It’s easy to forget how powerful prayer is. We’re actually talking to the Lord of all creation and as Christians, I think we often take that for granted.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. – James 5:16b
A few weeks ago, I wanted to create a list to place on the wall near where I keep my Bible to remind me what to pray for and just to keep praying. I wrote down everything I could think of, but when I went to go look up more ideas, Google left me pretty empty. Everything I found was a short list of stuff I’d already thought of.
In case any of you are with me on this, love prayer, and/or want more ideas of things to pray for, here are the ideas I came up with.
Personal
Pray for. . .
1. God to use you to share the Gospel with someone
This is something my pastor encourages our youth group to do every morning when you wake up. Pray that God will use you to share the Gospel, bring someone to Christ, and be a light to others.
2. Strength to avoid temptation
As we go through our day, the devil has many temptations set to lead us astray. Pray that God will give you strength to avoid these temptations.
3. The fruit of the Spirit
. . . Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Pray that you will be filled with these virtues so that you may reflect Christ and become more godly.
4. A forgiving heart that doesn’t hold a grudge
Because we were forgiven, we can forgive. Pray that you don’t hold things against others and will have the strength to resolve a fight instead of make it worse.
5. God to use your talents to glorify Him
For me, that looks like praying over my words before I write to leave it in God’s hands or for the growing worship team at my church. Pray that whatever your talents are, that God will use you for His glory.
Friends and Family
Pray for . . .
6. Those who are sick
Especially with flu season going around, pray that God would comfort those who are sick and bring them a quick recovery.
7. Who/what you’ve said you’ll pray for
How many times do Christians throw around the phrase “I’ll pray for you!”, and how many times do we actually pray? Be true to your word and pray for people you’ve said you’ll pray for.
8. Friends who are unsaved
If you know your friend is unsaved or aren’t sure, pray for their souls and pray that you can play a role in their salvation.
9. Your future spouse
This is something I’m new to, so I don’t know as much about it, but pray for your future husband/wife.
10. Your neighborhood
There’s an amazing website called Pray4EveryHome. I recommend you check it out and follow the instructions on there!
Church
Pray for . . .
11. Requests from church groups
Pay attention when people ask for prayer in church/youth group/etc. They could really use your prayer.
12. Your pastors
There are so many things you can pray for your pastors! For example, to bless the sermons they write and to give them strength to do their jobs.
13. Your church’s vision to be fulfilled
Lately, my church has been taking a lot about our vision. Pray that it is fulfilled and that you can play a role in that.
14. Biblical unity
Unity in the church is another thing we’ve been talking about. Basically, getting along with everyone in the congregation and being a good community. Pray that you can connect with others in your church and for the ability to prevent fights.
15. Missionaries
For the missionaries in your church. If your church doesn’t have any (or even if they do), missionaries around the world. List them by name and specific needs if you know of any.
Other
Pray for . . .
16. Your enemies
Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. – Luke 6:28
I bet some of you saw this coming, didn’t you? 😉 Yes, pray for your enemies. If they’re unsaved, pray for their souls; pray for you to behave in a Christlike way; pray for anything specific to their needs.
17. Our country’s leaders
Some of you like our president. Some of you hate him. Some of you know the other people in office. Some of you don’t. Either way, pray that God would give them wisdom, even if you don’t like them — all the more reason to pray.
18. Your blog readers
You can interpret this in any way you like, but pray for your blog readers! This is something I’ve recently been doing. 😀
19. Human trafficking victims
This is something I’ve recently learned more about. There’s still slavery going on in many ways. Pray for their freedom and for peoples’ eyes to be opened.
20. Charities
What’s just as good, if not better, than donating to a charity with a noble cause? Praying for them! Pray that they would be able to do their work well and that they would have sufficient funds.
“If every prayer you prayed in the last 24 hours was answered, what would happen?”
I’m not sure where this quote originated, but it makes you think. What am I praying for? Who am I praying for? Am I even praying?
What would you guys add to this list? Share with me in the comments! Praying for you all,
This is a great list that you put together!
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Thank you!
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Wow, I love this so much! I saved this post on my phone’s bookmarks, and I hope to write it down, too. Thank you for this reminder!💞
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Awww, I’m so glad you liked it that much! You made my night.
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heyyy this is a really good idea. i’ll for sure be using this list, thanks!
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I’m glad you liked it!
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I love this! Prayer is so important ❤️
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Thank you! 😀
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This is great, Josie! You thought of so many things to pray and think about. 🙂
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I’m so glad you like it!
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PRAYING FOR MY ENEMIES. CAN I PRAY THAT THE LORD WOULD RAIN DOWN VENGEANCE ON THEIR UNREGENERATE HEADS?
Sorry, sorry. Jesus has to keep me from going Old Testament on some people. That’s one of the reasons I pray that His love would be shown through me more easily! 😂
This is such an epic and unique list! It’s sad there aren’t more posts like this out there. This is incredible, and thanks for sharing. ❤️
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XD I actually don’t really have any enemies? I mean, the longest I’ve ever held a grudge is like, two hours.
Thank you! ❤
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I’ll forgive anyone instantly — if they apologize. If not, it may very well be PRIMETIME. >:) 😂
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xD BUT YOU LOVE THE VILLAINS. I’m very private with my feelings so I don’t get many apologies. \_(‘. ‘)_/
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YES I LOVE THE EVIL BAD GUYS.
… the bad guys who haven’t hurt me personally. >:)
WHAT AWWWW… WHAT IF I APOLOGIZE TO YOU EVERY DAY FOR ANYONE WHO HAS EVER HURT YOU. I WILL BE THEIR ADVOCATE.
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Oh dear XD
YES THAT TOTALLY COUNTS. *nods*
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This is such a good idea and I love all the ideas on here. Great post!
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Thank you, Megan!
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This was a very thoughtful post, and I definitely want to save the ideas! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Such a great idea, and a really good list. Its amazing what spending a lot of time in prayer will do for you spiritually!
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I LOVE this! I’m definitely going to jot these awesome ideas down and pray for ‘em. 😀 ❤
-Sara
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This was great, I loved all of the ideas you mentioned! One that stuck out to me was praying for Human Trafficking Victims, that is SO important! They need prayer so badly. 3 books that really are great and educate on human trafficking are “Not Abandoned” and “Out of the Dark” by MacKenzie Morganthal and “The Shield Series” by Beth Jane, all three can be found on Amazon, they’re Christian fiction novels. 🙂
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Thank you! That was actually a last minute addition to round up the number that I found out about on awareness day. Thanks for the recommendations!
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Really great blog!! I love the fact you highlighted unity. It’s so key 🙂
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Thank you! Is this your first time reading the Y&D? Our church has been talking about unity a lot, actually. 🙂
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Yeah it is. I’m looking forward to reading more 🙂
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Awesome! I encourage you to look at posts by my awesome co-bloggers as well — we’re actually a collab blog!
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I’ll definitely have a look! Check out my blog https://penguinscroller.blog/ and we’ve got a colab blog going to launch in the next few weeks so I’ll definitely direct you there 🙂
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I will! That’s so cool!
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Thanks Josie 🙂
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