What to Pray?

Joel Beeke offers these suggestions for prayer during prayer meetings at church (found in his book The Family at Church):

People should pray for things great and small. They should pray for the glory of God, the growth of His people, the conversion of sinners, and worldwide revival. They should pray for their ministers and missionaries and theological students to be anointed by the Holy Spirit, for their office-bearers to be faithful, for the church to live in unity and peace, and for every church ministry and outreach to flourish and bear fruit a hundredfold. They should pray for the elderly, the lonely, the sick, and the youth. They should pray for troubled marriages, broken families, and prodigal sons and daughters. They should pray for governmental leaders, for the forsaking of national sins such as abortion and Sabbath-breaking, and for a return of biblical truth and morality in the land. But they should also pray for smaller, personal prayer requests, focusing on one or two of them — preferably those that have not yet been addressed — so that their prayers, as a general rule, do not exceed five minutes. Those who are prayed for should be mentioned by name. Their specific needs should be addressed, much as Paul did in Romans 16 and in other epistles.

A list is sometimes handy in remembering those things (and for using during personal prayer time), and would look something like this:

• That God be glorified
• That Christians growth spiritually in Christ
• That sinners be converted
• That the Holy Spirit would bring revival throughout the nations
• That ministers, missionaries, and theological students be anointed by the Holy Spirit
• That ruling elders and deacons would be faithful to their office
• That the church would live in unity and peace
• That the ministries and outreach of the church would bear fruit a hundredfold
• That God would strengthen and encourage the elderly, the lonely, the sick, and the young
• That troubled and broken marriages would be restored and strengthened, and that wayward children return
• For government leaders
• That national sins be repented of
• That the nation return to biblical truth and morality
• Finally, smaller and more personal requests

The book is very good, and includes sections on how to listen to sermons and how to conduct prayer meetings. We still have a few copies at Midlane Park if you are in the area and would like to pick one up.