What should I pray for?

You have downloaded the Prayer Pals app because you know you need to pray, but you find yourself wondering what to pray. This might not have been the only time prayer has been on your mind. Perhaps 2017 was going to be the year for prayer and you started off well in January, but tapered off in mid-February. You are not alone in your desire to improve your life of faith through communing with God in prayer. You may also be relieved to know that even Christians walking by faith for years have had this struggle and there is a solution along with a few ideas that can get you on your way to a prayer life that you are searching for.

Part of the solution is to just relax. While this is easy advice and people give this advice for every topic, it is particularly true in this situation. Take a moment and think about the fact that God wants to hear from His children. This is great place to stop and ask the question. Are you a child of God? Some people will tell you that we are all children of God, but Jesus teaches that no one comes to the Father except through Him. If you want to be a child of God, you need to begin with the The Ultimate Prayer, and begin your walk with Jesus Christ.

Even as a child of God, finding things to pray for doesn’t always come naturally for everyone. Some people have been given the gift of intersession, which is a fancy word for being able to pray on the behalf of others. If you have not been given this gift, it doesn’t mean you do not need to pray. Everyone should pray; it is how we communicate with God and is a vital part of our relationship with Him. If you have a friend that you never talk to, over time, you will drift apart. The more you talk to God, the more you will find you want to. I personally have quick 1-2 sentence conversations with Him all day rather than long formal prayer sessions. However, I still enjoy the long prayer session when it happens and it is this time that I have struggled in the past with what to pray for.

The first thing most of us pray for is our current situation. We may be struggling to make payments, or be between jobs; perhaps we have been fighting an illness. There is nothing wrong with asking God for your own personal needs. The next thing people typically pray for is for our loved one’s needs. The same situations may exist for a close friend or family member and we will ask God on behalf of them to intervene and help their situation. Sometimes people we see infrequently may ask us to pray for them, or we might offer to pray for their situation. Many Facebook posts have a reply, “you are in our prayers” when we hear of a tragedy. These are things we could and should pray for. The problem for me in the past has been to remember these things during prayer time.

When you use the Prayer Pals app, you can create a prayer for people so you won’t forget to pray for them later. This a simple way to have legitimate topics of prayer. Praying for others unites us as Christians and helps build our faith. Focusing on other people in our prayers is something we see in the Bible and something God intended. When a prayer is answered for someone you have been praying for, you will be filled with joy at the news.

If you don’t know anyone personally that is in need of prayer, you can use the same approach for people you do not know. Open the Global Prayers section in the app and you will see people that have needs. The global section of the app is filled with people’s needs as well as patterns of prayer from other app community members and it can be helpful in developing your prayer life.

Praying for others is really important and should be an integral part of our prayer list, but praying for ourselves should also be included. Prayer gives us a chance to be honest with God about who we are and our motives for doing things. He already knows these things so it is more for your benefit to acknowledge them and ask God to help you with them. One exercise I did a few years back was to list all the things that I was not good at from a spiritual perspective. The Bible mentions traits that are demonstrated in a life of faith and these things develop over time with God’s help. I have listed a few examples at the bottom.

After I listed the areas I knew I could improve, I put them in a paragraph form asking God to help me with them. I titled it my Daily prayer and prayed it almost everyday for a few years. I practically had it memorized from reading it so much. One day recently, I realized that the things I needed help on have changed and God has slowly answered my prayer making me more like Him. I have since done a new evaluation and started the process over again.

This would make a great first prayer if you have no other ideas. If you feel like there are no areas in which you can improve and all your friends and family are safe and healthy, you can make a simple prayer asking God to show you what you can do for Him and ask Him to direct your footsteps. Sincerely asking God to direct your footsteps is something that you will never go wrong with.

We talked about topics for creating a first prayer for yourself, thinking about people in your life that may have a need and looking in the global section of the Prayer Pals app to give you something to pray for. I hope these ideas inspire you to pray more often with a purpose and connect with your creator. I pray for every global prayer that is posted and I know other people do as well. I also pray for everyone that is using the app and hope to bring prayer to the front of our minds. We need prayer now more than ever I and together we can inspire others to pray! Tell a friend.

Scriptures about the traits of a life a faith

Ephesians 5:8-10

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

1 Peter 3:8-12

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For

“He who would love life

And see good days,

Let him [c]refrain his tongue from evil,

And his lips from speaking deceit.

Let him turn away from evil and do good;

Let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

And His ears are open to their prayers;

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”