God richly blesses us each year in many ways. But He wants us to seek Him for more—much more.
One way we can achieve this is by committing ourselves to prayer, crying out to Him for even more of His Spirit upon us, for the needs in our church, for the gospel-preaching churches in this region, and for the thousands of people around us who are living in spiritual darkness.
To help us in this, we begin the year with a Week of Prayer from January 4 through January 11.
Here is the daily strategic prayer document (click here) for you to pray throughout Prayer Week.
How to Share Your Prayer Requests
We encourage everyone to submit specific prayer requests concerning their own needs or the needs of people they know who are part of Grace Church or who live in this city or region. Limiting the requests to these people will help us focus our prayers on this region.
Please submit your requests using the form below.
To protect privacy, we encourage you to use only the first initial of others and either the first initial of your name or your full name, whichever you prefer. Here are some examples:
- Please pray for T who is drifting away from trusting Christ.
- Please pray for me as I need a job.
- Please pray for V who has heard the gospel, but is not yet trusting Christ.
- Please pray for J who is battling addiction issues.
- Please pray for B who is asking questions about Christianity.
We’d like to receive these requests by Saturday, 4 January. Then, we will make them available to the church for Prayer Week on Sunday.
We will all lift these requests up to the Lord during prayer week. On Saturday, January 11, we will have an opportunity to share testimonies of how God has answered prayer and worked in our lives during Prayer Week.
Here is the form on which you can share your prayer requests:
Here are some additional resources to assist you in prayer:
Scriptures to Strengthen and Guide Your Prayers
Promises to Encourage Your Prayer Psalm 86:5 ESV For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Psalm 145:18 ESV The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Matthew 7:7-11 ESV 7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Luke 11:8 ESV I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. Luke 18:1 ESV And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:7-8 ESV And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? John 15:7 ESV If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. |
Scriptures to Pray Psalm 43:3-4 ESV 3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Daniel 9:17-19 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. Matthew 6:9-13 ESV 9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Ephesians 1:16-21 ESV 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, |
Recommended Ways to Pray
How to Pray by Yourself
- Understand that we usually pray to God the Father (Matthew 6:6; Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13), by the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6), in the name of Jesus (John 15:16; John 16:23).
- A helpful outline to use is the acronym A-C-T-S. A for Adoration; C for Confession; T for Thanksgiving; S for Supplication (asking).
- Don’t wait to pray until you feel close to God. Pray whenever you can, and admit to God if your heart is far from him, or distracted, and ask for his help. He promises that when you draw near to him, he will draw near to you (James 4:8).
- There’s nothing wrong with praying more than once for the same request. This does not show unbelief, it shows earnestness. Jesus calls us to persist in prayer (Luke 11:8; Luke 18:7; 2 Corinthians 12:8).
- Try different postures as you pray, like standing or kneeling or bowing. Try walking, lifting your hands to God, and praying out loud.
- If you find your thoughts wandering, don’t be discouraged. Confess it, ask for God’s help, and keep praying.
- Pray prayers that are BIG with declarations of who God is, like in 2 Chronicles 20:6. That will glorify him, and strengthen your faith.
- Don’t pray in generalities, like asking God to bless someone. Get more specific.
- It’s helpful to pray Scripture by reading relevant verses and turning them into prayers. For example, you can use Psalm 145 to help you worship God, Psalm 51 to help you confess your sin, Psalm 13 to cry out for more of God’s presence in your heart, Romans 12 to pray for your own or other’s spiritual growth.
- Focus most of your prayer on people’s salvation, faith, and spiritual growth. Do also pray for earthly circumstances, but prioritize spiritual issues
- Pray BIG prayers – for God’s glory to fill the earth, for unreached peoples to be saved, for revival to come upon countries, for leaders to be guided and saved, for churches to be planted, cities to be filled with the gospel.
How to Pray in a Group
- Don’t worry about having your prayers sound good: simple, straightforward prayers are best.
- Ask for, and expect, the Holy Spirit to give you thoughts about what to pray for, and how to pray.
- Pray short prayers, to give others an opportunity to pray.
- Pray for one request at a time, so others have a chance to join in.
- Feel free to pray more than once, and to pray again for something someone else has already prayed about.
- Pray loud enough, and slow enough, so we can understand each other with our different accents and language backgrounds.
- If you have prayed a few times, give a bit more time for others to jump in before you pray again.