4 Things God Wants Us to Pray For

Knowing what to pray for is no mystery as God’s Word tells us, and here are 4 things we know God wants us to be praying for.

Pray About Everything

Knowing what to pray for is no mystery because God’s Word tells us how and what to pray for and here are 4 things we know God wants us to be praying for. First of all, we must be praying about everything in life. Praying for the lost, praying for the saved, and praying for those who are in need. There is nothing to large or too small and unimportant to God to pray for. Everything is small to God, so the Apostle Paul gives us a great reminder when we are in need. When we pray, we should “not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6). Did Paul really say pray about everything? Yes, pray about absolutely everything in this life. We pray about everything so we won’t worry about anything. Here’s how we kill the anxiety; we pray and we leave everything in God’s hands. We’ve made our needs known; now it’s up to Him and not up to us to act. We pray about everything in order to make our requests known to God, and although He already knows our every need, we’re still commanded to pray to Him for everything in life. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a large matter or something small, just pray about everything.

Pray with Thanksgiving

In Philippians 4:6 Paul says we should be praying but be praying as we give thanks to God. We can’t or shouldn’t pray without giving God thanks for what He has already generously blessed us with. That includes for most, a home, job, car, a family, church family, and leaving in peace. This means we should be praying for all things that come into our life, whether good or bad, because we can trust God that all things will work out for our ultimate best (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28). Let our prayers include gratitude to God and “everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” (Phil 4:6b). Never make “requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6c) without thanksgiving.

Pray for God’s Will

In the so-called Lord’s Prayer, Jesus emphasizes a very important point that we should pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is already being done in heaven (Matt 6:10). All too often we pray for our will to be done on earth as it should be done in heaven and not the opposite as Jesus said. The problem with that is, we don’t have the wisdom to know what His will always is but we can have enough wisdom to pray for His will in our life because His will clearly will be better for us than our own will. God knows even the future and knows what’s best for us, well before we ever do, so pray for God’s perfect will to be done in our lives and that we won’t interfere with it. Since God alone opens doors, let us not try to pick the lock or slip in through a window (Rev 3:7-13).

Pray for God’s Glory

You and I have been purchased by God, bought with the highest price there is, and that is the very precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. This is why Paul exhorts us to remember that “you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1st Cor 6:20). Since we were bought, we no longer own ourselves. God owns us through the redemptive work at Calvary. We must realize that our body is no longer our own. He is the Head of the church and we are His body. The head usually tells the body where to go and what to do. We now belong to God since “You are not your own” (1st Cor 6:19c). Since we’ve resigned as our own chairman of the board and let Christ rule in our place, let us submit to the will of God and the will is to abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thess 4:3). Now that we’re to be praying for God’s will, pray that we abstain from sexual sin. We can pray for help in times of temptation. God wants us to run to Him as a refuge in times of trials and temptations for He is a strong tower and there is safety in His shelter. God wants us to be holy as He is holy. Of course, we can’t be sinless…but we should be sinning, less! We can never glorify God by living in sexual or other open sin. A secret here on earth is an open scandal in heaven. Glorifying God is His will (Psalm 115:1).

Out of Love

We have no reason to be anxious because we can fall to our knees and pray to God about everything; we can pray to God while giving thanks; we can pray to God and seek out His will to be done in our lives and not our own; and we can pray for God to be glorified in the lives that we live. It’s not so much our duty but our debt to Him and we obey Him because we love Him (John 14:15-31). Obedience is a byproduct of our love for Christ. We obey not out of compulsion but out of love and gratitude for Jesus’ ransoming us from the wrath of God.

Conclusion

If you’ve never trusted in Christ, you had better be anxious because the wrath of God abides on all who have not trusted in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. People are actually storing up more and more wrath, day by day, week by week, year by year, and don’t recognize that we shall all give an account on judgment day or after death (Heb 9:27). Today is the best day to trust in Christ and then the wrath of God that was due upon you will have already been placed on Jesus Christ. Believe in Him and you shall be saved (Rom 10:9-13). If you refuse, then He is against you (Matt 12:30), and the wrath of God is presently resting upon you, and even worse, someday eternal destruction will surely come (John 3:36; Rev 20:12-15). I plead with you, today, right now, that this not be so.

Here is some related reading for you: 10 Prayer Tips – How to Talk to God

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: God's Will, Pray, Prayer