Jesus instructed all believers to live prayerful lives. Since there are different problems surrounding us, we ought to know the relevant things to pray for.
Have you thought of why sometimes you barely get to know about the things to pray for? Look, the Bible has instructed us to pray at all times and on every occasion. You are not limited to praying for yourself, family, friends, and loved ones alone. Child of God, don’t be selfish. Get those suffering around the world in your prayers too.
You surely need proper prayer planning or the knowledge of the things you should pray for. And here I will talk about some of the important, relevant, and simple things to extend your prayers to.
Take a look a these Bible characters and the things they prayed for which the Lord answered!:
• Hannah and Sarai prayed for a baby
• Solomon asked for wisdom
• Jabez prayed for blessing and expansion of his territory (1 Chronicles 4:10)
• Jacob radically asked the Lord to bless him
• King David prayed for victory, protection, blessings etc
• Hezekiah asked for healing, good health and long life (Isaiah 38:5)
• The apostles prayed for endurance and expansion of the church through the power of the Holy Spirit
I know there are hundreds to thousands of things that will come into play but as an individual or even a group of faithful believers, you can’t cover all at a go. That is why strategic plans like using prayer boards help you to be motivated to stand on your feet.
A friend of mine used to tell me he has a list of people he often prays for. Wow! That’s simply awesome and a praiseworthy idea.
Sadly, many Christians do not know what to talk about with God in prayers. They fail to acknowledge that Yahweh is our Father, I mean a loving and compassionate Father who is always ready to listen to us.
Jesus called us friends/brothers, not slaves. So talk to him as a good friend. Surely there will be more things to communicate to him.
7 Things Christians Should Pray About
1. Your Personal Relationship With God
It is imperative to build strong ties with the Holy Spirit. Let God be the first and best person to talk to. Begin your prayers by praising the Lord, confessing your sins etc,
• Praise His Holy name
Never fail to exalt the Lord daily. He is worthy to be praised. And when your praises go up, you flex the mighty arm of the Lord. God loves it when you praise him. Thousands of angels praise and worship him day and night.
Tell about his greatness and how he has displayed his power in creation: the moon, sun, stars, mountains, hills, Valley, oceans, the innumerable animals on land in the sea and in the air. He is Awesome!
“Praise the LORD, O my soul! With all that is within me, praise his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1)
He is worthy to be praised. Let greater part of your prayer be full of praises and worship. It’s one of the secrets to the Holy Spirit’s visitation and angelic visitation.
• Ask For Forgiveness
In your prayers, fail not to ask for forgiveness. Because you are flesh and blood. You make several mistakes and sin against the Lord. Accept this weakness and ask the Lord to forgive you your sins (both conscious and unconscious).
Ask Jehovah Mekadesh to cleanse you from your sins and make you worthy of His sight. Jesus said we should worship his Father in truth and spirit (John 4:23 – 24)
• Ask For The Holy Spirit To Fill You
The Comforter, Advocate, and Teacher (Holy Spirit) is available for anyone who asks for him. You must pray asking the Spirit of God to fill you, direct, and lead you to righteousness.
• Give Thanks To God / Gratefulness
Pray to show gratefulness to the Lord. Show how appreciative you are of all the things he has done for you. Tell him that you are happy to be alive, healthy, and still breathing.
Tell him how grateful you are by listing specific things he has done for you. Thank the Lord for the things he has done in your life, that of your parents, family, friends, etc (thank him for the things you remember and those you don’t remember).
Always give thanks to the Lord —for his Faithfulness endures forever. You can use songs/hymns to demonstrate your appreciation. The more you appreciate the little things, the more God blesses you with more needful things that will beat your understanding.
Other Things You Need From God
• Protection
In your daily life, the devil uses different strategies to destroy you. In the spiritual realm, a lot of activities go on against the children of God. Do not be ignorant of this. pray prayers for the Lord’s protection from misfortunes, temptations, and all the evil schemes against your life.
In all, pray to submit your entire life into the hands of the Lord. This format of praying should be daily or continuous.
“With all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)
Tell God to set a wall of fire around you and drive out all demons and evil people away from you. David relied on God for protection and He never failed him.
David said prayers such as this:
“O LORD my God, in you I have taken shelter. Deliver me from all who chase me! Rescue me!” (Psalm 7:1)
• Good Health And Long Life
Imagine waking up in the morning and feeling very sick. You wouldn’t be able to do anything. It is therefore good to pray for the good health. Health is priceless and so must be prioritized.
If your health is bad or deteriorating, ask the Lord to heal you, you may use these prayers for good health as your guide.
• Pray For Your Own Development And Progress
The Lord delights in your progress and happiness. You should also pray for your own progress in all facets of life. Being successful or prosperous through the Lord isn’t an abomination.
Pray and rely on the Lord for both spiritual and physical blessings. Stand firm and pray against all obstruction against your success, marriage, job, business etc, God’s blessing surpasses that of any human effort of success.
“Yahweh your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, if you will obey Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 30:9 – 10)
2. Pray For Your Family
The Lord brought you out of a family. It is therefore necessary to remember your family members in your prayers. It is something you should pray about.
If you know the names of family members facing particular problems (eg. Health problems, marital issues, spiritual attacks, etc) pray for them by mentioning their names one after the other.
I love it when I pray for my family and ask the Lord to bless them, protect them from familiar spirits, break demonic altars, forgive their sins, have mercy, and bring the lost ones into the path of righteousness that leads to salvation through Christ Jesus.
This is part of what we call intercessory prayer and it cuts across several different lines all around the world. The Bible says:
“So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.” (James 5:16)
3. Pray About Your Human Relationship
Another important thing to pray for is your relationship with friends, spouses co-workers, and even strangers. You see, we are living in human institutions, so we come into contact with several different people (good and bad ones).
In order to have a peaceful relationship with the people around you, you need the Holy Spirit to take charge of every step you take.
Your words and actions should always align with the Lord’s direction because you have committed yourself to the Lord’s guidance.
Pray For:
• Your friends
• Marriage Partner
• Co-workers
• Church Members
• People you often come into contact with
You can’t say you are a child of God so you will not ever get into contact with people of the world (carnal minded). The Bible says, Satan is the author of confusion. Pray for peace, unity, and understanding to transpire between you and anyone you come into contact with.
4. Pray For Your Enemies
I know this is a very disturbing issue most Christian finds difficult to do. But this is what Jesus taught about. He said pray for your enemies, bless those who curse you. He also reminded us that vengeance is of the Lord.
In view of that, make it a point to add to the things you are praying for. Tell the Lord to forgive your enemies and have mercy on them. Pray that, they change from their wicked ways and live in the Light of the Lord so that someday, they may also gain salvation.
“But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44 – 45)
In one of my articles, I explained who the real enemies are and how to pray against them.
5. Tell The Lord To Bless Your Country And Her Leaders
God loves nations that acknowledge Him. You have to pray for your country and the leaders.
Tell the Lord to open their minds and hearts to rule with the fear of the Lord. A country with a bad and wicked ruler puts his citizens in trouble or great suspense.
Pray for peace and unity to avail in your country. Tell God to blot out conflicts, abuse of human rights, discrimination, civil war, etc,
If nothing peaceful happens, how can you stay on your own soil? So keep on praying for your president, ministers, and all leaders in your country. Tell the Holy Spirit to take charge of the day-to-day activities of your head of State and their entourage.
You may use this verse below within your prayer especially when there are conflicts, injustice, war, oppression abuse etc;
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD like channels of water; he turns it wherever he wants.” (Proverbs 21:1)
6. The Lost Souls Around The World
As a good Christian, you must be concerned about the lost souls around the world. We were once lost as well but by God’s grace and mercy we have been called children of God.
Pray by asking the Lord to have mercy on the lost sheep and help bring them to the sheepfold.
Extend your prayers to all races in the world. Ask that the Lord revives and brings back backslid Christians and those lost from the truth that brings salvation.
Soul-saving mentality should also be in your mind as a true child of God. Because the Lord delights in saving humans rather than destroying them.
7. Pray For World Peace
This is another crucial thing to pray for. When I touch on this kind of prayer I feel my soul grieving and my spirit crushed. Imagine the alarming rate at which people are perishing without knowing Christ Jesus.
May the Lord protect his children and all innocent souls from the hands of wicked men who are blood-tasty for power, fame, money, and expansion of territories.
Wars are going on in several parts of the world. Innocent lives are perishing because of conflicts and wars. Tell Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace to help send peace to war-torn areas, protect his sheep, and bring more people to himself.
Pray that conflict resolution plans should work out to save the lives of people and at the same time lead hundreds to thousands of people to Christ Jesus.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage.” (John 14:27
Things Not To Pray For
As you embrace yourself with some of the things to pray for; you must also know that God doesn’t answer everything you might ask in prayers.
It is therefore necessary to pray and ask for the right things, have patience, and trust God’s timing. I mean pray for things that are worthy and glorify God.
Again, don’t forget to allow God’s will to prevail. Say “May Your will be done, not mine” in your prayers. You can’t put God into compulsion. He knows the best time and the best ways to get things done. Be still and know that He is God!
You may read this article to know why God doesn’t answer your prayers. After reading through, you will have yourself to blame not God.
From the book of James 4, we are reminded that some ask out of the conflicting passion within them.
“You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.” (James 4:3)
Don’t ask for things that do not give glory to the Lord. Dare not live to satisfy your carnal mind by seeking the Lord’s help. He will not answer if you ask wrongly. It is time to contemplate this and mature in your Christian life.
Don’t pray in hatred, jealousy, or ungodly anger, and don’t ruin curses on others, etc. Don’t pray and expect answers while you are still walloping in sin.
First, repent and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. Jesus said his sheep listen to his voice and he knows theirs. John 10:27.
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