If you had to guess, how many prayers do you think are included throughout the Bible?
Although sources vary, in his book All the Prayers of the Bible, Herbert Lockyer listed 650. Some say there are 450 recorded answers to prayer.
Depending on the translation you read, the number of times forms of the word pray/prayer are used differ as well, but the English Standard Version (ESV) has more than 320 instances.
Regardless of the actual count, Christians can agree on the importance of prayer. Here are just a few instances of the many times the Bible addresses prayer.
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
Matthew 6:9–13 ESV
The Lord’s Prayer is a beam of light piercing us through with the good news of who God is and what he’s done to redeem his people. Yet despite this, many Christians have a difficult time with prayer generally, and don’t grasp the Lord’s Prayer specifically.
Prayer is a gift that eludes many of us. Like the sighting of a rare animal, it’s there for a moment, or even a season, and then gone again to hibernate somewhere we can’t seem to reach it. We struggle to capture the habit of prayer with any consistency.
Jesus tamed prayer when he gave us the Lord’s Prayer. Here is a prayer that even children can say. I remember my mother leading me in the Lord’s Prayer when I was just three or four years old. Once I had it memorized, I’d recite it nightly, thinking then that it was mostly a ward against nightmares. More than thirty years later, I’ve come to see that the Lord’s Prayer is a safeguard against evil—but it’s also much more. It’s the gift of fellowship with the Holy Trinity, insight into God’s purpose for your life, and a shovel for unearthing the treasures of grace. I hope to share this all with you in the pages ahead.
~ Adriel Sanchez in Praying with Jesus
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ESV
Prayer is the welcome, oxygen, landscape, surgery, feast, playground, ocean, horizon, and sanctuary where we come alive to the God of love, and the love of God— the only love better than life (Psalm 63:3), the only love that will never let go of us. This is the kind of “fellowship” into which we are called with our Father and Jesus.
Fellowship with God connects us with him at many levels—from the intimate to the mundane, worshipping him in spirit and truth, and walking with him in laughter and lament, getting still and getting loud. This is certainly what the Scriptures have in mind when they call us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Rightfully understood, we pray without ceasing like we breathe without ceasing. All of life is to be lived before the face of God, and all of life requires both air and grace.
~ Scotty Smith in Why Should I Pray?
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with
groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26 ESV
Why do we pray? We need hope. We need to know that the King will come and wipe away every tear from our eyes, that there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain anymore. We need indestructible friendship. We need the presence of God himself in our lives. We pray real prayers because we know that what we most need is to know him.
So how do we pray? This flows straight out of the why. You must get down to your elemental need and get down to God’s elemental promises. When you bring those together, then you speak straightforwardly to the one who can help you. Our needs correlate to these attributes of who God is—his character, what he does, what he thinks, what he promises.
~ David Powlison in Take Heart
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:5–6 NIV
It’s hard to be gentle if you are not rejoicing. If you’re not rejoicing, but wallowing in frustration and anxieties, and somebody crosses you, you want to strangle him. But if you’re rejoicing, knowing that you’re part of God’s plan, there’s a resurrection ahead for you, and you’re in the Lord, you can afford to be gentle. Gentle means the opposite of contentious and self-seeking. The basic idea is bigheartedness and tenderheartedness because you know that Jesus is coming back and he is bringing a glorious resurrection!
A life of prayer is the capstone of it all. We are told not to worry, but to pray. Prayer includes a reverent attitude, and the recognition of God as sovereign, in control, and working all things together for my good. Christ is interested in what you pray and wants to bring you near to God. For that reason, you can put aside worry and pray. Prayer is a privilege and a duty, but it’s also a condition. You’re not going to be fulfilled as a Christian unless you realize that prayer is the condition of all that happens in the kingdom. The kingdom moves not by human power but by prayer.
~ C. John Miller in Saving Grace
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.
Psalm 62:8 ESV
You might be giving our heavenly Father the silent treatment right now. There are pains, struggles, confusion, and complaint that you have brought to everybody but him. As a lady recently said to me, “God and I are not on speaking terms.” And even if you are warmed by his invite to “pour out your hearts to him” (Psalm 62:8), you may find guilt that comes from avoiding your Father to be a temptation for you to stay away longer because you fear that you will not receive a warm welcome.
The apostle Paul has his own story of praying during a protracted period of pain. He speaks to the Corinthian church of facing the terrible possibility that the Lord might not pull the thorn out: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me” (2 Corinthians 12:8).
His struggle was not sanitized or triumphalistic but gritty and real. He offers back to us again the hope that in vulnerable, confused, and weak-seeming prayer, we are connected to the promises of redemption in Christ and a Father who hears the pleading of his children. We, far from being abandoned, are offered a warm welcome that he has personally provided at his own expense.
~ Ste Casey in I Prayed and Nothing Changed
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
Psalm 130:1–8
Turning from our own way and trusting God should be an everyday part of our Christian lives. It’s not just for the first time we ask God for forgiveness in Jesus’s name. It’s an everyday prayer, because we are everyday wanderers. And psalms like Psalm 130 show us the way.
When it comes to confession, there is no better way to start than by acknowledging to God that we, like the psalmist, are in the depths—a place of stormy seas, where there is no firm ground and death threatens (Psalm 69:2). Our tendency to go our own way puts us in extreme danger. The psalmist knows this and cries out to God. Why so desperate? Because the Lord sees deep into our hearts, knows our every thought, can tell what selfish motives lie behind even the kind things we do, and requires us to be like him—perfect in thought, word, and actions.
~ Barbara Miller Juliani and Patric Knaak in Psalms: Real Prayers for Real Life
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the dayhe saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”
Acts 10:1–4 ESV
Did you notice the testimonies in Acts 10 and 11? When Peter first shows up, Cornelius shares about God’s work in him and what God spoke to him: “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God” (10:31). Peter’s response is to tell how God has helped him grow in his understanding of what the gospel is all about: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality” (10:34). Later Peter testifies for the council and they too understand that by faith in Christ alone we are saved. Simply telling what the Lord has done, both for us and in us, helps others keep believing that the gospel is true.
And that gospel story is central to our testimony and to all we do. Acts says that when Peter got to Cornelius’s house, he “opened his mouth” (10:34) and out came the gospel. Peter preached the good news of peace that Jesus is Lord. He told how Jesus came, and lived, and died, and rose, and how “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (v. 43).
That’s when “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word” (v. 44). This gospel message, wrapped and folded into everything we do, is the power of God to save people and to change you. Your right stand-ing with God gives you the courage to talk about what God is doing in you. It gives you the ability to tell your neighbor about your faith regardless of how messed up your life has been—or is now. It gives you the power to love and care for people who are different from you. This message, that we are sinners and Jesus is a Savior of sinners, changes everything for every kind of person.
~ Howard Brown in Acts: The Power that Changes the World
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the
mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Ephesians 6:16–20 ESV
Paul’s final words to his friends in Ephesus included a request, a gift, and a benediction. After admonishing the believers to stay alert, keep growing, and pray for each other (6:18), Paul humbles himself and asks for prayer for himself—always the mark of a great gospel leader.
Never feigning sufficiency or foolishly relying on his marvelous gifts, Paul depended on the prayers of others. He who never lacked words asked for the right words—Spirit words to boldly proclaim the gospel as an ambassador in chains in Rome, and long thereafter. He could have asked the Ephesians to pray for his release from prison, but instead his prayers were all about the advancement of the gospel.
~ Scotty Smith in Ephesians: The Love We Long For
As you pray with your children and talk about prayer, you can share these verses with them as well.
Here is what we can be sure of when we come to God in prayer.
If we ask anything in keeping with what he wants, he hears us.
1 John 5:14 NIrV
God talks to us through his Word and, when we pray, we can talk to God just like we talk to a friend. God promises that he always hears us. We can tell God how much we love him and ask for his help. We can ask God to help others too. When Jesus lived on earth, his friends often saw him praying, and Jesus told them to pray too. Because they were not sure what to say to God, they asked Jesus to teach them to pray. We call the prayer that Jesus taught them the “Lord’s Prayer” (see Matthew 6:9–13).
~ Marty Machowski in The Ology
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV
When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we’re asking God to sustain us, to take care of us, and to supply our needs. Maybe you’ve never had to worry about whether you’ll have clothes to wear, a roof over your head, or food to eat. But even if it seems like all your needs are met, this prayer reminds us that it’s God who sustains us.
We depend on God’s provision. The air we breathe, food we eat, and bed we sleep in are all gifts from him, so God wants us to come to him humbly and gratefully every day. He wants us to ask for what we need even if we don’t feel like we’re in need. He wants to remind us that every good and perfect gift comes from him, so that we don’t depend on ourselves, but trust him.
Praying “Give us this day our daily bread” is a reminder that God is a loving Father who wants to care for his children. When we worry and doubt that we’ll have enough, we can cast all of our anxieties on him, knowing that he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
~ Kevin Hippolyte, Jared Kennedy, and Trey Kullman in Faith Builder Catechism
