Prayer is a Heaven-bought privilege that gives us access into the presence of God. That door of access was opened to us through the blood of Christ that was shed for our sins. When Christ died, the veil of the Temple was rent in two, signifying that all in Christ would enjoy free and unlimited access to God‘s throne of grace. What a privilege we have! Yet, knowing that we have this privilege, we often fail to use it. When neglected our prayer life may grow stagnant or nearly non-existent. Do you struggle with maintaining a consistent prayer life? You are not alone! All Christians experience struggles in their prayer lives. What are the causes of these difficulties and how do we overcome them? 

Let’s examine a few reasons that prayer can be such a struggle:

• First of all, our flesh is weak. Our minds and bodies grow weary and distracted. We struggle to find the right words and maintain our train of thought.
• Secondly, Satan resists our praying. Prayer is a spiritual exercise that threatens Satan and engages him and his demonic host in spiritual conflict. The wrestling that we read of in Ephesians 6 often occurs in the context of our prayer life.
• Thirdly, we don’t know how to pray or what to pray. Many of us have learned a pattern of prayer that we repeat over and over. Quite frankly, we can develop feelings that our prayer life is rehearsed, powerless, and boring. 

What can we do to put life back into our prayer lives? One important thing we can do is learn what the Lord Jesus said in His Word about prayer and how we should pray. Rember, the greatest book on prayer is the Bible. As we learn what God has to say about prayer, we should put His prayer precepts into practice. Obedience is an instrument that breathes life into our dead praying. So, let’s look together at some of the things we learn in God’s Word about how to build a biblical prayer list, and let’s pray! 

Building A Biblical Prayer List

1. Pray for your enemies. Matthew 5:44               
2. Pray for the name of the Lord to be hallowed. Matthew 6:9
3. Pray for the advancement of God’s Kingdom. Matthew 6:10
4. Pray for God’s will be be accomplished. Matthew 6:10
5. Pray for God’s daily provision. Matthew 6:11
6. Pray for the forgiveness of sin and the grace to forgive those who have sinned against you. Matthew 6:12,14-15
7. Pray for deliverance from temptation. Matthew 6:13
8. Pray for laborers for the Lord’s harvest. Matthew 9:38
9. Pray for fellow believers to know the Lord Jesus better. Ephesians 1:16-21
10. Pray for deliverance in spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:18
11. Pray for believers to increase in love. Philippians 1:
    1. To love the Lord
    2. To love one another
    3. To love their neighbor 
12.  Pray for believers to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Colossians 1:9-12
    1. Wisdom
    2. Understanding
    3. To walk worthy of the Lord
    4. To be fruitful in every good work
    5. To increase in the knowledge of God
    6. To be strengthened by His power
    7. To exercise patience and long-suffering with joyfulness 
    8. To be thankful
13. Pray for open doors to proclaim the gospel. Colossians 4:3
14. Pray in gratitude for your brothers and sisters in Christ. I Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 4
15. Pray for the sanctification of fellow believers. I Thessalonians 5:24
16. Pray for those who labor in the Lord’s work. I Thessalonians 5:25
17. Pray that the Word of God would have free course and be glorified. II Thessalonians 3:1
18. Pray for kings (government leaders) and all who are in authority. I Timothy 2:1-4
19. Pray for all those under your care. II Timothy 1:3 
20. Pray for the protection of fellow believers. Philemon 22
21. Pray for wisdom in trials and in making decisions. James 1:5
22. Pray for those who are sick and afflicted. James 5:13-16
23. Pray for your own spiritual growth and love of Christ to intensify. Jude 20-21
24. Pray for the soon return of Christ! Revelation 22:20

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This guest post was written by Pastor Scott Hooks of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Hickory, NC. We would encourage you to take this suggested prayer list and reproduce it, expand on it, and use it for private and public prayer times. You may reach Pastor Hooks at scotthooks@tabernaclehickory.org.