7 Prayers Straight From the Bible

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God is waiting for us to speak with Him. God wants to have a relationship with us and a great way to start that bond is through prayer. Prayer lets us start a conversation from God and open up a dialogue with Him.

In the Bible, there are countless characters that prayed and after doing so, found power with God. Through God’s gift of the Bible we can learn about these prayers and use them ourselves. The Bible not only give us prayers to use, but teaches us about the importance of prayer, how to pray, and why it’s so important. The Bible is a true blessing for Christians! We are able to look directly to God’s word to learn everything we need to know about praying to Him. These prayers are straight from the Bible for us to use as often as we want.

These seven prayers from the bible will help you begin a conversation with the Lord.

The Lord’s Prayer

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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)

This is the most classic prayer that most Christians were required to learn in Sunday school. This prayer is more than just a passage to be memorized, however. This prayer has real power, teaching us the main aspects of the Christian faith and summarizes them into several short lines. God gave us the perfect prayer for us to start a conversation with Him.

Paul’s Prayer For the Philippian Church

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And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere 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. (Philippians 1:9-11)

Paul gave this prayer to those of the Philippian church, which was experiencing some issues between its members. He prayed that they would be filled with love, which teaches us that Christians must grow in love so that their lives give glory to God. Paul’s prayer shows us not only how we should be living, but also how we should be praying for other Christians. So often our prayers are devoid of solid or thoughtful content: “God bless the missionaries. God be with Aunt Suzy. God help Brother Bob.” But Paul’s prayer reflects a more profound way to lift others up to God. We can use this when praying for others but also when we need the knowledge that God can fill us with love.

David’s Prayer of Repentance

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Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean wash me, and I will be whiter than snow…Create in me a clean heart, O God, Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence, and don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You. (Psalm 51:7, 10-12)

David said this prayer asking for repentance after his shameful treatment of Uriah and Bathsheba. This is a helpful prayer of confession and forgiveness for when you feel you have sinned and roamed from the Lord. It is powerful in that you are asking God for Him to help you obey Him. It takes a humble person to ask the Lord for help and forgiveness. We all make mistakes and fall under the spell of evil, so use this prayer when you are ready to apologize for your wrongdoings.

Paul’s Prayer For the Ephesians

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For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, [asking] 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. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-20)

Paul said this prayer about the Ephesians when he was trying to show them the power and strength of God’s love. We can pray that others find hope in God, too. One way we can help others around us is by praying for them, and this is a great prayer for when we are unsure of the situation that someone is in. While we don’t always know details, we can pray for them by asking God to wrap His arms around them and show them grace.

Jesus’ Prayer of Thanks

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Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I knew that You always hear me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent me. (John 11:42)

Jesus prayed to His Father regularly in the Bible. Here, Jesus was thanking God for answering His prayers, and did so aloud so that others could believe it was so. We can learn here that God is always listening to us and will answer our prayers. We can share the Good News with those around us so that they can also believe that God is hearing them. God is not going to be silent and instead will respond to us. When He does, we should thank Him for being loving and listening to our cries.

Aaron’s Blessing For Israel

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May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

The Lord gave this prayer to Moses, and instructed him to tell Aaron to use the prayer to bless the people of Israel. The Lord said that when Aaron prayed this prayer, He would come and bless them. God will bless those we love when we use this prayer as well. We can use this prayer as well as a blessing for the people in our lives like our spouses, children, and friends. The blessing is great for when you are separated from those closest to you. It will give you the comfort of knowing that God is walking with your loved ones when you are away.

David’s Prayer For Guidance

In You, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in You; do not let me be put to shame, not let my enemies triumph over me…Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long. (Psalm 25 1-2, 4-6)

This is a great prayer for everyday life. David said this prayer asking for guidance in God, knowing that he would find it if he put his trust in the Lord. We should follow David’s guidance and put our trust in God, because He has a plan for each of our lives. Giving Him our trust allows us to follow the plan He created for us. We will receive His guidance along the way.