Figuring out where to begin in prayer has puzzled me more than once. Sometimes, the needs feel so overwhelming that I’ve been at a loss for words. I’ve often resorted to praying my shopping list of needs. Yet when I finished, I still felt as though something was missing.
Where do I begin? What should I say? And why am I even praying?
I have read in the Bible that I need to pray (Philippians 4:6). Preachers have delivered messages encouraging me to pray. I know it’s the right thing to do, but I feel so small in the light of big needs. Will God even hear me? With so much happening in the world, why would He take time to listen to me?
Wars are being fought.
There’s Ebola in Africa.
The economy is unpredictable.
Why would God take time out of His schedule to listen to me drone on?
Because He loves me. Remember that Sunday School song? Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.
I still answer calls and texts
I have children, and I listen to them whenever they want to talk. Even though they are grown, I still answer when a text or call comes. In my mind, I see them as kids again, tugging at me to share a secret. Looking down, I bend to have them tell me what’s on their minds close to my ear.
God is our Heavenly Father whose attention is on us (Isaiah 49:16). He waits for us to tug on His robe to get His attention. He’s leaning in to listen to what we have to say.
When I’ve gotten His attention, and He’s listening (He’s always listening; it’s me who needs the picture of Him paying attention), I have so many things to say… I struggle with the “What do I say?”
A stalled conversation
Prayer is, at its heart, a conversation we have with God. It’s something we can engage in with Him throughout the entire day. That’s what the Bible means in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” (NKJV) Prayer is an ongoing, all-day event.
What we pack into those prayers can sometimes stall us in that conversation.
A while back, I was challenged about my prayer life after stumbling across a prayer Paul prayed in Colossians 1. In this small section of Scripture, I found something that helped me “unstall” my prayers and gave direction to my conversations with God.
Paul’s prayer goes beyond what I call “shopping list prayers” (my paraphrase there). There’s nothing wrong with bringing our needs to God, but Paul wasn’t spending all his time spinning around heaven’s dairy section. He directed his attention to the fruit section instead.
The more I studied Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1, the more I realized Paul was spending time in parts of the store I often walked right past. While I was focused on immediate needs, Paul was praying for wisdom, spiritual understanding, strength, fruitfulness, endurance, and a deeper knowledge of God.
His prayers challenged me, but they also provided direction. They helped “unstall” my conversations with God and showed me that Scripture has much to say about both why we pray and what we pray.
Beyond shopping list prayers
Instead of staring at an empty page, unsure where to start, I realized that God’s Word already offers a pattern. That realization eventually led me to create Why and What to Pray, designed to help believers deepen their conversations with God and find guidance when they’re unsure where to begin.
I invite you to join me in praying prayers that go beyond “shopping list” prayers. Why? Because the shopping list never ends. There will always be needs, concerns, and requests to bring before God.
We were never meant to ignore those needs, of course. In fact, God invites us to bring them to Him and trust Him with the lists of life. But prayer doesn’t end there.
God also desires to lead us into a place of fruitfulness in prayer.
What does that mean? Without spilling all the beans from the book, think about fruit. What does it contain? Seeds. And what do seeds produce? Growth, multiplication, and eventually more fruit.
Let’s go there together.
Take a look inside.
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what to pray or where to begin, this preview is for you. Take a look inside Why and What to Pray and see how prayer can go from a shopping list to fruitfulness.
📚 Download Why and What to Pray
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📚 Family First (Free Workbook)
Practical biblical guidance for building strong families.
📚 Not a Matter of If, but When
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