Chapter 1 — The Legacy of Prayer
It should not surprise you to discover that the greatest and most spiritually successful men and women in the Bible were always people of prayer. Abraham walked by faith but was guided by prayer, and the nations of the world have never been the same because of it. Isaac’s intercession on behalf of his barren wife resulted in the birth of Jacob, who became the father of the nation of Israel (Genesis 25:21). Moses spoke with God “as a man speaks to his friend,” receiving guidance and revelation for his leadership decisions (Exodus 33:11). The world still has the Torah and the Ten Commandments as fruit of it.
Before choosing His disciples, Jesus spent all night in prayer to God. As they followed Him, they discovered His private habit was to rise early and pray before the sun rose (Mark 1:35). Even as His popularity was exploding, He would “often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Luke 5:15–16).
Chapter 2 — The Power of Prayer
Prayer provides an unlimited spiritual data plan — you never need to worry that you have drifted out of range from the signal tower. With everything that prayer can be to you, why would anyone choose not to pray?
Chapter 3 — The Priority of Prayer
Prayer aligns the body of Christ with her Head. It is the key to intimacy between the bride of Christ and her Bridegroom. When Jesus ran the money changers out of the temple, He proclaimed, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den” (Mark 11:17). With that one violent, surprising motion, He distilled down the purpose of God’s house and the meeting together of God’s people to a central priority: believers gathering for prayer. He did not say, “My house shall be called a house of sermons” or “a house of singing” or “a house of evangelism” or “a house of fellowship.”
God never intended for you to live out the Christian life or accomplish His work on the earth in your own wisdom or strength. His plan has always been for you to rely on the Holy Spirit and live a life of obedience in prayer. Scripture specifically ties each of the following to prayer — consider them a preview of what will happen when a church truly becomes devoted to it: evangelism of the lost (Colossians 4:3; 1 Timothy 2:1–8), cultivation of discipleship (Luke 11:1–2; John 17), true Christian fellowship (Acts 2:42), wise decisions (James 1:5), obstacles overcome (Mark 11:22–24), needs met (Matthew 6:11; Luke 11:5–13), true worship ignited (Matthew 6:13; Acts 2:41–47), and revival sparked (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Chapter 4 — The Ultimate Purpose of Prayer
Ultimately, all prayer is for the glory of God. The best answer He can give to any prayer is whatever answer brings Him the most glory. When God reveals His glory, He is unwrapping a measure of His identity — some of His nature, His holiness, His power, His lovingkindness. That awareness should shape the posture of every prayer you offer: “Your ways are higher than my ways. Work in my heart and in each of my situations, Lord, so that You are most glorified.”
Chapter 5 — What Is and Isn’t Prayer
Realize that in prayer you are bowing before the same One who, in John’s Revelation, is described in overwhelming terms — His head and hair white like snow, His eyes like a flame of fire, His feet like burnished bronze glowing in a furnace, His voice like the sound of many waters, His face like the sun shining in its strength (Revelation 1:14–16). Prayer is entering the presence of that God.
Prayer is communion with God in order to intimately know, love, and worship Him; to understand and conform your life to His will and ways; and to access and advance His kingdom, power, and glory. When you pray, “Give us this day … lead us not into temptation … deliver us,” you are seeking access to God’s kingdom resources, for His mighty power to work on your behalf, and for Him to reveal His glory in your situation. Prayer is not about prayer. It is about a Person — God Himself. When it becomes merely about accessing the provision or protection of God rather than knowing and pleasing the Person of God, you are getting off track.
Chapter 6 — What: Types of Prayer
When you study praise in Scripture, you will observe people expressing one or more of the following things to God: a reminder of who God is (“You are our Creator; You are awesome; Lord of all”), a recounting of what He has done (“You rescued us; You saved us; You provided for me”), a recognition of His holiness (“There is none like You; You are greater than, more powerful than, anything else”), a rejoicing in His name (“We lift up Your name; I praise Your name; we honor Your name”), and a relinquishing of control (“I love You and give You my life; I surrender to You; all that I am and have is Yours”).
Your heart is more pure and ready to pray in faith when you have first adored God, confessed your sins, and thanked Him for what He has done. Intercession — praying on behalf of others — is another vital type. While Haman was planning to destroy the Jews, Esther interceded in prayer and then politically interceded for the people and saved her nation. You do not need to always include every type of prayer when you pray. Sometimes you need to just get to the point, like Peter when he cried, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30), or when Jesus said, “Father, glorify Your name,” and that was it (John 12:28).
Chapter 7 — What Are God’s Answers to Prayer?
What may surprise you is how many of God’s answers to prayer, when you pull them out and look at them under better spiritual lighting, are a variation of yes. In general terms, His answers form up under about five different types.
The first is yes, immediately. Sometimes when you pray, your request is exactly in line with His will and timing, and His answer arrives on the spot. Abraham’s servant prayed that God would “grant me success today” (Genesis 24:12), hoping for a specific sign that would alert him to the right girl. “Before he had finished speaking,” a young woman named Rebekah appeared — and she later became Isaac’s beloved wife. God is simply not bound by time. He may start answering a request ten years before you pray it. He is likely already preparing things right now for prayers you will one day pray.
The second is yes, in due time. A delay should not be interpreted as a denial. If a nine-year-old girl asks her mom for a wedding dress she saw, the answer might sound like a no. But it is actually more of a “Yes, I will get you a wedding dress, honey. But not now. You are not ready for it yet.”
The third is yes, so you will learn from it. Sometimes God, deciding you might learn from the lesson, does go ahead and give you what you ask — realizing you do not really know what you are asking.
The fourth is no, because your heart is not right. James said the reason for a delay in God’s answer is not always simply a timing issue. Sometimes “you ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). If lust, greed, bitterness, or pride is at the heart of a request, God may veto an answer in order to guard you from the hurt or idolatry that could result. Wise parents will often withhold a desired privilege in order to get through to their child’s heart. They are not saying no forever. But they realize their son or daughter is not in a position to appreciate the gift or handle it well.
The fifth is no, I have got a better plan. Sometimes you ask too small. Confined by limited knowledge, not thinking outside what you have already seen and experienced, you pray for a handful when God wants to give you a houseful. That is why it is good to pray, “Lord, would you do more than I can ask or imagine in this situation?”
Chapter 8 — When: Scheduled Prayer
Prayer should be a natural part of your thinking — not just in your quiet moments but also in your chaos. If you were to say that kids “play constantly” or that teenagers “text their friends constantly,” you would not mean they never do anything else. You would just mean that throughout the day, kids are often trying to integrate play into what they are doing, and many teens communicate hourly with their friends through text messages. Likewise, God desires that prayer become an ongoing opportunity you take full advantage of — quietly praising, thanking, and leaning on Him at any moment and in any context, in your mind and heart.
Chapter 9 — When: Spontaneous Prayer
What if the richest man in your city called you today and said he would give you ten thousand dollars in cash every morning if you showed up and rang his doorbell at six in the morning? Would you be there? Absolutely. No question. Why? Because if you really want something badly enough and value it enough, you make it happen — you figure out a way to fit it into your schedule. At the same time, your Savior, Jesus Christ, is daily offering you eternal treasures from His Word and the opportunity to talk with His Father, the God of the universe, to share your heart and needs. And yet you still come up with excuses as to why you do not have time to make it work.
Chapter 10 — How: The Posture of Prayer
Many prayers from Scripture were made with uplifted hands. The idea of folding hands, while meaningful, is actually more recent in history. The Bible talks about raising hands — “the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.” And while closing your eyes is a good way of limiting distractions and maintaining focus, a common biblical expression was lifting the eyes toward heaven, like when Jesus “raised His eyes” before praying at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:41), or when “looking up to heaven” as He blessed the five loaves and two fish before multiplying them for a crowd of five thousand (Luke 9:16).
You can identify the difference between the prayers you make while flat on your back, fighting sleep — and the prayers you make while deliberately kneeling, or raising your hands, or speaking aloud. Posture shapes engagement.
Chapter 11 — How: The Locks of Prayer
Certain things can hinder your prayers from being effective. Scripture identifies several locks that block the connection between you and God. The first is relational neglect in marriage. Peter wrote plainly: “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7).
The second lock is indifference to the poor. When you show compassion to those in need, God shows favor on your requests — but the opposite is equally true: “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered” (Proverbs 21:13). The third is unforgiveness. “Whenever you stand praying,” Jesus said, “forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions” (Mark 11:25–26). Bitterness is a toxin that not only poisons you spiritually, mentally, even physically, but also poisons the effectiveness of prayer and the full experience of your relationship with God.
Chapter 12 — How: The Keys of Prayer
Where the previous chapter identified locks, this one reveals the keys that open the door to powerful prayer. The first key is persistence: “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” The second is praying in Jesus’ name — which means to pray as He would, from within your relationship with Him. You do not approach God based on your authority, your righteousness, or what you have done, but based upon Christ’s authority and what He has done.
An overlooked third key is fasting — going without food, or some other daily need, in order to focus more fully on the Lord for a concentrated period. Jesus fasted and prayed. Esther fasted and prayed. Nehemiah fasted and prayed. Fasting opens your spirit to God when you would otherwise be feeding your flesh; it puts seeking Him above all your appetites. The fourth key is obedience: “Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21–22). And the fifth is delighting in the Lord: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). The Hebrew word for desires here is the word for petitions. When your delight is in Him, your desires begin to align with His will.
Chapter 13 — Vertical: The Cross of Christ
Before diving into what is involved in developing a more vibrant and effective prayer life, the first place for anyone to start is by pausing to make sure they have even begun a genuine relationship with God in the first place. Jesus said plainly: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’” (Matthew 7:21–23). This is one of the most terrifying passages in the Bible. But Jesus is not trying to haunt you with these words. He is trying to help you. Eternity is too long to be wrong about your ultimate destiny.
The path to a genuine relationship with God runs through the cross: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9–10). If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would the evidence of your life be overwhelmingly clear that you know Christ and that He knows you? Genuine salvation is a life-changing experience. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Good works do not remove sins, nor can they save anyone. But after a person is genuinely saved and truly transformed by Christ, specific good works will start showing up as evidence of their salvation. The book of 1 John gives seven key indicators — not the cause or roots of salvation, but the fruits of true salvation. First, a lifestyle of obedience to God: “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:3–6). Second, a confession of Jesus as the Christ, God’s Son. Third, a lifestyle of repentance of sin — Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Fourth, genuine love for other believers. Fifth, the discipline of God your Father, which “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” to those trained by it (Hebrews 12:7–8, 11). Sixth, the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, who testifies with your spirit that you are a child of God (Romans 8:16), convicts you when you sin (John 16:8), reveals God’s Word when you read it (John 14:26), and pours love, joy, and peace through you toward others (Galatians 5:22). And seventh, faith in Jesus alone for salvation. These seven indicators are signs of a changed life — litmus tests revealing whether God has really made you a new creation or not.
Chapter 14 — Vertical: Repentance Versus Pride
Pride is one of the greatest sins of all (Proverbs 6:16–17). It leads to almost every other sin. Proverbs 11:2 warns, “When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.” The things you tend to chase in life — wealth, success, applause, awards — can all lead to greater pride if obtained.
The antidote is honest prayer of surrender: “Where I have worked so hard to build myself up, I see now I have actually been tearing away at what my relationship with You can be. Today, Lord, I come to You with nothing but gratitude, asking You to purge me of pride and help me see things as they really are. You first. You always.”
Chapter 15 — Horizontal: Unity Versus Division
The enemy does everything possible to keep God’s people divided, because once believers come together in unity, they gain momentum and take ground for the kingdom. Unity in prayer is not optional — it is strategic. Scripture is equally clear about the opposite posture: “Let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6–7). Division breeds doubt; unity fuels faith.
Chapter 16 — Your Heart: Faith Versus Doubt
When you pray, you should rest in the fact that God is not unaware, unable, uncaring, unwilling, or unlikely to answer. If you do not feel like praying much anymore, the diagnosis probably lies in one of four misconceptions about God’s heart and identity.
The first is that God does not know or understand your needs. But remember, prayer is about intimately knowing, loving, and worshiping God; conforming your life to His will and ways; and accessing and advancing His kingdom, power, and glory — all of which require interaction. God could do things without you. But He is too good and kind to kick you to the curb. The second misconception is that God is not able to help. The apostle Paul answered this with one of the most resounding exclamations in the Bible, declaring that God is “able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). The third is that God does not care. If He knows everything and can do everything, then why won’t He help? Jesus pointed to the birds of the air to prove that God cares. If He cares for them, how much more does He care for you?
Jesus painted this point with two vivid parables — polar opposites to God’s character. A man with unexpected company runs to a neighbor late at night asking for bread. “Don’t bother me!” comes the answer. “The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed” (Luke 11:7). But persistence wins out. In the second, a widow being mistreated keeps approaching a heartless judge to plead her case. Not until she has almost worn him down does he finally give in and grant her request (Luke 18:1–5). Jesus’ point: God is not a calloused, uncaring judge or a sleeping neighbor. How much more quickly and willingly will He answer your requests than those reluctant figures? Not only does He care; He cares for you more than anyone else in your life.
The fourth misconception is that God is not likely to do anything anyway. That is not the impression you get from Mark 11:24 — “All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” He is willing to listen and respond and counsel and comfort and encourage and direct and rescue. Of course, He is not a genie who grants wishes. You should be glad of that, since you would soon learn the horror of worshiping a God who was controlled by you, rather than one who rules all and takes all things into account. The battle plan for your prayer life includes praying that expects Him to know your heart and what you truly need, believes that no limitations apply to Him, anticipates that He will respond with love and compassion, and assumes that He is there and listening, willing to come to your aid.
Chapter 17 — Your Heart: Secret Versus Show
Scripture reveals that the primary way Jesus prayed was in secret. Though there are a few accounts of short prayers He prayed publicly, as well as one longer high-priestly prayer (John 17), His routine was to either rise early to be alone in prayer (Mark 1:35), send everyone away in the afternoon and escape to a solitary place (Mark 6:46), or stay up late and pray after the others had gone to sleep (Luke 6:12). The most powerful prayers are not performed for an audience — they are offered in hidden communion with the Father.
Chapter 18 — Your Heart: Obedience Versus Rebellion
A lot of people hide behind prayer. They hope it will cover for disobedience in other areas that are a lot harder and more costly to do than just praying. God keeps telling them to do things, but they keep “praying about it” with no steps of action. Pray and obey. Obey and pray. Put those two together, and you have got a powerful combination.
Chapter 19 — Your Heart: Persistence Versus Impatience
”Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed” (Psalm 25:3). God may use delays in your life to reveal your heart and your level of trust in Him. When Elijah was facing the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, he prayed once, and fire fell from heaven (1 Kings 18:37–38). When he was praying for the dead son of the widow, he prayed three times before the boy came back to life (1 Kings 17:21–22). When he was asking God to send the rain, he ended up praying seven times (1 Kings 18:41–44). The point is, you do not know if God’s answer will come immediately, after several days, or even years. Persistence is not a lack of faith — it is the expression of it.
Chapter 20 — The Word of God
Your copy of the Bible is not only your companion when you enter your prayer closet; it is also your inspiration, your source, your reliable storehouse and gold mine of trustworthy promises. When you do not know what to say, let the Bible lead your praying for you.
Chapter 21 — The Will of God
Pray in accordance with what you already know for sure to be His will. The chief goal of God’s will is that He be glorified. God’s will is also to advance His kingdom — that is what Jesus meant by telling His followers to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
Glory, kingdom, lordship — those are three major components of His overall will for you. He also wants you living a pure, sanctified life (1 Thessalonians 4:3), rejoicing, praying, and grateful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18), maturing in the faith (Hebrews 6:1), producing fruit season after season (John 15:16), and in close fellowship with other believers, “being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose” (Philippians 2:2). Much of His will, therefore, is readily known — not only does His Word declare it, but the Spirit affirms it in your mind and heart.
Your quest for God’s will on a specific issue — whether to make an offer on this house or that one, whether to apply for another job or stay where you are — is not really a separate matter from these other elements of His will. The heart that is not only praying for His will but also surrendering to it simultaneously will not miss His desires when all is said and done. He will bail you out if you take a wrong turn (Proverbs 16:9). When you make known your sincere requests to Him in prayer, “the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
Chapter 22 — The “Whatever” from God
Some people claim that God allows you to ask only for what you need, but never what you want. Sounds dutiful and honorable, but it is actually not biblical. The truth is, the “whatever” offer runs throughout the New Testament. “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it” (Mark 11:24). “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do” (John 14:13). “Whatever we ask we receive from Him” (1 John 3:22). “If we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:15). There is a noticeable pattern — a “whatever” pattern.
God is not Santa Claus. He has “established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all” (Psalm 103:19). He will not answer requests born in sin or for sinful things (James 4:3). But if you are walking with Him on the path He wants you to walk, and if He is your first love, and if your heart’s desire is to please Him, then He delights in granting your heart’s desires. We are not more kind than He is. We do not think twice about giving our children what they really need when they ask. Neither does God. But what if they ask for something they do not technically need — something good that would bring them great joy — and we know they are consistently desiring to honor us? Would we not take extra steps to give them their heart’s desires? And yet we think God would not? Some people make it sound wrong to ask freely. They describe God like He is an impoverished, distant father who only lets his kids ask for socks and underwear for Christmas.
When your delight is in Him — when the beat of your heart is to say, “Lord, what can I do for You today?” — the beat of His kind heart is to say, “Well, what can I do for you, my child?” James 4:2 tells us that one of the reasons we do not have what we want from God is because we have not asked for it. Turn those desires into petitions. What you want today, you might not want tomorrow — most of the junk at garage sales is comprised of items that once seemed like something a person wanted really badly. So be wise and careful in the asking. But do ask.
Chapter 23 — The Wonder of God’s Names
As you pray strategically, remember to call out to your God by His names as you learn them. He loves to hear His children acknowledge Him for all He does and all He can do.
Chapter 24 — The Wisdom of God
”Wisdom is supreme — so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). Not many things in life come with that kind of endorsement. When God is the one making the proclamation through His Word, you can be sure His advice is worth heeding. Acquiring wisdom is of supreme importance, and prayer is one of the keys that unlocks it. Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge to a given situation — making the best choices with the data you have, making your relationships work, making your money work, making grand-slam decisions about friendship, marriage, and parenting. God promises to give it generously, especially to those who “seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure” (Proverbs 2:4).
Solomon was young and inexperienced when he came to David’s throne, and he admittedly had little to no experience in leadership. So he prayed, “Give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” God was pleased with Solomon’s request and grew him into a man whose wisdom was known far and wide. Not only did that wisdom produce 3,000 memorable proverbs, but it also provided him the secrets of riches and honor. The Proverbs themselves show the difference between hard work and laziness, righteousness and wickedness, honesty and dishonesty, humility and arrogance: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” And one of Proverbs’ consistent refrains is simply what is better — “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it.”
Chapter 25 — The Ways of God’s Spirit
Prayer is an admission that you are not in control, and yet at the same time completely and confidently under God’s control (Psalm 103:19). God knows you often forget to pray and do not know what to pray or how you should be praying (Romans 8:26). You can ask for what you know, but still not address the heart of an issue or cover even half of what should be requested. And yet God urges you to keep entering into prayer anyway — knowing He can lead you through the One He has deposited into your heart.
The Holy Spirit is the engine of the Christian life, guiding and empowering you to do what you cannot do on your own. Your finite knowledge is surrounded by His infinite wisdom. Every believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit within them (Ephesians 1:13–14), but you must be filled with, submit to, and walk in the Spirit, as opposed to following the sinful flesh. The Greek tense used in Ephesians 5:18 is a command to keep being filled — not a one-time experience but a moment-by-moment, daily way of living and submitting to the Spirit (Galatians 5:16–25). Every morning you should ask God to fill you with His Spirit as you worship Him and surrender all that you are and have to His loving lordship for the day. Anytime you sin, become bitter, or get in the flesh, quickly repent, humble yourself, and resubmit yourself to the Lord and to the leading of His Spirit.
He illumines God’s Word and makes God’s true nature come alive, convincing you of the hideousness of sin, the glories of righteousness, and the realities of judgment (John 16:8–11). Even those things which “eye has not seen and ear has not heard,” the Spirit is able to reveal — what you need to know, when you need to know it (1 Corinthians 2:9–13). He prays for you: “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). What you cannot pray, His Spirit can. When He speaks to you, it is not so much an audible hearing but an internal knowing — a good and timely thought accompanied by a holy burden and a desire to do something specific for the glory of God. It is the Spirit saying to you, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21). Our prayers are not bound by our limitations because the Spirit has no limits, and He is living within us.
Chapter 26 — Praying Offensively
There are times when you need to play defense. But not all the time. You also need a game plan for offense — asking God to open doors for the gospel, to send forth laborers into the harvest field, to pour out His Holy Spirit in revival, to fill you with His love and the knowledge of His will, to use your spiritual gifts in His service, and to raise up a generation who will honor His name. Spiritual warfare is about standing your ground against the enemy and taking new ground for the kingdom.
Think of your marriage, family, or city, and let these questions generate your offensive prayers: What is the most loving thing I can ask for right now? What could I pray for that would be overwhelmingly good? What could greatly advance God’s kingdom in my situation? What could I pray for that would be really glorifying to God?
Chapter 27 — Praying Preemptively
”Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). If you were the leader of a country and discovered you would soon be attacked by a brutal, invading army, you would evaluate resources, develop strategies, and station troops before the enemy arrived. This is also what you must do in prayer. You must fight your battles on your knees before the battle rages in the natural realm.
The enemy’s signature schemes include distraction — Satan will constantly try to get you off track, to focus on even good things that are not God’s best things. David wrote, “I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted, because of the voice of the enemy” (Psalm 55:2–3). Deception is another — Jesus said whenever Satan speaks a lie, “he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He will lie to you about God’s goodness, the Bible’s trustworthiness, who you really are, and what is morally right and wrong. Then there is derision — running you down or running down someone else in your mind, bringing up things from your past. And division — the gospel brings loving unity to people of all nations and backgrounds, but Satan knows that “if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3:25).
The question is not whether the enemy is coming out to engage you in battle. The question is whether you are going to prepare in prayer first, or wait until he has you in a headlock before you call on the One who has already defeated him. By preemptively preparing, you will ensure that you do a lot more winning than losing.
Chapter 28 — Praying Defensively
Christians are equipped with everything needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), but many are not ready when the enemy attacks, and so they continually live in defeat in one or more areas of their lives. God’s Word says spiritual war is taking place around you, so you must take up “the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:16–18).
Every time Jesus was tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1–13), He raised His shield of faith and cut down Satan with the sword of the Spirit by quoting the Word of God. God has given you a fully loaded cache of powerful ammunition in Scripture, ready to fire at the enemy — you just need to learn the verses that deal with your issues. When the devil comes against you: resist Satan in Jesus’ name, escape with Scripture, search for unconfessed sin, plead the blood of Jesus, overtake ground given to Satan, name someone in targeted prayer, and delight in the Lord. If you will learn this and do this, the devil will tempt you less and less when he realizes his attacks only remind you more to call on Jesus, quote Scripture, repent, pray, and praise.
Chapter 29 — Praying Extraordinarily
Prayer strategies go to the next level when situations reach a point of desperation — when a mother is rushed to the hospital with a premature delivery, when the foreclosure notice is on its way. Esther understood this kind of moment: “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). That is the kind of prayer model the Bible guides you to follow.
Jesus, at the outset of His earthly ministry, prepared Himself for the challenges ahead by committing to forty days of fasting (Matthew 4:2). By denying the daily demands of the flesh in order to focus all attention on God, you can go more deeply and intently into focused prayer in times of difficulty, strain, and emergency. Fasting together means you are united in appealing to God and hearing from Him.
Nehemiah is the master model of extraordinary prayer. When he heard of Jerusalem’s ruin, he sat down, wept and mourned, fasted and prayed. He prayed with humility and brokenness, used God’s names, praised His character and attributes, persisted with fervency, confessed sin on behalf of himself and his people, prayed God’s own Word back to Him, and made his specific petition with faith and expectation. That is what extraordinary prayer looks like — and it rebuilt a city.
Chapter 30 — Praying for the Lost
You cannot clam up and allow embarrassment or the fear of rejection to stop you from sharing the most important message in the universe. Putting your insecurities above another’s need for the truth is like saying, “My comfort level is more important to me than your salvation.” Jesus Himself said the reason He came to earth was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), and as part of His body on the earth today, you need to view that same priority as a crucial part of your purpose as well.
So how do you pray for the lost? You pray for God to begin working in their hearts to prepare them to receive the truth. You pray against the enemy, that he would be prevented from blinding their eyes and hearts. You pray for opportunities and boldness — both for yourself and others — to share the gospel with them in power and love. You pray for conviction of sin to agitate their hearts, bringing about true repentance and a desire for Christ’s cleansing. And you pray for God’s blessing, guidance, protection, and presence to be on all those who obey Him and seek Him.
Chapter 31 — Praying for Believers
Praying for other believers involves encouraging them, thanking God for them, exhorting them, worshiping with them, bringing their concerns before the Lord — both physical and spiritual — and asking them to do the same for you. One strategy that works for all kinds of settings and people is using the Lord’s Prayer as an outline. Instead of praying it for yourself, pray it for your fellow believers.
Consider what you are missing by not taking advantage of this readily available opportunity to bless and be blessed. Economists, playing off a recent anniversary of the 1980s arcade game Pac-Man, compared what a person could have gained depending on whether they had placed a quarter into the game slot or into a savings fund. Turns out that when people were dropping twenty-five cents into the machine in 1980, the same monetary value placed into a brokerage account on one of the higher stocks in the S&P 500 would currently be worth more than $1,800. If those same people had dropped as much as $100 into the machine over the summer, that $100 could now potentially be worth nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. How much of your time has been eaten up by gripes, problems, and tirades, when it could have been invested in praying for others — with no loss to how God helped you deal with your own life and its issues? “Pray for one another” (James 5:16). It will pay high, eternal dividends.
Chapter 32 — Praying for Family
You will praise God more and recognize His handiwork when you pray specifically. Pray for your spouse — that he or she would above all be devoted to Christ in loving gratitude, surrendered to His Word and His lordship. Pray that each relationship would be marked by love and unselfishness, especially those that are the most strained and contentious. Pray for peace, healing, and restoration wherever brokenness exists. Pray that God would keep your spouse vividly aware of His desires, knowing how to handle each day’s decisions. Pray that His Spirit would keep you actively and accurately attuned to their needs so that He can employ you as a helpful voice of clarity and insight in all their decision-making.
As a parent, your role is to stand in the gap, attentively listening to your children and knowing the true condition of their hearts. Pray with them, with your arm around them, as well as when they are not physically present with you. Be diligent in interceding for their protection, their character, their friendships, and their ability to stand up to temptation. They may not yet realize just how seriously the warfare is being waged against them, how many layers of spiritual opposition are working to claim their eye and interest (Ephesians 6:12).
Chapter 33 — Praying for Authorities
The goal is to cover the entire circuit, praying all the way around the whole authority structure, up and down the chain of command — praying for leaders as well as followers, all for the glory of God. Authority basically orbits around four centers of activity: family, church, government, and employment. God still uses imperfect authorities to carry out His perfect purposes (John 19:11; Acts 4:24–28), and the Lord is able to turn the heart of a ruler (Proverbs 21:1) — your impassioned prayers and petitions are part of how He does it.
Those in authority carry four overarching responsibilities: providing direction, instruction, and an example to follow; protecting with boundaries and rules; praising those who do right; and punishing those who do wrong. Let these areas of influence guide your praying. You might even add a fifth — pointing others to Christ — because any leader in any job, in dedicating his or her position to God, can be used as a force of spiritual change, both in the lives of individuals and in the culture at large.
Chapter 34 — Praying for Laborers in the Harvest
If you want a better pastor, start praying boldly and faithfully for the one you already have, and rally your church to do the same. Pray for God’s protection around his heart, his marriage, and his home. Pray that he would freely, confidently, and unapologetically fulfill his ministry — that he would fear God more than men, that the Spirit would cause many to be drawn to the gospel and grow rapidly into Christlikeness through his efforts.
By most ways of accounting, the world is comprised of 11,500 different people groups — those with a common self-identity based largely on language and ethnicity. Current data suggests that in more than half of these groups, around 6,800, their populations are less than two percent Christian. And half of those — roughly 3,200 — do not contain any Christians at all and are not being engaged in any way by the gospel. No Bible. No churches. No missionaries. No spiritual light.
Chapter 35 — Praying for Churches and Revival
There is a weariness with caving to the general sense of helplessness about the state of our country and the other nations of the world — the apathy, the fear, the inevitability that no one can really do anything about it. Tired of disinterested churches making little to no mark for Christ on their communities and neighborhoods, much less their cities and the ends of the earth. Tired of believers tolerating their own sins, consumed by selfish pursuits, content with lifeless religion while millions of people are dying without Jesus. There is no reason why you cannot see God’s Spirit poured out in abundance, as He has done in days past — reviving families, restoring broken lives, seeing salvation breaking out en masse and drawing more people to Christ every day.
The secret is united, repentant, humble prayer. Persistent prayer. Extraordinary prayer. Fervent prayer — believing that what God wants is always better and more important than what you want. What God wants are people devoted to Him, people in love with Him, whose hearts are ready to be used for reaping the harvest, whose lives are surrendered to His Word, who are primed to receive the blessings only He can provide.
Evan Roberts, the leading face of the Welsh Revival in the early 1900s, boiled down his message and his heart’s desire to a few succinct points: confess all known sin and receive forgiveness through Christ; remove anything in your life that you are in doubt or feel unsure about; be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly; and publicly confess the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, pray and obey. “Bend me” was the frequent prayer that still echoes through the written recollections from those days. And in response to that prayer, God’s power came down and set thousands afire with fervent love for Him. “Bend me” — help me to submit, to want Your will first, to follow Your Word without question, to put myself last. To finally die to the vanity of me.
Appendix — Spiritual Temperature and Prayer Strategy
God responds to the surrendered, repentant, expectant hearts of His people, and He blesses and moves even more when His people are working together. Before drawing up any battle plan for prayer, it is worth taking a spiritual temperature test — the kind of honest self-examination that reveals whether your spiritual life is on fire, or merely going through the motions.
The signs of a cold or lukewarm Christian are not difficult to identify. When your spiritual life is joyless and apathetic. When you do not love and follow God now as you once did. When you carry at least one unconfessed sin you refuse to repent of, or at least one person who has wronged you that you refuse to forgive. When your words are displeasing to God and dishonorable to others. When you are not seeing answered prayer or God’s power in your life. When you have time for entertainment but not for Bible study and prayer. When pride, worry, or fear stops you from obeying what God has told you to do. When your family sees you behave one way at church and another way at home. When you enjoy viewing things you know are unholy and displeasing to God. When you know people who have things against you but make no effort to reconcile with them. When your worship is casual and your singing halfhearted. When your giving is reluctant and calculated rather than extravagant and sacrificial. When you have to be begged to serve in the church. When you are unresponsive to the neighbors, associates, and friends around you who will likely die without Christ and you make little effort to share your faith. And when you are blind to your spiritual condition and do not really think you need to repent or change anything (Revelation 3:15–19). These are the indicators to examine — not as condemnation, but as a compass.
Alongside these indicators, Scripture offers a full arsenal of prayer strategy — specific passages for praying over your spouse, your children, your pastor, your governmental authorities, the lost, other believers, laborers in the harvest, and your city. It also provides spiritual ammunition for every battle you face: verses to counter anger, bitterness, depression, doubt, fear, guilt, hopelessness, lust, pride, and worry. And woven through it all are the names of God — Hebrew names like Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides; Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord our healer; and El Shaddai, God Almighty; names for Jesus like Alpha and Omega, Good Shepherd, Prince of Peace, and Resurrection and Life; and names for the Holy Spirit like Spirit of wisdom and revelation, Counselor, and Comforter. To know these names is to know who you are addressing when you kneel. And to know who you are addressing is to pray with confidence that you have never been closer to the help you need.