Some time ago a friend gave me a guide for praying for other believers. She created it by lifting phrases from the Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Colossians in Chapter 1. I find it an effective tool for praying for believers, myself included. It has been especially helpful when I struggled to phrase a prayer for a deeply troubling situation. Here’s the guide.

V.3 Be thankful for their faith and for their changed lives.
v.9 Ask God to help them know what He wants them to do.
v.9 Ask God to give them deep spiritual understanding.
v.10 Ask God to help them live for Him.
v.10 Ask God to give them more knowledge of Himself.
v.11 Ask God to give them strength for endurance.
v.11 Ask God to fill them with joy, strength, and thankfulness.

The prayers and thanksgivings in the Book of Common Prayer are filled with Scripture-infused petitions. With these written prayers as guides, I have learned to pray for friends’ circumstances with wisdom beyond myself.

These experiences with guided prayers have inspired me to search the Scriptures for more prayers. I have come to appreciate the Apostle Paul as a man of prayer. From his first meeting with Christ to the end of his life, Paul prayed for himself, for the lost, for believing friends, and for believers he had not met.

The prayers posted here are shaped from Paul’s own words. May you be blessed as you pray them.