God designed you with the capacity to pause and ponder. He means for you not just to hear him, but to reflect on what he says.
Articles on Prayer
192 results found
Your Prayer Life Might Be Better Than You Think
Scripture’s prayers, especially the psalms, are prayers we can and should take on our lips. We can pray through Scripture. It’s part of learning how to pray.
You Have Everything You Need for Life and Godliness
Knowing that God has promised to complete the work he began in us, we are well equipped to practice perseverance.
Why You Should Read Augustine's Confessions
I believe that Augustine's masterpiece is a largely unread book because people approach it with the wrong expectations, quickly become frustrated, and leave the book unfinished.
Why Use Written Prayers? A Personal Reflection
I understand and respect the hesitations that some believers have regarding the use of written prayers—either privately or publicly. I have close friends who fall on both sides of this discussion.
Why Spontaneous Prayer and Planned Prayer Are Both Important
Praying about something right in the moment reminds us of our dependence, but planned prayer has its place, too.
Why Ordinary Faithfulness Is Enough
Feeding your faithfulness is an unremarkable practice in real-time. It’s unglamorous by the world’s standards, yet it is precious as it contributes to a life of holding fast to Christ.
Why Good Theology Matters in Prayer
Knowing who God is and what he’s like as revealed in Scripture is very important as we approach God in prayer.
God saves people for a purpose. Salvation in Christ begins a life spent growing into being like him and serving him faithfully.
Who Killed the Prayer Meeting?
Behind our busyness and wealth is a philosophy called secularism, which doesn’t just deny God’s existence but denies the existence of any spiritual world.
What Your Church Needs More than Productivity
Prayer shows our dependence on God. It honors him as the source of all blessing, and it reminds us that converting individuals and growing churches are his works, not ours.
What to Do When It Feels Like God Is against You
When you’re facing times of trouble and it feels like God is against you, there are two important things to do.
What Is the Sin that Leads to Death? (1 John 5)
What is the “sin that leads to death” and why does John not say we should pray for people committing such sin?
What George Mueller Can Teach Us about Prayer
George Mueller (1805–1898) is widely considered one the greatest men of prayer and faith since the days of the New Testament.
What Does Jesus Want This Christmas?
What does Jesus want this Christmas? We can see the answer in his prayers.
What Did Jesus Teach about Prayer?
As mediator, Jesus brings us to God, but he does so by pouring out his Spirit upon us so that our own prayer life is to replicate his prayer life in terms of how the Holy Spirit binds us to our Father in heaven.
Video: Don Whitney on the Benefit of Praying the Bible
In this video, Justin Taylor sits down with Don Whitney to discuss what it means to pray through God's Word.
Video: 6 Reasons to Pray the Bible
Here are six benefits of praying through the Bible.
Two of Prayer’s Essential Ingredients
The resurrection is the most important thing to behold in God’s word to fuel our desire to pray. But really, we need all of God’s word. We also need God’s people.
Turning Prayer from Monologue into Dialogue with God
Prayer is not pleading with a God who is not already there to somehow show up. Prayer is not enticing a silent God to finally speak.
To Cry Is Human, but to Lament Is Christian
Every human being has the same opening story. Life begins with tears. It’s simply a part of what it means to be human—to cry is human. But lament is different.
That there is such a thing as Holy Saturday in the gospel is remarkable, if oft overlooked. Why wouldn’t a simple movement from death one day to resurrection the next be sufficient?
The Role of Prayer and Missions in Salvation
Prayer and evangelism are both part of the plan—the all-embracing, all-pervasive, unstoppable providence of God is the only hope for making our efforts effective.
The Right Way to Ask for Prayer
God did not create us to be self-protective, so being so will eventually lead to misery rather than safety.
A church’s commitment to prayer is one of the greatest determiners of its effectiveness in ministry.
The Prayers of Jesus: A 7-Day Reading Plan
Today, we're introducing a new 7-day reading plan on ESV.org to guide you through some of the prayers Jesus uttered during his earthly ministry.
The Prayers of Jesus: A 5-Day Devotional
Jesus’s ministry on earth as a human was marked by a devotion to prayer. Through his prayer life, we see what it means to truly depend on God.
The church is led to maturity on her mission through intentional, earnest, persistent intercessory prayer. A man of God leads from his knees!
The Lord’s Prayer Teaches Us How to Pray Every Other Prayer
The Lord's Prayer orients us, most importantly, to the vertical dimension of our prayers. That's why we start by saying, “Our Father.”
The Hidden Prayers and Pray-ers behind Great Movements
God designed his church to look like his Son who spent most of his life hidden, so the most important people in the church are often invisible.