Him or being “double-minded” (see James 1:5–8). We’re just being human.


A Limp and a Blessing

God uses our wrestling prayers to interact with us in ways that touch our hearts and lives more deeply. We are never the same. Jacob’s encounter with God left him with a limp but also a blessing. He wasn’t just Jacob anymore (he who grasps the heel—Gen. 25:26). He was Israel—one who has “struggled with God” and “overcome” (Gen. 32:28).

But what kind of a name is that?  How can anyone “overcome” God? The only way Jacob could have won was if God let him. And that’s just like a loving Father, isn’t it? Sometimes (not always), we let our kids win because it’s good for them, helping them gain new strength through the struggle.

We can wrestle in prayer because God allows us to—and because God loves it when we give ourselves passionately to Him with every fiber of our being: “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Heb. 4:16, NLT).

When we let ourselves be real with God, He makes Himself real to us.

JAMES BANKS is a pastor, speaker, and author on the topic of prayer (jamesbanks.org). His books Prayers for Prodigals and The Lost Art of Praying Together are available at prayershop.org.

(c) 2014 Prayer Connect magazine.

Six Benefits of Daily Devotions by Jon Bloom

Private devotions aren’t magic. We know that (for the most part).
But still, we can be tempted to think that if we just figure out the secret formula — the right mixture of Bible meditation and prayer — we will experience euphoric moments of rapturous communion with the Lord. And if that doesn’t happen, our formula must be wrong.

The danger of this misconception is that it can produce chronic disappointment and discouragement. Cynicism sets in and we give up or whip through them to alleviate guilt because devotions don’t seem to work for us.
Our longing for intimate communion with God is God-given. It’s a good thing to desire, ask for, and pursue. The Spirit does give us wonderful occasional tastes. And this longing will be satisfied to overflowing some day (Psalm 16:11).

But God has other purposes for us in the discipline of daily Bible meditation and prayer. Here are a few:

Soul Exercise (1 Corinthians 9:24, Romans 15:4): We exercise our bodies to increase strength, endurance, promote general health, and keep unnecessary weight off. Devotions are like exercise for our souls. They force our attention off of self-indulgent distractions and pursuits and on to God’s purposes and promises. If we neglect this exercise our souls will go to pot.

Soul Shaping (Romans 12:2): The body will generally take the shape of how we exercise it. Running shapes one way, weight training shapes another way. The same is true for the soul. It will conform to how we exercise (or don’t exercise) it. This is why changing your exercise routine can be helpful. Read through the Bible one year, camp in a book and memorize it another year, take a few months to meditate on and pray through texts related to an area of special concern, etc.

Bible Copiousness (Psalm 119:11, Psalm 119:97, Proverbs 23:12): A thorough, repeated, soaking in the Bible over the course of years increases our overall Biblical knowledge, providing fuel for the fire of worship and increasing our ability to draw from all parts of the Bible in applying God’s wisdom to life.

Fight Training (Ephesians 6:10–17): Marines undergo rigorous training in order to so ingrain their weapons knowledge that when suddenly faced with the chaos of combat they instinctively know how to handle their weapons. Similarly, daily handling and using the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) makes us more skilled spiritual warriors.

Sight Training (2 Corinthians 5:7, 2 Corinthians 4:18): Jesus really does want us to see and savor him. Savoring comes through seeing. But only the eyes of faith see him. “Blind faith” is a contradiction, at least biblically. Faith is not blind. Unbelief is blind (John 9:38–41). Faith is seeing a reality that physical eyes can’t see and believing it (1 Peter 1:8). And “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). So if we’re going to savor Jesus, we must see him in the word he speaks. Faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8). 

And like most of God’s gifts, they are intended to be cultivated. Daily devotions are an important way to train our faith-eyes to see the glory of Jesus in his word and training our emotions to respond to what our faith-eyes see. Keep looking for glory. Jesus will give you Emmaus moments (Luke 24:31–32).

Delight Cultivation (Psalm 37:3–4, James 4:8, Psalm 130:5): When a couple falls in love there are hormonal fireworks. But when married they must cultivate delight in one another. It is the consistent, persistent, faithful, intentional, affectionate pursuit of one another during better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health that cultivates a capacity for delight in each other far deeper and richer than the fireworks phase. Similarly, devotions are one of the ways we cultivate delight in God. Many days it may seem mundane. But we will be surprised at the cumulative power they have to deepen our love for and awareness of him.
There are many more benefits. You could certainly add to this list. But the bottom line is this: don’t give up on daily devotions. Don’t whip through them. Don’t let them get crowded out by other demands.


Brick upon brick a building is built. Lesson upon lesson a degree is earned. Stroke upon stroke a painting is created. Your devotions may have seemed ordinary today, but God is making something extraordinary through it. Press on. Don’t short-change the process.

The Kingdom Prayer Matthew 6:9-13: Craig Keener

Many pagans added up as many names of their deities as possible, reminding the deities of all their sacrifices and how the deities were therefore obligated in some sense to answer them.  Jesus, however, says that we should predicate our prayers instead on the relationship our heavenly Father has given us with himself: we can cry out to him because he is our Father (Matt 6:7-9).

Jesus used some things in his culture, which was already full of biblical knowledge.  Jesus here adapts a common synagogue prayer, that went something like this: “Our Father in heaven, exalted and hallowed be your great and glorious name, and may your kingdom come speedily and soon…”

Jewish people expected a time when God’s name would be “hallowed,” or shown to be holy, among all peoples.  For Jewish people, there was a sense in which God reigns in the present, but when they prayed for the coming of God’s kingdom they were praying for him to rule unchallenged over all the earth and his will to be done on earth just as it is in heaven.  Jesus therefore taught his disciples to pray for God’s reign to come soon, when God’s name would be universally honored.

To ask God for “daily bread” recalls how God provided bread each day for Israel in the wilderness; God is still our provider.  To ask God to forgive our “debts” would stir a familiar image for many of Jesus’ hearers.  Poor peasants had to borrow much money to sow their crops, and Jesus’ contemporaries understood that our sins were debts before God.  To ask God not to “lead us into temptation” probably recalls a Jewish synagogue prayer of the day which asked God to preserve people from sinning.  If so, the prayer might mean not, “Let us not be tested,” but rather, “Do not let us fail the test” (compare 26:41, 45). 

- Craig Keener

Overcome Distractions by A.W. Tozer

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. — Matthew 6:6

Among the enemies to devotion none is so harmful as distractions.

Whatever excites the curiosity, scatters the thoughts, disquiets the heart, absorbs the interests or shifts our life focus from the kingdom of God within us to the world around us—that is a distraction; and the world is full of them. Our science-based civilization has given us many benefits but it has multiplied our distractions and so taken away far more than it has given....

The remedy for distractions is the same now as it was in earlier and simpler times, viz., prayer, meditation and the cultivation of the inner life. The psalmist said “Be still, and know,” and Christ told us to enter into our closet, shut the door and pray unto the Father.

It still works....

Distractions must be conquered or they will conquer us. So let us cultivate simplicity; let us want fewer things; let us walk in the Spirit; let us fill our minds with the Word of God and our hearts with praise. In that way we can live in peace even in such a distraught world as this. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” (Set Of The Sail: Directions for Your Spiritual Journey, pp. 129-132)

- A.W. Tozer

Our First Responsibility by A, W. Tozer

I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word. —Psalm 119:147-148

Briefly, the way to escape religion as a front is to make it a fount. See to it that we pray more than we preach and we will never preach ourselves out. Stay with God in the secret place longer than we are with men in the public place and the fountain of our wisdom will never dry up. Keep our hearts open to the inflowing Spirit and we will not become exhausted by the outflow. Cultivate the acquaintance of God more than the friendship of men and we will always have an abundance of bread to give to the hungry.

Our first responsibility is not to the public but to God and our own souls. (God Tells The Man Who Cares: God Speaks to Those Who Take Time to Listen, 115-116)

- A. W. Tozer

Not Asking For Anything by A. W. Tozer

I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. — Psalm 116:1-2

I think that some of the greatest prayer is prayer where you don’t say one single word or ask for anything. Now God does answer and He does give us what we ask for. That’s plain; nobody can deny that unless he denies the Scriptures. But that’s only one aspect of prayer, and it’s not even the important aspect. Sometimes I go to God and say, “God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already.” God’s already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn’t pay Him for what He’s done for me.

We go to God as we send a boy to a grocery store with a long written list, “God, give me this, give me this, and give me this,” and our gracious God often does give us what we want. But I think God is disappointed because we make Him to be no more than a source of what we want. Even our Lord Jesus is presented too often much as “Someone who will meet your need.” That’s the throbbing heart of modern evangelism. You’re in need and Jesus will meet your need. He’s the Need-meeter. Well, He is that indeed; but, ah, He’s infinitely more than that. (Worship: The Missing Jewel, 24-25)


I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. — Psalm 116:1-2

I think that some of the greatest prayer is prayer where you don’t say one single word or ask for anything. Now God does answer and He does give us what we ask for. That’s plain; nobody can deny that unless he denies the Scriptures. But that’s only one aspect of prayer, and it’s not even the important aspect. Sometimes I go to God and say, “God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already.” God’s already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn't pay Him for what He’s done for me.

We go to God as we send a boy to a grocery store with a long written list, “God, give me this, give me this, and give me this,” and our gracious God often does give us what we want. But I think God is disappointed because we make Him to be no more than a source of what we want. Even our Lord Jesus is presented too often much as “Someone who will meet your need.” That’s the throbbing heart of modern evangelism. You’re in need and Jesus will meet your need. He’s the Need-meeter. Well, He is that indeed; but, ah, He’s infinitely more than that.

 (Worship: The Missing Jewel, 24-25)

- A.W. Tozer

At Home in the Prayer Chamber by A. W. Tozer

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. — Daniel 6:10

Thomas a’ Kempis wrote that the man of God ought to be more at home in his prayer chamber than before the public....

No man should stand before an audience who has not first stood before God. Many hours of communion should precede one hour in the pulpit. The prayer chamber should be more familiar than the public platform. Prayer should be continuous, preaching but intermittent.

It is significant that the schools teach everything about preaching except the important part, praying. For this weakness the schools are not to be blamed, for the reason that prayer cannot be taught; it can only be done. The best any school or any book (or any article) can do is to recommend prayer and exhort to its practice. Praying itself must be the work of the individual. That it is the one religious work which gets done with the least enthusiasm cannot but be one of the tragedies of our times. (God Tells The Man Who Cares: God Speaks to Those Who Take Time to Listen, 70-71)

A Closed Mouth and Silent Heart by A. W. Tozer

My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue.— Psalm 39:3

Prayer among evangelical Christians is always in danger of degenerating into a glorified gold rush. Almost every book on prayer deals with the “get” element mainly. How to get things we want from God occupies most of the space. Now, we gladly admit that we may ask for and receive specific gifts and benefits in answer to prayer, but we must never forget that the highest kind of prayer is never the making of requests. Prayer at its holiest moment is the entering into God to a place of such blessed union as makes miracles seem tame and remarkable answers to prayer appear something very far short of wonderful by comparison.

Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew well the power of silence. David said, “I was dumb with silence. I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned; then spake I with my tongue.” There is a tip here for God’s modern prophets. The heart seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed mouth before God and silent heart are indispensable for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is qualified to speak who has not first listened. 

(Set Of The Sail: Directions for Your Spiritual Journey, pp. 14-15)

- A. W. Tozer

The Main Ingredient In Effective Prayer by Jonathan Parnell

It’s tragic how easily we can miss the main ingredient in effective prayer.

In our sin, we’ve been rewired to focus on us — on the steps we should take for our prayers to be heard. We have this bent toward believing that every result is born from method. If something works for somebody we want to know what that somebody is doing.

We’ve developed the assumption that if we can just strip it all down to a reproducible process to put into action, then the results will multiply. While this applies to certain things, it doesn’t apply to prayer — or at least that’s not the vision the apostle James gives us. The main ingredient in effective prayer is emphatically not us.

Often Misunderstood

Many of us find James 5:16 to be a familiar verse: “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” — which is also translated, as an ESV footnote spells out, “The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power.”

This is one of those coffee-mug verses. It’s commonly understood like this: Be righteous and your prayers will work. It’s what I used to think. But that’s the skim-milk meaning. It’s what happens when we fly by the text without questions. Our broken bent is to make the burden of this passage something to do with us. We simply settle to think that if we want our prayers to be effective then we need to be righteous.

But this reading doesn’t hold up.

Reading in Context

First, look at the context surrounding verse 16. James’s whole point is that prayer iseffective. He asks in verse 13, “Is anyone among you suffering?” Then he replies, “Let him pray.” What about cheerfulness? Or sickness? Or sin? In each case, James encourages his readers to pray. Why? Because prayer is effective, which means, God hears his people and acts on their behalf.

Then in the beginning of verse 16, because prayer is effective (verses 13–15), he says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). To make it even clearer, he follows this with, “The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power.” That line is the second portion in a double dose of support for our praying. James’s point is to repeat his theme to pray because prayer is effective. His concern is not how prayer is made effective, but that prayer is effective. And then verse 17 comes to ground that point.

What About Elijah?

Verse 17 then brings in Elijah. “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed fervently . . .” (James 5:17).

What does Elijah have to do with our praying? Does it mean that Elijah was righteous and his prayers worked so we should be like Elijah for our prayers to work too? Is that what he is saying?

No way.

Look at the Book. James says that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He was just a man. He was like us. He had a nature like ours. And being just a man, being like us, having a nature likes ours, he prayed fervently and God heard. The point is not that we should be righteous at the extraordinary level of an Elijah, but that he was normal like you and me. James doesn’t say for us to be like Elijah for our prayers to be answered but that Elijah was like us and his prayers were answered — therefore pray.

Don’t Miss What’s Main

This means that the locus of effective prayer is not us, but God. Prayer has less to do with the specifics of how we say what we say, and more to do with the one to whom we are saying it.

We pray as ordinary people who have an extraordinary God. We’re just normal, you and I. We’re just normal like Elijah. Prayer is effective, not because of great men who pray, but because of a great God who in Christ graciously hears his people.

He’s the main ingredient. So pray.

7 Ways To Pray Your Heart by Jon Bloom

Over the years, as I’ve prayed for my own heart, I’ve accumulated seven “D’s” that I have found helpful. Maybe you’ll find them helpful as well.

With seven you can use them a number of ways. You might choose one “D” per day. Or you could choose one “D” as a theme for a week and pray through these every seven weeks. You’ll also note that I have a verse for each prayer. But over time as you pray more verses will come to mind and you might find it helpful to collect them so they are right at hand as the Spirit leads.

I begin each prayer with the phrase “whatever it takes, Lord” because the Bible teaches us to be bold and wholehearted in our praying, not reticent. I also use the phrase because it tests my heart. How much do I want God and all he promises to be for me in Jesus? Do I really want true joy enough to ask for my Father’s loving discipline to wean me from joy-stealing sin? And how much do I trust him? Do I really believe that he will only give me what is good when I ask in faith (Luke 11:11–13)? “Whatever it takes” prayers help me press toward and express childlike trust in the Father.

Delight: Whatever it takes, Lord, give me delight in you as the greatest treasure of my heart.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Desires: Whatever it takes, Lord, align the desires of my heart with yours.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9–10)

Dependence: Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my awareness of my dependence on you in everything so that I will live continually by faith.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Discernment: Whatever it takes, Lord, teach me to discern good from evil through the rigorous exercise of constant practice.

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:14)

Desperation: Whatever it takes, Lord, keep me desperate for you because I tend to wander when I stop feeling my need for you.

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” (Psalm 119:67)

Discipline: Whatever it takes, Lord, discipline me for my good that I may share your holiness and bear the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

“He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:10–11)

Diligence: Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my resolve to do your will with all diligence.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16)

These are just suggestions. The Lord may lead you to pray in other ways. But however he teaches us, whatever means we find helpful, may God cause us all to grow in faith until we pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and never lose heart (Luke 18:1).

How To Pray For Your City by Bliss Spillar

Bliss Spillar is assistant to the lead pastor at Portico Church in Charlottesville. He blogs at BlissSpillar.com.

When we think about the book of Acts, we usually think about the beginning of the church, the miracles performed by the Apostles, the work of the Holy Spirit, the conversion of Paul, and so on.

Too often, we overlook a wonderful thread that weaves its way throughout the entire book. The early church was made up of Christians that were dedicated not only to the gospel, to community, to mission but also toprayer (Acts 1:24, 2:42, 4:24-31 6:6, 16:25, 20:36  and many more).

It is easy to neglect praying for our cities I believe for three reasons.

First, if we were to be honest, many of us believe that the “heavy lifting” of ministering to our city comes in the form of our Sunday gatherings, community groups, missional events, etc. While these things are necessary, when it comes to prayer we are often times (as Jeff Vanderstelt puts it) “functional atheists.”

Secondly, we forget how important prayer is to God. In Jeremiah, God instructs the prophet,

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf…” (Jer. 29:7).

Jesus in the Gospels commands the disciples,

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38).

From beginning to end, the call to pray is commanded in scripture and not something to be abandoned. 

Finally, we are a prideful people. I am often reminding myself that I am a workman in a field that does not belong to me, using tools that do not belong to me, reaping a harvest that does not belong to me, and working for a glory that does not belong to me (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). By His grace, making prayer for my city a priority has allowed the Spirit to remind me that God alone saves and God alone deserves glory for redemption.

During a sermon on 1 Peter 2:7, Charles Spurgeon made the statement, “Every Christian here is either a missionary or an impostor.”

A disciple of Christ is a life on mission, one that I believe is marked deeply by prayer for the people God has sent them to. Our states, our cities, our neighborhoods desperately need the life-giving renewal and redemption that flow from Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

Praying for the mission of God in our cities is one of the beautiful ways we join God in His renewal and redemption of our city. Let us be people who are marked not just by lives on mission in the everyday, but people who intercede daily and earnestly on behalf of our cities.

Below I have listed out prayers that we have recently been utilizing to pray for our city. My prayer even now, is that the Lord would use these to glorify Himself in the redemption and renewal of your city.

• Sunday - That the Gospel would be boldly and unashamedly proclaimed in our local churches. That our churches would be places for the broken, unwanted and hurting. That Christ will be offered as the only remedy for the very thing we cannot do, make our selves better or save ourselves.
• Monday - Pray that Romans 8:35-39 would become a reality. Pray for yourself, for your family, for your pastors, for your church. That our hope would be found in Christ and in Christ alone and that his hope would produce Gospel boldness in our lives.
• Tuesday - Pray Matthew 6:10 over your city. Spend this day replacing the word “earth” with the name of your city… for me it is “In Charlottesville as it is in heaven”.
• Wednesday - Pray that the Spirit would weed out the sin in your life that has kept you from living a life on mission. That He would open up opportunities for you to be present and intentional with the gospel in your neighborhood. Pray for your neighbors by name.
• Thursday - Pray boldly Psalms 33:8 over your city.  The the people would stand in awe before Him.
• Friday - Pray Habakkuk 3:2 over your city. That the Lord’s love, wrath, justice and mercy would be made known in the City.
• Saturday: Pray that the Lord would increase our burden for our city. That our love and growth in the Gospel would produce a desire to see others saved, and grow in their love and understanding of who God is, what He has done and what He is doing. 

The Son Of God Is Praying For You by David Burnette

It’s a great comfort to know that other believers are praying for us. When difficult times come, or even amid the normal anxieties and struggles of life, we want to know that someone is pleading with God on our behalf. James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person has great power (Js 5:16).

But as comforting as it may be to know that we are being prayed for by other believers, nothing compares to the comfort of knowing that we are being prayed for by Jesus Christ Himself. That’s right, Hebrews 7:25 tells us that the Son of God is interceding on our behalf: 

“Consequently, he [Jesus Christ] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Take comfort, believer, knowing that your faith can stand firm in the midst of worries, trials, and suffering in this life. Your confidence is not ultimately in your own faithfulness, or even in the faithfulness of other believers to plead with God on your behalf. Your confidence should be in the faithfulness of Christ, who lived, died, rose again, and now intercedes on your behalf. Your endurance in faith is a direct result of His intercession.

Consider briefly three reasons to be confident in Christ’s intercession:

1) As Lord of all, Jesus knows exactly what to pray for you.  You may struggle to know exactly what it is you need, but Jesus never has this problem. He knows us intimately, and He knows precisely what will work for our eternal good. Nothing in your life perplexes Him or catches Him off guard.

2) As the Savior who has died for you, His goal is your eternal good. You can be confident in the heart of Jesus. Not only does He know what you need, but also He wants to bring it about. Whatever your desire may be for your own holiness and faithfulness, His is greater.

3) As the beloved Son of God, Jesus’ prayers are always answered. The Father’s answer to the Son’s petition will never be “No,” for the Son’s will is perfectly aligned with the Father’s. As our Advocate, Jesus intercedes on behalf of sinners, and we know He is heard because John tells us that our Advocate is also our propitiation (1 Jn 2:1-2). He intercedes with the Father on the basis of His perfectly sufficient death on the cross.

Just as Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would be able to overcome Satan’s faith-destroying purposes (Lk 22:31-32), so He sustains believers today through His faithful intercession and by the power of His Spirit. So no matter how you are tempted or how bleak your circumstances may seem, if you belong to God you can be confident of this: Jesus Christ is praying for you. And His prayers are always answered.

Sam Storms on Anxiety and Prayer

 Anxiety is rooted in self, while prayer is rooted in God.

 Anxiety is the fruit of a narrow, constricted view of life. The only thing one can see is the problems or perplexities surrounding us. Prayer is the fruit of a broad and expansive view of life in which God is so big that everything else, even our worst problems and worries, shrink into insignificance.

 Anxiety is horizontal in focus. Prayer, on the other hand, is vertical in focus. That is to say, when you worry you are consumed with looking to the left and to the right, forward and backward. When you pray, you can’t help but look up.

 Anxiety never raises your eyes above your problems, your situation and circumstances. Prayer raises your eyes above and beyond yourself to God and his power.

 Anxiety looks to self to solve problems. Prayer looks to God to endure problems.

 When you are anxious, your circumstances and problems control you; they have sovereignty over you; you invest in them a power and authority to shape your life. When you are prayerful your circumstances shrink and are devoid of any such power to shape your life.

 Anxiety is a concern over circumstances you can’t control Prayer is confidence in the God who controls your circumstances.

 Anxiety is an expression of fear. Prayer is an expression of faith.

(Notes from a sermon by Sam Storms)

Spurgeon on Worry and Prayer

A farmer stood in his fields and said,

I do not know what will happen to us all.

The wheat will be destroyed if this rain keeps on.

We shall not have any harvest at all unless we have some fine weather.

 

He walked up and down, wringing his hands, fretting and making his whole household uncomfortable.

And he did not produce one single gleam of sunlight by all his worrying—he could not puff any of the clouds away with all his petulant speech, nor could he stop a drop of rain with all his murmurings.

What is the good of it, then, to keep gnawing at your own heart, when you can get nothing by it? . . . .

In the same sermon Spurgeon offers another illustration:

I have often used the illustration (I do not know a better) of taking a telescope, breathing on it with the hot breath of our anxiety, putting it to our eye and then saying that we cannot see anything but clouds!

Of course we cannot, and we never shall while we breathe upon it.

- Charles Spurgeon 

Twenty Guidelines For Effective Prayer

From: ‘Prayer Changes Everything,  written by Bennie Mostert

• Persevere in prayer (Luke 18:1)
 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not
give up.”

• Pray with confidence (Heb. 4:16)
 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

• Resist the devil (Jas. 4:7)
 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

• Allow God to work (Ps. 37:5)
 “Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do ...”

• Pray specifically (Phil. 4:19; 4:6)
 “And my God will meet all your needs … in everything, by prayer and petition … present
your requests to God.”
•
 Pray in Jesus’ Name (John 4:13-14)
 “And I will do whatever you ask in my Name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
You may ask Me for anything in my Name and I will do it.”

• Pray in faith (Mark 11:22-24)
 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain:
‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he
says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it and it will be yours.”

• Pray according to God’s promises (2 Cor. 1:20)
 “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through
Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

• Don’t try to dictate to God (Isa. 55:8-9)
 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.”

God is almighty (Eph. 1:19-21)
 “ … and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of
his mighty strength which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, and dominion, and every little that can
be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

• Pray according to God’s will (1 John 5:14-15)
 “This is the assurance we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his
will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have
what we asked of Him.”

• Pray with expectation (Jer. 33:3)
“Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not
know.”

• Praise and thank God for answers (Ps. 100)
 “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, serve the Lord with gladness … ”

• Obey God and live a holy life (1 John 3:21-22)
 “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive
from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.”

• Confess and break with all conscious and unconfessed sin (Prov. 28:9, 13)
 “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable … He who conceals
his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

• Pray fervently and earnestly (Jas. 5:16)
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

• Pray from your position of authority in Christ (Eph. 2:6)
 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ
Jesus … ”

• Saturate your prayers in praise and worship (Rom. 11:33-36)
 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his
judgments and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who
has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from
Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever! Amen.”

 Wait upon the Lord so that He can answer you (Isa. 40:31; Ps. 145:15)
 “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like
eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isa. 40:31).
 “The eyes of all look to You and You give them their food at the proper time” (Ps. 145:15).

• Be honest with God in your prayers; do not try to hide things or misrepresent things
to God (Ps. 139:23-24)

“Search me, O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if
there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting

How Prayer Glorifies God by John Piper

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4)

This verse took on a powerful new meaning for me in my early twenties when I was discovering new dimensions of the greatness of God. This discovery was coming in the form of teaching that God could not be served, but that he shows his power by serving us.

This was mind boggling to me. I had always taken for granted that the greatness of God consisted in his right to demand service. And, of course, in one sense, that’s true. After all, didn’t Paul call himself a “servant of the Lord” over and over?

But what about Acts 17:25? “God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” And what about Mark 10:45? “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

These verses clobbered me.

The Son does not want to be served, but to serve? God does not want to be served, but to give all people everything? Then there were verses like 2 Chronicles 16:9. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” God is searching for people for whom he can show his strength.

And then Isaiah 64:4: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” The old Revised Standard Version, in which I originally memorized it, said, “…who works for those who wait for him.” Yes. Amazing. God never hangs out a “Help Wanted” sign. His sign is always: “Strong Help Available.”

It all began to make sense. God aims to glorify himself in everything he does. And the glory of his self-sufficient power and wisdom shines most brightly not when he looks like he depends on the work of others, but when he makes plain that he himself does the work. He has the broad shoulders.

And what makes this so amazing for prayer is that he virtually invites us to load him down with our burdens: “Do not be anxious about anything, but . . . let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). “Cast all your anxieties on him . . . .” (1 Peter 5:7). This invitation takes on tremendous power when we see God’s glory is at stake.

If we come to him thinking he needs our help, we make him look needy. But if we remember that his strength is shown in working for us, then we are motivated to come with new confidence. Okay, Lord, here is my impossible situation. Please show yourself strong. Help me.

Waiting for the Lord means turning to him for help rather than turning first to man. Then, patiently, we trust him to act in his time. Those who do so are those for whom he promises to work. “The Lord works for those who wait for him.”

I need thee, O I need thee;
Every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to thee.