Bible Verses About Prayer: Turning to God in Trust

A deeply ingrained part of our culture as Americans is that we love to have options and the ability to choose between those options. Having control over your own life gives you the ability to choose. We lean hard as a culture into controlling every aspect of our lives that we can. There are many things, however, that are out of our control, reminding us how as created beings we must be dependent on God in prayer.

People want the ability to generate certain outcomes for their lives. It’s part of the human condition. When things go wrong – like when you lose your job, or when a relationship goes sideways, or when a business venture goes bust, or if your health or the health of a loved one suffers, or when the economy tanks, or when social unrest brings anxiety – we come face to face with our limitations. Even people who don’t believe in God find themselves praying for a way out.

Prayer doesn’t have to be reserved as an option of last resort, to be dusted off and used when all else has failed. Instead, prayer is part of what it means to have a vital relationship with God. It is part of a lifestyle of humble surrender as a follower of Christ.

What is Prayer?

At its most basic, prayer is a conversation with God, but it’s different from other conversations we might have with other people because of who God is. God is the creator of all things including us and our world. This doesn’t mean that we must use formal language or follow certain protocols. It does mean that prayer is powerful and important.

When we pray, we often make requests of God – for good health, for wisdom, for peace, for financial provision, for a family member or friend to come to faith, and so much more. In this regard, C. S. Lewis once wrote, “For prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted.”

One reason why we approach prayer humbly as a conversation with God is precisely because we recognize that we cannot make demands of God or twist His arm into doing what we want. Prayer is placing yourself in God’s hands, letting Him know what we desire, but ultimately resting in His wisdom to grant what we’ve prayed for or to answer the prayer in some other way.

When we pray, we can do so with an expectation that God not only hears but that He will respond. That response can come in the form of a friend encouraging you in a godly direction, circumstances lining up in a providential way, or the Lord bringing certain verses to mind. God has the freedom to respond in a variety of ways that suit Him.

Bible Verses about Prayer: When Should We Pray?

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. – Luke 18:1, NIV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7, NIV

The more you talk to someone and spend time with them, the more you know them, understand what they’re about, and feel connected to them. Prayer doesn’t change God. Instead, it changes us into people that are more attuned to His purposes and will.

Jesus told a parable to encourage His followers to pray always and not give up because He knew that not getting the answer we desire can be disheartening, and we can give up on a spiritual discipline that nurtures our relationship with God in such circumstances. We are to pray in all situations with an expectation that God will hear us and grant us peace in our moments of anxiety.

God may not answer our prayers in the way we hope, or in our expected timeframe, but He does answer us.

Does God listen to the prayers of some more than others?

Sometimes people shy away from prayer because it can seem as though God is playing favorites by answering the prayers of others and not their own. God answers as He wills, and He answers our prayers for our good. As the verses above reminded us, we ought to pray always, regardless of if we get the response we desire.

Prayer is about a relationship with our heavenly Father and not a transaction. Some of the following verses about prayer can be challenging, but they call us toward a particular attitude before God.

The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. – Proverbs 15:29, ESV

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. – James 4:1-3, NIV

Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! – Psalm 66:16-20, NIV

These verses are intense, and it’s possible they can be taken the wrong way. Who are these ‘righteous’ that God hears? In Scripture, the righteous are those in a right relationship with God, those who acknowledge their weaknesses and sin before God, and who throw themselves upon His mercy not because they are worthy, but because He is kind and gracious.

It’s not talking about those who are self-righteous or who try to do good to gain favor from God. And these verses are certainly not saying that God will turn away the person who has gone astray but recognizes where they’ve gone wrong.

The wicked, by contrast, are those who have committed themselves to a path contrary to God’s way of doing things. The verses from Psalms remind us that we can turn away from our path and toward God, and He will hear our prayers.

These verses also challenge us about what we pray for and why we pray for those things. The verses from James are a challenging rebuke for selfishness. God resists those kinds of prayers.

Sometimes we need to do a bit of soul-searching about our prayers and consider the possibility that our prayers are not being answered because our motives are wrong and we’ve committed ourselves to a path that runs contrary to God’s desires for us. Sometimes God doesn’t answer such prayers as that would only confirm us in our rebellious path.

Bible Verses About Prayer: How are We to Pray?

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven…And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. – Matthew 6:1, 5-8, NIV

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today 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 the evil one.’” – Matthew 6:9-13, NIV

Our prayers are honest, heartfelt words spoken to our heavenly Father. They aren’t meant to be a form of spiritual ostentation to show off before others. Not only that, but our words don’t have to be sophisticated, lengthy, or religious. You’d think that talking to the Creator of the universe would be more complicated, but He made it simple enough for a child. We can get started right where we are, and God welcomes our prayers.

Jesus taught His followers how to pray, and this prayer directs us toward God and others. We are to recognize who God is, and our dependence on Him for our sustenance and being. This prayer shapes us into the kind of people who love God with everything we are and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Prayer and Christian Counseling

We see examples in several Bible verses about prayer. For example, Paul’s prayer for the Christians in the city of Ephesus in Ephesians 3:14-21, or Jesus’ prayer for His disciples in John 17. Reading these prayers and the many other prayers such as those of lament in the book of Psalms helps us.

It creates a well-rounded prayer life of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and petition. As you become familiar with prayer and with the God to whom you are praying, you can get into a rhythm that works for you.

Prayer is powerful, and it is one of several tools that God has given us for our good. God can choose to intervene in our lives directly. Often, however, He works through people around us, just as He uses us to work in the lives of others. This is why it’s helpful to pray for your marriage, your children, or your employment situation while making use of a marriage and family therapist or a life coach.

If you’re looking for additional support beyond these Bible verses about prayer, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. Connect with a therapist at Los Angeles Christian Counseling today to get started.