How do I write a prayer of the people or prayer of intercession?

This prayer includes a broad range of words of gratitude for what God has done as well as petitions for the needs of those inside and outside of the congregation.

The Prayers of the People or Prayers of Intercession can include the following things:

• Prayers for congregational needs
• Prayers for needs of the world
• Silent prayers
• Sung prayers
• Prayers of adoration
• Prayers of confession
• Prayers of thanksgiving

See also Prayer.

Why pray prayers of intercession?

Petitionary prayer is an important recognition of our dependence on God. We have to ask for things. We are not independent generators of goods. Goods come to us through a whole web of interdependence, and God is positioned at the center of it.

We do not understand how petitionary prayer works, and, some of the time, even whether it works. But Jesus told us to do it. And Jesus taught his disciples how to do it. In scripture the Lord's Prayer is all petitions (the closing doxology used mostly by Protestants is a later addition). The petitions center on the coming of God's kingdom, when God's will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is the "paradigmatic prayer" for Christians (Nicholas Wolterstorff, The God We Worship, Eerdmans, 2015, p. 111). What we want is for what God wants to actually start to happen.

In the providence of God, petitionary intercession may do some good for the people we are praying for, but it is sure to do some good for us. I think we all understand. It's hard to know exactly what the link is between petitionary prayer for others and any improvement in their situation, but we have the weight of centuries behind the conviction that people who know they are being prayed for do better emotionally and spiritually. But the person praying gets better too. Just as it's healthy to praise greatness, so it's healthy to intercede for others—to make their causes our own, to want good for them, to ask for it, to mortify our own self-centeredness and to center instead, for a time, on the lives and needs of others.

How do I write a prayers of the people or prayer of intercession?

There are different models that one could consider using for Prayers of the People or Prayers of Intercession. Using an outline can encourage spontaneous prayer, but maintain a balanced diet between petitions and thanksgiving and remember to think about concerns not only of the congregation but of the broader community and around the world.

Model 1:

• Address God
• Praise and thanksgiving (See Prayers of Praise or Thanksgiving)
• Intercessions for congregational, personal, community, and worldwide concerns
• Statement of unity and praise for God, such as the doxology

Model 2:

Use the Lord's Prayer petitions as a model (the wording of the prayer may vary depending on what the congregation is used to)

• Our Father in heaven . . . (adoration/thanksgiving)
• Your kingdom come . . . (prayers for peace)
• Give us this day our daily bread . . . (prayers for the community)
• Forgive us our debts . . . (prayers for relationships)
• And do not bring us to the time of trial . . . (prayers for the world and for resistance to evil in our lives and the world)
• For yours is the kingdom and the power . . .

Model 3:

Other prayers can be based on scripture. See Scriptural Prayers.

Model 4:

Prayers from the congregation can also be gathered during a service, drawing on a broad range of petitions and thanksgivings. These can be gathered at the end of the sharing time into one prayer or prayed after each request. After requests are made, the congregation can respond with: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. or Lord, with thanksgiving, hear our prayer.

Where does the Bible invite us to pray?

God invites us to pray for the needs of others and our world. Doing so is an act of obedience.

• Psalm 32:6, let all the faithful pray to God
• Psalm 124:8, our help is in the name of the Lord
• Romans 8:26–27, the Spirit helps us in our weakness
• Ephesians 6:18, pray in the Spirit on all occasions
• Philippians 4:6–7, in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God
• 1 Timothy 2:1–4, petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone

How do we begin our prayers?

These biblical prayers offer beautiful and faithful language for addressing God. We can choose to use these words, echoing prayers from throughout all ages, as we address God in prayer.

• Psalm 5:2–3, "Listen to the sound of my cry"
• Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart . . ."
• Psalm 25:1–2, "My God, in you I trust"
• Psalm 69:13, "My prayer is to you, O Lord"
• Psalm 70:1, "O Lord, make haste to help me!"
• Psalm 102:1, "Hear my prayer, O Lord"
• Psalm 141:2, "Let my prayer be counted as incense before you"
• Psalm 143:1, "Hear my prayer, O Lord; . . . answer me in your righteousness."

Are there prayers in the Bible?

The following prayers are based on particular scriptural texts. Some are close paraphrases of actual scriptural prayers, such as psalms. Others are new prayers built on an image or a theme from a biblical text. These are provided as models of an approach that may be used in conjunction with any scripture text.

• Psalm 8, "O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"
• Psalm 103, "Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name"
• Psalm 121, "I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?"
• Psalm 146, I will praise the Lord as long as I live
• 1 Corinthians 12:12–31, unity and diversity in the body