If you’ve ever wondered how to write a prayer, we’ll be looking at some of the key ingredients that go into Christian prayers. Our written prayers have the ability to impact others on a deep level since they come from the depths of our own hearts.
Christian prayer wouldn’t even be possible if it wasn’t for Jesus bridging the gap between the Father and us. After all, without Christ, there is no Christian. As believers in Christ, we have been granted all-access passes to the Father in prayer.
In Romans 8:26, Paul writes,
“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” (NLT)
There are many occasions when you and I are at a complete loss of words in our Christian prayers. Could it be that the written prayers of others have the ability to inspire hope in us during our own times of weakness?
Let’s take a deeper look at how to write a prayer in order for God to encourage others through the written prayers we share with the world.
How to Write a Prayer
Understanding the Purpose of Prayer
Understanding the purpose of prayer will help us as we learn how to write a prayer. Christian prayer is significant because it’s the only means by which a person can communicate with the God of the universe.
In its simplest form, Christian prayer is talking with Daddy. When the disciples approached Jesus and asked Him to teach them how to pray, He responded with these earth-shattering words,
“When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven…” (Luke 11:2a NKJV)
Our Father.
Those two words would have been something new to those following Jesus on the dusty roads of Israel. They would have been used to addressing the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This ‘Our Father’ kind of intimacy would have been refreshing to their ears. It also would have given them insight on the kind of relationship Jesus had with His Father. I believe this is the thing that whet their appetites to pray like Jesus.
By teaching the disciples how to pray, Jesus was equipping them (and us) with one of the primary tools they could practice 24-7. There’s never a bad time to approach our loving Father in heaven. When we write out these intimate prayers, we are also inspiring others in their own intimate walk with the Lord.
Our Christian prayers should always include the following two ingredients in order to truly make a difference in the lives of others…
- Intention – What do we have in mind in how we approach our heavenly Father? What is our motive or purpose in talking to Him? Do we intend to listen to His response? After all, prayer is not only communicating words to God but also listening to what He wants to say to us. When we intentionally set out to do something, we are being purposeful in that endeavor. Having intention with the prayers we write will help others as they consider their own time of prayer.
- Sincerity – When we are sincere in our prayers, we are being honest, pure, and true with our words. When our prayers are diluted with wrong motives or haphazard flippancy, this will not help draw others closer to the Lord. Learning how to write a prayer will require learning how to be sincere. Anything less will be unfair to those reading our Christian prayers. Eugene Peterson nailed it in The Message translation of Matthew 6:5,
“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat?”
Steps to Writing an Effective Prayer
In this section, we want to provide some practical steps and guidance on composing a meaningful prayer.
- Start with Gratitude – Whether it’s starting our day or starting our written prayer, gratitude always helps put us in the right frame of mind. When we consider that every breath we take is a gift from God, our expressions of gratitude could be endless. As you sit down to write out your prayer, what are you most thankful for at this moment?
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1 NLT) - Speak from the Heart – Authenticity of personal thoughts and emotions is crucial if we want our readers to connect with the Lord. Our own honesty and sincerity will give our readers permission to lift up the authentic cries of their own hearts. Someone once said, “It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without heart.”
- Specific Requests and Intercessions – Being specific in our Christian prayers is important. It doesn’t take much faith to pray, “Father, help me have a good 2024.” It takes more faith to pray, “Father, I would like to personally lead five people to Jesus in 2024. Would you open the doors to allow this to happen?” As for intercessions, we are going to the Father on behalf of someone else. It could be our lost family members or neighbor undergoing a health trial. To intercede is to bring a person before the throne of grace and plead on their behalf.
- Reflect and Edit – We suggest reviewing each prayer that you write and revise for clarity and also emotional resonance. How will your reader be impacted by your written prayer? Is there a response you hope to elicit from readers? Our Christian prayers have the ability to connect deeply with our readers as they connect deeply with the Lord. Our readers may also find themselves returning to these written prayers on numerous occasions in order to provide kindling to help start a fire in their own prayer life. How many of us have been impacted by prayers we read in the Bible or another saint down through the ages?
Different Types of Prayer and their Structure
When we think about how to write a prayer, there are various types of prayers and structures. We’ll look at a few examples in this section.
- Adoration and Praise – These types of Christian prayers focus on worship and reverence of God. We are adoring the grand nature of God as both Creator and Sustainer. We choose to praise Him because He is more than worthy of all that we can muster. The content of these prayers could be endless since our God is without limit and beyond our full comprehension. Here’s an example from King David,
“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.” (1 Chronicles 29:11 NLT)
When we choose to write prayers of praise and adoration, we are helping to lead others to simply worship God in all His splendor for who He is. - Confession and Repentance – The importance of acknowledging our wrongdoing and then turning from that sin can’t be underestimated. Some of us have carried heavy burdens for far too long, only to have those burdens dropped after confessing our sin to the Lord. Peter captures the result of our confession and repentance,
“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.” (Acts 3:19-20 NLT)
As we write our own Christian prayers of confession and repentance, it’s not necessary that we share all of our ‘dirty laundry’ with our readers. But as we confess our own struggles and shortcomings, we will give our readers an example of vulnerability as they also confess their own sins before the Lord. - Supplication and Petition – These types of Christian prayers are the specific requests and need for guidance we ask of the Lord. By the way, it’s fine to come to our Father and ask for things. Think of children asking their parents for a toy or candy bar. Our Father enjoys blessing His children with answers to our requests. But like any good parent, our Father may give us a “no” answer or perhaps a “not yet” answer. Paul gives us these words,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6 ESV)
The saying, “It never hurts to ask”, is certainly relevant here. As we grow and mature in our walk with the Lord, our prayers will also grow and mature. Instead of praying for a new Mercedes, we might find ourselves asking the Lord to break our hearts with the things that break His. Or we might ask for a financial blessing that we intend to pass on to someone in need. - Thanksgiving – Just like it warms our hearts when someone thanks us for a gift we blessed them with, it also warms the heart of God. In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus encounters ten lepers who ask to be healed. He indeed heals all ten and tells them to go and show themselves to the priest. After only one of the ten returns and gives thanks, Jesus asks why the other nine didn’t give thanks. Our first muscle-memory response to answered prayers or ways we’ve been blessed should be to pause and humbly thank God. Our own written prayers of thanksgiving will inspire gratitude in our readers for all they’ve received from the Lord. Check out our book 21 Prayers of Gratitude for examples on this type of Christian prayer.
We hope that this post has given you some food for thought regarding how to write a prayer and the various ingredients that go into Christian prayers. When you say yes to writing out your prayers, God can use those prayers to encourage your readers in ways we may never know. Prayer is powerful and our written prayers can be read and reread by those who might need a nudge in their own personal prayer time.
There aren’t enough pages for the prayers we could write out to an eternal and limitless God. Here’s to you and I writing one prayer at a time and blessing others in the process.
Author Bio: CJ Hitz along with his wife, Shelley, have written and published over 70 books through their independent publishing company, Body and Soul Publishing. They have mentored writers since 2010 and now help Kingdom writers, like you, take the courageous step of writing, self-publishing, and marketing your books inside their online membership, Christian Book Academy. Together they create a powerful team to help you accomplish the goals God has placed on your heart and have been called “pastors for writers.”
Resources for How to Write a Prayer
- Prayers for Writers YouVersion Plan – Start free plan here
- 5 Prayers of Gratitude YouVersion Plan – Start free plan here
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