23521 Prayers in the Bible

There are over 200 prayers recorded in the Bible. Some are powerful prayers, some special ones. Some are very short, more of a cry of the heart. Others are long.

There is a prayer of blessing that is unique. The Lord gave Moses specific instructions for Aaron to bless the people of Israel with this prayer.

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
‘The Lord bless you and protect you;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.'”

“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

(Numbers 6:24)

Prayers in the New Testament

The following prayers are just a few well-known examples from the New Testament. All the prayers found in the Bible are worth studying and some to meditate on. You can learn from them to enrich your own prayers.

The Lord’s Prayer

“So pray this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be honored,
may your kingdom come,
may your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”

(Matthew 6:9-13)

Jesus at Gethsemane

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”

(Luke 22:42)

Jesus on the Cross

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

(Luke 23:46)

Tax Collector in the Parable

“God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!”

(Luke 18:13)

Disciples’ Prayer

4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind and said, “Master of all, you who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, 4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through your servant David our forefather,

Why do the nations rage,
and the peoples plot foolish things?
4:26 The kings of the earth stood together,
and the rulers assembled together,
against the Lord and against his Christ.’

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 4:28 to do as much as your power and your plan had decided beforehand would happen. 4:29 And now, Lord, pay attention to their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage, 4:30 while you extend your hand to heal, and to bring about miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

(Acts 4:24–30)

Stephen’s Prayer for Persecutors

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

(Acts 7:60)

Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians

 3:16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God.

3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, 3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

(Ephesians 3:16–21)

Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer

17:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you— 17:2 just as you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. 17:3 Now this is eternal life —that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. 17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created.

17:6 “I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. 17:7 Now they understand that everything you have given me comes from you, 17:8 because I have given them the words you have given me. They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 17:9 I am praying on behalf of them. I am not praying on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you have given me, because they belong to you. 17:10 Everything I have belongs to you, and everything you have belongs to me, and I have been glorified by them. 17:11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. 17:12 When I was with them I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me. Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the scripture could be fulfilled. 17:13 But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves. 17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17:15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. 17:16 They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. 17:17 Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. 17:18 Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. 17:19 And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart.

17:20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 17:22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— 17:23 I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world . 17:25 Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me. 17:26 I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.”

(John 17:1-26)

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *