I hate taking prayer requests.
Don’t get me wrong, I love praying at the end of a meeting or a Bible Study. What I can’t stand is how the prayer AFTER the prayer requests is a reciting everything we just said. Sometimes verbatim.
The next time you take prayer requests, notice the way people sigh and how they shift in their chairs when you start the actual praying. Like soldiers “standing at attention”, the body language in the room is telling you they’re digging deep for the mental strain it takes to hear everything they just heard one more time. Not to mention that we’re acting like God wasn’t there the entire time we were talking about what we need from him.
A BETTER WAY TO PRAY
Out of frustration, I decided to try something different one week at our church’s Staff Meeting. When I told people it was time for prayer requests, I said,
“Today we’re going to do things a bit different. Share your prayer request by first saying ‘Prayers for…’ and then name the person or situation. Then say ‘that’ and describe what you want God to do. So, ‘PRAYERS FOR my daughter, THAT she would find godly friends at school.’ Make sense?”
Everyone nodded. Then, after a pregnant pause, our Finance Director ventured out, “PRAYERS FOR my sister, THAT she would heal quickly after her surgery and the situation would draw her closer to Jesus.”
She thought I was taking notes for prayer requests like I normally would do. Instead, when she finished I caught her by surprise and said, “Great. Now say ‘In Jesus’ name.'”
She looked at me a bit puzzled, but complied, “In Jesus’ name.”
Then I told the room, “Now, everyone else say ‘amen’.”
Everyone smiled and said “amen” and immediately understood what we were doing. Instead of taking prayer requests, we were actually praying.
Instead of taking prayer requests, we were actually praying. Share on: Twitter
The room wasted no time continuing the experiment. Our Youth Director went next, “PRAYERS FOR our youth, THAT they would invite their friends…” and when she finished she said, “In Jesus’ name.” And everyone responded, “Amen.” On and on we went, and after every prayer request, after they said the phrase “in Jesus’ name”, we’d follow it with a chorus of “amen”.
The shift in our meeting was palpable. The prayer was fun. Energetic. Interactive. We were praying in a conversational way, with all the interruptions and interplay you experience in any other conversation between people. It was an exercise that not only saved time, but opened our eyes to how natural and easygoing prayer could be. After fifteen minutes that felt like five, I closed us with a prayer for our day.
Time flies when you’re having fun.
PRAYERS FOR… THAT…
Since that meeting, I’ve started calling this simple formula to praying your prayer requests “PRAYERS FOR… THAT…”. It’s like a fill-in-the-blank game of Mad Libs:
PRAYERS FOR: person or situation,
THAT: what you want God to do,
IN JESUS’ NAME. AMEN.
Actually, you can see this simple prayer formula in Paul’s letters. Like his letter to the Ephesians, “PRAY FOR me, THAT whenever I speak, words may be given to me…” (Ephesians 6:19) or the Colossians, “PRAY FOR us, too, THAT God may open a door for our message…” (Colossians 4:3) or the Thessalonians, “we constantly PRAY FOR you, THAT our God may make you worthy of his calling…” (2 Thessalonians 1:11)
The power of the “PRAYERS FOR… THAT…” formula is that it bridges the daunting gap between praying scripted prayers and praying unscripted prayers. There’s a script, but it teaches people to be conversational. Like teaching a child how to speak, it’s helping people learn to pray.
YOUR TURN
Try it yourself! At your next meeting or Bible Study or Small Group, try the “PRAYERS FOR… THAT…” formula and see what happens. I have a hunch you’ll see smiles. You’ll see people sitting comfortably. You’ll see people praying with their eyes open. And you’ll see a room realize how approachable our Heavenly Father really is.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:13
