Praying Biblically

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.” – Oswald Chambers

One of the more helpful discoveries in growing to pray “before we do anything at all” has been that the Bible tells us what (and who) to pray for and about. Now, we can go beyond these things in prayer but, we can always begin with these “Biblical” prayer points:

For one another. James 5:16 and Ephesians 6:18 remind us to pray for our fellow Christians; our church family is a great place to start. May I suggest using your church directory as a great way to pray for one another?

For authorities. 1 Timothy 2:2 urges prayer first and foremost for those in authority in government. Pray for the president, the US Congress, the governor, state house/senate, local elected officials, law enforcement, and judges on the local, state and federal level. Humbly I might suggest focusing on local authorities first as their decisions often have a greater impact on our day to day life than others. Whatever the case, pray for authorities to use their power as they ought so that human flourishing can grow.

For the spread of the Gospel. Matthew 9:37-38, Luke 10:2, 2 Thessalonians 3:1 and Colossians 4:3 all record our need to pray for the increase of Gospel witness in our world. We are to pray for God to raise up even more Gospel ambassadors and for their effectiveness to increase. Pray for international workers and ministries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Pray for Katie Lucius and her work with CRU in Slovenia. For effectiveness in sharing the Gospel for you and our church family as well.

For those who lead, feed and care for the church family. Colossians 3:2, 1 Thessalonians 3:1 and Hebrews 13:7 call us to pray for and remember the elders and leaders in the local church. We need your prayers. The leadership (elders, board members, deacons/deaconesses, paid staff) are seeking to serve you and our community well but we cannot do this well unless we are supported in prayer. The Enemy of our souls, loves to target leaders because if he succeeds in attacking/harassing them, he often slows the work of the church as a whole.

For persecutors and the persecuted. Matthew 5:44 and Hebrews 13:3 give us both sides of the persecution coin. We are to pray for those who persecute Christians (they could be people we know personally or people/governments/groups) and we are to remember those who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus. One great tool to pray in this area is the World Watch List. If you pray for one country on the list, once a week, you will pray for the 50 hardest places to be a Christian on the planet once a year.

For concerns and cares. Philippians 4:6, 1 Peter 5:7 and James 5:13 remind us to pray about what causes us anxiety, what burdens us with care and if we are in trouble. These can be personal cares but they can also be the cares and concerns of others.

Find all of this overwhelming? I do too. For me, the best plan has been to try to pray for one of these areas each day. Since there are 6 of them, I can miss a day and still get through the list in a week. If you are just beginning to grow in prayer, tackle one a week. In the space of a month and a half you’ve prayed through them all. The key thing is to pray. Prayer is the primary work of the people of God after all. Colossians 4:2 urges us, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Here is a great video about the impact of prayer: Fred Hartley’s Testimony