How to Pray For... Formatted PDF File
CHURCH LEADERS
1. Pray that they would be… above reproach, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not drawn to any addictive behavior, not pugnacious, gentle, uncontentious, free from greed, good managers of their family, mature in faith, of good reputation outside the church.
1 Timothy 3.1-7: Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
2. Pray that they would exhibit… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Galatians 5.22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
MEMBERS OF YOUR CHURCH
1. Pray that they grow spiritually and become mature and Christ-like in character.
2 Corinthians 3.18: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2. Pray that they would overcome sin in their life.
2 Corinthians 13.7: Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.
3. Pray that they would know the will of God for their life.
Colossians 1.9-10: For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
4. Pray for protection from the devil.
1 Peter 5.8: Be sober in spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
5. Pray that they would be delivered from the temptations of the world and not fall away from God.
1 John 2.15: Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
6. Pray that they would be bold, effective witnesses for Jesus Christ.
Acts 4.29-31: “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and {began} to speak the word of God with boldness.
UNBELIEVERS
1. Pray that God draws them to himself.
John 6.44: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
2. Pray that they seek to know God.
Deuteronomy 4.29: But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
3. Pray that Satan is prevented from blinding them to the truth.
Matthew 13.19: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
4. Pray that the Holy Spirit works in them.
John 16.8-13: And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
5. Pray that God would give you an opportunity to share your faith with them.
Matthew 9.37-38: Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.
6. Pray that they believe the Bible.
Romans 10.17: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
7. Pray that they believe in Jesus as savior.
John 5.24: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
8. Pray that they take root and grow in spiritual maturity.
Colossians 2.6-7: Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.