PrayerWalk: Stepping Toward a Life in the Presence of God

by Timothy Shorey
June 12, 2020

A guide to a life of prayer prepared

I. Introduction
I created this guide for prayer (complete with its format oddities) many years ago with the hope that it would help believers develop a true prayer walk.  This booklet is designed to provide a guide for prayer that I am hoping will help you develop a true Prayer Walk. An intention to pray without a plan to pray will almost certainly fail. The Bible invites us to pursue a practiced and habitual life of prayer in the presence of God. That said, this PrayerWalk booklet is not meant to be a formula or rule for your prayer life. This is a how-to suggestion resource, not a mandate from heaven. Please know: Prayer is a command; this booklet isn’t.

II. PrayerWalk: Stepping toward a Life in the Presence of God

  • As we look at practical suggestions for prayer, it’s important that we understand the purpose for these commitments.
  • Do not pray to earn or merit God’s acceptance. Pray in Jesus’ name, believing that your prayer is heard because you come to God through the Name, the blood, and the righteousness of Christ alone.
  • Do not pray in an effort to get your God to love you more; pray in an effort to get your heart to love God more.
  • Do not pray primarily to get more from God; pray to get more of God.

A. Times for Prayer

  • There is a spirit of prayer that should be with us at all times, under all circumstances. We might call this breathing prayer.
  • But we are also called to a life of habitual focused prayer which involves appointed times and seasons set apart for concentrated intercession and adoration.

1. Personal: morning, noon, and night.

  • Psalm 55:16, 17—“But I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
  • Psalm 92:1-3; Daniel 6:10
      1. Morning: Psalm 5:3; 88:13; 119:147; Job 1:5; Mark 1:35; Acts 3:1; 10:
      2. Noon: Acts 10:9; Psalm 55:16, 17
      3. Night: Psalm 119:148; 141:2; Luke 6:12
  • Conclusion: The practice of daily multiple appointed times for prayer receives the commendation of God in Scripture. Might I recommend that everyone begin by trying to plan three 10-minute prayer times, morning, mid-day, and evening? This modest beginning results in 30 minutes of prayer every day—and all the joy that this will produce.

2. Congregational: Acts 1:42; 2:42; 4:23-31; 12:5; 13:3; 14:23; 1 Tim. 1:8 (men are to lead)

  • As able, be with the people of God in corporate seasons of prayer. These are available in Community Groups, in once or twice per month Prayer Force prayer times, in monthly Global Initiative Group prayer times, and in monthly Prophetic Ministry prayer hours. Periodically other congregational prayer and fasting times will be announced.

B. Modes of Prayer

  • The Bible repeatedly affirms the place for both silent and audible prayer. Hannah’s prayer was internal and could not be heard, as, presumably, was Nehemiah’s (1 Samuel 1:9-13; Neh. 2:4). On the other hand, the psalmists speak often of crying aloud in prayer, a mode adopted on occasion by our Lord as well (Psalm 3:4; 5:2, 3; 18:6; 34:6; 66:17-19; 5:7).
  • There is no law regarding modes of prayer. Both silent and audible prayers are pleasing to God.
  • Benefits of praying out loud include: the sense of actual communion and fellowship with God can be enhanced; concentration and development of actual thoughts, and of speaking to God can be aided; believers can grow accustomed to hearing their own voices in prayer, which may help them feel more free in praying out loud with the people of God.

C. Praying the Word

1. The idea explained:

   a. Use the Scriptures to nourish, motivate, guide, and shape your prayers.

“The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

“Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed in the morning. Now I saw, that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental [experiential] communion with the Lord. I began therefore, to meditate on the New Testament, from the beginning, early in the morning.

“The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word; not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.

“When thus I have been for awhile making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it; but still continually keeping before me, that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart…

“The difference between my former practice and my present one is this. Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer…. But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray.

“I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father, and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it!) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.

“It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this… And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man.

“As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time, except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. Now what is the food for the inner man: not prayer, but the Word of God: and here again not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts.

“I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it my self… By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials in various ways than I had ever had before; and after having now above forty years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials and the temptations of the day come upon one” (George Mueller).

b. Three rich Bible resources to guide our prayer:

    (1.) The Psalms:

    • The Psalms are prayers which are meant to be a part of our devotional lives.
    • N.T. worship and prayer were Scripture-saturated: Luke 1:46-55, 68-79; Matt. 27:46; Luke 23:46; Acts 4:23-26
    • “There’s a Psalm for every sigh of the heart” (Donald Whitney)

   (2.) The prayers of Paul (see the collection at the end of this booklet).

    • One example: Colossians 1:9-12—“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

   (3.) The Lord’s (model) Prayer (Matthew 6:7-13)

    • This is that for which this model prayer was intended.

2. The idea blessed:

By praying Scripture-based prayers:

  • Our prayers can become more varied. One reason we get bored with prayer is because we too often “pray the same old things in the same old ways” (Whitney).
  • Our prayers can become more consistently “according to the will of God” since they will be guided directly by the revealed will of God.
  • Our prayers can become more radically God-centered.

3. The idea applied:

  • Three times daily
  • These are only suggestions. Certainly, you may adjust this to fit your life and faith as God leads.

a. Morning Time: use either a psalm or a prayer of Paul

    • To use the Psalms, separate the 150 psalms sequentially as they appear in our Bibles into 30 groups of 5, one for each day of the month. Then each morning, skim over the five psalms for that day and pick the one that best fits your moment in life, and pray your way through it.
    • To use a prayer of Paul read one of those included in this booklet and simply pray its themes in your own words and for your own life and relationships.

 b. Noon Time: use the Lord’s model prayer perhaps focusing on one of the requests each day of the week.

    • Sunday: “Hallowed be Your Name”
    • Monday: “Thy kingdom come”
    • Tuesday: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
    • Wednesday: “Give us this day our daily bread’
    • Thursday: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”
    • Friday: “Lead us not into temptation”
    • Saturday: “But deliver us from [the] Evil [One]”

c. Evening Time: use whatever Scripture prayer guide you did not use in the morning.

The Prayers of Paul
(Prayers either prayed, asked for, commanded, or commended by Paul)

Prayers for Spiritual Growth and Blessing for Others

  1. Rom. 1:9-12—“For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention youalways in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”
  2. Rom. 15:5, 6, 13—“ May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
  3. 2 Cor. 13:7-9—“But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.”
  4. Eph. 1:16-23—“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
  5. Eph. 3:14-19—“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,from whom every family  in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
  6. 2 Tim. 4:16—“At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!”
  7. Phil. 1:8-11—“For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
  8. Col. 1:9-14—“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,  giving thanks  to the Father, who has qualified you  to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.  He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
  9. 1 Thess. 3:8-13—“For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.  For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”
  10. 1 Thess. 5:23, 24—“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
  11. 2 Thess. 1:11, 12—“ To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
  12. 2 Thess. 3:3-5—“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.  And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
  13. 2 Tim. 1:16-18—“May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.”
  14. Phile. 1:16—“…and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”

 

Prayers for Kingdom Expansion and Consummation

  1. Rom. 10:1—“Brothers,my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”
  2. Rom. 15:30-33—“I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,  so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.  May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
  3. Eph. 6:16-20—“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”
  4. 1 Cor. 16:22—“Our Lord, come!”
  5. Col. 4:2-4—“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”
  6. 2 Thess. 3:1, 2—“ Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.
  7. 1 Tim. 2:1-10—“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,  for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man  Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.  For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.  I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;  likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,  but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.”

 

Prayers for Material Blessing and/or Physical Deliverance and Healing

  1. 2 Cor. 1:9-11—“Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
  2. 2 Cor. 12:7-10—“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

 

Doxologies

  1. Rom. 11:33-36—“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
  2. Rom. 16:25-27—“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”
  3. Eph. 3:20, 21—“ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
  4. Phil. 4:19, 20—“ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
  5. 1 Tim. 1:12-17—“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,  and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.  To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. ”
  6. 1 Tim. 6:15, 16—“…he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”
  7. 2 Tim. 4:18—“The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

 

Thanksgiving Prayers

  1. Rom. 1:8—“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”
  2. Rom. 7:25—“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
  3. 1 Cor. 1:4-9—“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
  4. 1 Cor. 14:18—“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.”
  5. 1 Cor. 15:56, 57—“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
  6. 2 Cor. 2:14-16—“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,  to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient  for these things?”
  7. 2 Cor. 8:9; 9:15—“ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich…Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”
  8. 2 Cor. 8:16—“But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you.”
  9. Eph. 1:3-14—“ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us  for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known  to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee  of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,  to the praise of his glory.”
  10. Eph. 1:15, 16—“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love  toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers…”
  11. Phil. 1:3-6—“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
  12. Col. 1:3-6—“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,  which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth…”
  13. 1 Thess. 1:2-10—“We give thanks to God always for all of you constantlymentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,  because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,  so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
  14. 1 Thess. 2:13—“And we also thank God constantlyfor this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
  15. 2 Thess. 1:3—“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers,as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.”
  16. 2 Thess. 2:13, 14—“ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  17. 2 Tim. 1:3-5—“I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”
  18. Phile. 1:4, 5—“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints…”

 

Imprecatory Prayers (prayers asking God to judge those who have rejected Him or His truth)

  1. 1 Cor. 16:22—“If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.”
  2. Gal. 1:8, 9—“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

 

Benedictions

  1.  Greeting/Closing Benedictions (“Grace and peace…be with you”):
  • Rom. 1:7;
  • 1 Cor. 1:3; 16:23; 2 Cor. 1:2; 16:24; Gal. 1:3-5; Eph. 1:2; Phil. 1:2; 4:23; Col. 1:2; 4:18; 1 Thess. 1:1; 5:28; 2 Thess. 1:2; 3:18; 1 Tim. 1:2; 6:21; 2 Tim. 1:2; 4:22; Tit. 1:4; 3:15; Phile. 3, 25

2. Other:

  • Rom. 16:20—“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
  • Rom. 15:33—“May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
  • Eph. 6:23, 24—“Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”
  • 2 Thess. 2:16, 17—“ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”
  • 2 Thess. 3:16—“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”

 

Paul’s’ Additional Prayer Commands and Commendations

  1. 1 Thess. 5:17, 18, 25—“ Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you…Brothers, pray for us.”
  2. Col. 4:12—“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.”
  3. Phil. 4:6, 7—“ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
  4. Phil. 1:19—“… for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance…”
  5. Eph. 5:18, 20—“…be filled with the Spirit…giving thanks always and fro everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ…”
  6. Col. 3:17—“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
  7. Rom. 12:12—“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
  8. 1 Tim. 4:4, 5—“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”
  9. 1 Tim. 5:5—“She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day…”
  10. 1 Cor. 7:4, 5—“ For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

2 Comments

  1. Anthony Hurst Sr

    Tim, this was a powerful and wonderful exhortation to a fuller and deeper prayer life. I read it all in one sitting, as I love to commune with God through prayer. Your work here has given me even more thoughts on prayer that will certainly be used to draw me nearer to Him and help to transform me more into the image of the One who died in my place, the One in whom all of my sins were judged, and the One by whom I have been forgiven, the Lord Jesus Christ!!!

    God bless you, my friend and brother in Christ!

    Reply
    • Timothy Shorey

      O to be more like Christ! and to be near him in prayer my friend.

      Reply

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