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The Content of Prayer

"What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more" - Robert Murray M'Cheyne1

This page is the result of reading D. A. Carson's, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, which is an examination of some of Paul's prayers as recorded in the New Testament, and discusses what key issues are prayed for by the Apostle. Carson Himself says in the work that it is not a "how-to" manual on prayer2, yet it does answer many questions and guides on many issues.

What is contained below is an attempt to list those things which God wants us to pray about - these are prayer points "according to the will of God". They are not a recipe for success, but a good guide for what to pray when praying for yourself, others and spiritual leaders. The content is mostly a summary of the conclusions that Carson reached, and a few other obvious guiding principles, which have been sorted into five categories: -

What to Pray When Praying For Yourself
What to Pray When Praying For Other Believers
What to Pray When Praying For Non-believers
What to Pray When Praying For Spiritual Leaders
Other Thoughts

What to Pray When Praying For Yourself (top)

Confess your sin (this is of utmost importance if you wish to reform your prayer life).

Confess known and unknown sin.
Ask to be convicted of unknown sin that you may address it.

Pray that you would become more holy.

That through God's strength you may be 'found worthy of the calling you have received' (cf. Eph. 4:1, 2 Thess. 1:11).
That the transforming power of Christ would be shown in you, and hence your witness empowered.

Pray that your life would be lived in glory to the Lord.

That you may remain focussed on the Kingdom - that you value the things of God and not the things of this world.
That you would seek what is best - whatever is best for you to attain spiritual maturity.
That the things you do to please God would be blessed and used by Him, and would bring glory to Jesus.
That you may be filled with a knowledge of God's will so that in all areas of your life you can please God by living His way, and bring glory to His name by being an obedient and good ambassador for Him.
That you may encourage others.

Pray that you would better grasp the love of Christ - and this not merely an intellectual understanding, but an appreciation of it within yourself.

What to Pray When Praying For Other Believers (top)

Prayers for others must flow from a genuine love of them and desire to serve them...

Give thanks for places where God has worked in their lives

Their faith, love, perseverance etc. (and you can tell them what you thank God for about them to encourage them).
Their ministry?
Their impact upon your life

Pray for their growth

That they would continue to be blessed with growth in those areas you gave thanks for, and other areas.
That you would be able to strengthen and encourage them.
That they might overflow with love.
That they may be so strengthened in heart that they may be blameless and holy when the end comes.
That they would better grasp the love of Christ - and this not merely an intellectual understanding, but an appreciation of it within themselves.

Pray that their life would be lived in glory to the Lord.

That they may remain focussed on the Kingdom - that they value the things of God and not the things of this world.
That they would seek what is best - whatever is best for them to attain spiritual maturity.
That the things they do to please God would be blessed and used by Him, and would bring glory to Jesus.
That they may be filled with a knowledge of God's will so that in all areas of their life they can please God by living His way, and bring glory to His name by being an obedient and good ambassador for Him.
That they may encourage others.

What to Pray When Praying For Non-believers (top)

That they may know God

That God's name may be glorified in them
That they may experience His love

That God can use them to bring glory to His name.

What to Pray When Praying For Spiritual Leaders (top)

Pray these in addition to the other things to pray when praying for other believers. If you are a spiritual leader, pray the following for yourself too.

Pray that they may be rescued from the opposition of outsiders who try to destroy their ministry.
Pray that they may find that their service is appreciated and used by those to whom they are ministering.
Pray that God would continue to use them, and to use them in different and new ways, to His glory.

Other Thoughts (top)

Approach

Pray with consistency, earnestness and persistence.
Pray widely - even for people you haven't met, and situations which you have only vaguely heard of.

Content

Joyfully give thanks to God in all situations for His Son, for our salvation, and for all His other blessings.
Pray concerning things of the Kingdom - know what God values and pray concerning that, not what this world values - the things important to God must be important to us.
Pray for what is excellent - that love would increase in order that the will of God may be approved.

Possible hindrances...

Concerning feelings of injustice in this world, pray with the knowledge that ultimately, believers will receive undeserved reward, whereas unbelievers will receive deserved punishment.
Concerning unanswered prayer: God answers all prayers brought to Him by believers through Christ - but He answers them in His own time, in His own way. If you are disappointed that your prayers seem unfruitful, you must trust God and consider how you would treat prayer that was always answered the way you wanted. I think I'd treat it as a bit of a wish list...

Have correct understanding

Know that everything we ask for in prayer is only available by grace - God owes us nothing!
In general, there is a cycle: Knowing God's will as revealed in the Bible (i.e., having good understanding of theology) leads to a better understanding of God, which leads to better praying, which in turn will lead back to better understanding of God's will and so on.

Understand God's power

When praying, appreciate that God is in complete control of everything - but that His control does not remove responsibility from humans. If you pray correctly, God is graciously working out His purposes through you and in you - He is using you and your prayer to accomplish His purposes; and the prayer, though yours, is at the same time the result of God's powerful work in you through the Spirit to bring about that prayer.
Remember to whom it is that you are praying - nothing is too hard for God! He is the one who created and sustains all, who parted the waves and who sent His Son for us - remember to whom you are praying! He is able to give all that we ask and more!

Carson's Book (top)

If you are truly desiring to grow in your prayer life, I cannot recommend highly enough that you read Carson's A Call to Spiritual Reformation. That's: Carson, D.A., "A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities From Paul and His Prayers", Baker Books, 1992.

Other studies in this section (top)

Introduction: A short history of my prayer life - hopefully an encouragement to persistence!
The Approach to Prayer: Tips for a consistent and meaningful prayer life.

An Example Prayer List (PDF): The prayer list I find most useful (PDF).
A Template Prayer List (MS Word 2000): The template of the prayer list I find most useful (Microsoft Word 2000).

The Theology of Prayer examined and explained: What the Bible tells us about prayer.
The Content of Prayers: What we should be praying about and for, and praying in-line with God's will.
Prayer Points for this site

1 Robert Murray M'Cheyne, cited by Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and his prayers, Baker, 1992, p.16. (jump back to text)

2 ibid., p.208. (jump back to text)