What to Pray When You Don’t Know What to Say

When you don’t know what to pray, you may just avoid doing so altogether. However, prayer is the key to a successful spiritual life. More importantly, it’s a way to build a relationship with God. It’s a gift to be able to come before Him to have conversations about your life and others.

While there are all sorts of prayer “formulas” and guides, you still may feel at a loss for exactly what to say. Especially if you are a new Christian and just discovering the beautiful gift of prayer.

In this article, I give you some ideas on what to pray for and what to pray about. We’ll cover:

• Praying the Names of God
• Praying Scripture
• Personal Prayers
• Prayers of Intercession
• Praying for Others

Who Do We Pray To?

While prayer is talking to God, we have been instructed in how to pray to Him.

Jesus is God in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit is also God – the Spirit of God. Yet, we aren’t to pray to Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself said in John 16:23:

“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.”

That doesn’t mean you can never talk to Jesus or say anything to the Holy Spirit. It means when you are praying and asking for something, you are to ask the Father for it in Jesus’ Name.

Praying The Names of God

One of the best things to pray about when you feel clueless is to use one or more of God’s names when praying. For example, knowing that God’s Name, Jehovah Rapha, means “the Lord that heals,” will prompt you to pray about healing. You may be reminded to pray for health for someone ill or for yourself.

When you know God’s names, praying with them can lead you to pray about so many things.

Keep the Praying the Names of God Checklist handy when you feel stuck and want to call out to the Lord with a name that identifies a characteristic of who He is.

Read: Pray Differently: The Surprising Impact of Praying the Names of God

Praying Scripture

God’s Word is filled with so many promises. So, what better to pray about than God’s promises?

All throughout scripture, you’ll find promises covering so many topics, including:

• Health
• Financial provision
• Marriage
• Protection
• Family
• How to treat others
• Love
• Time management
• Investing
• Wisdom
• and more…

Let the scriptures guide you in what to pray about.

Personal Prayers

When you pray, especially about your personal needs, you essentially express your faith in God. Your prayer is a reflection of your trust in Him because you know that God is the only one who can help you. Otherwise, why pray?

Here are some things to pray about for yourself:

• Forgiveness/repentance
• Your health
• Financial breakthrough
• Understanding God’s Word
• How to navigate challenges in your life
• Your relationship with family members
• Wisdom for:
  • where to live
  • who to marry
  • what car or house to buy
  • what business relationship to enter into
• How to manage your time
• Help with grief
• Your self-care (hair growth, weight loss, skin care, etc)
• Protection when traveling
• Favor with your employer
• Deliverance from the plans of your enemies

Any problem or challenge you face, take it to the Lord in prayer

Prayers of Intercession

Intercessory prayer is a type of prayer where you are standing in the gap (interceding) for others. It’s an intentional and persistent way of stepping into a spiritual battle, praying on behalf of someone else.

For example, you can intercede for:

• a relative oppressed by drug addiction
• someone so sick they can’t pray for themselves
• your church or community
• nations
  • for God to open doors so the Gospel can be preached without hindrance
  • spiritual strongholds

Praying for Others

While intercession is praying for others, you can also pray for people in a way that’s not deep intercession. You could be praying for:

• the Lord to bless your acquaintances or coworkers
• peace or wisdom for someone who asks for prayer, but the prayer is vague, without details
• people you hear about on social media or tv who have experienced loss
• the protection of a child you see walking alone to school

When you have a heart to pray for others, you will automatically respond in prayer when you see a need.

You’ll begin to fully recognize the power of prayer when you just do it and do it every day. Make it a practice. Pin this list of things to pray about to your Pinterest account so you will never be at a loss for what to pray for.