The Spirit prays for you
Romans 8:26 — 'The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.' You are not praying alone.
In suffering
When you don't know what to pray
There are seasons when prayer dries up — when grief, exhaustion, doubt, or long waiting make your own words seem impossible. In those seasons Romans 8:26 promises that the Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words, and the saints have left us their words to borrow. This guide gathers the prayers Christians have prayed for two thousand years: Psalms of lament, the Lord's Prayer, the prayers of Augustine and the Puritans, the Book of Common Prayer collects, and modern prayers for anxiety, sickness, insomnia, and grief. Pray them out loud. God will meet you in words you did not have to invent.
Pray someone else's words until your own come back.
Borrow the Psalms
Psalms 13, 42, 88, 130, and 142 give you words for the darkest places. Pray them honestly. God can take it.
A prayer of Augustine
'O Lord, our God, grant us grace to desire you with our whole heart; that so desiring, we may seek and find you; and so finding you, may love you; and loving you, may hate those sins from which you have redeemed us. Amen.'
A prayer from the Book of Common Prayer
'O God, the Father of mercies, look upon me in my weakness. Strengthen me by your grace, and grant that I may pass through the things temporal that I lose not the things eternal. Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.'
When you can only say one word
Say 'Father.' Say 'Jesus.' Say 'help.' He hears.
More prayer guides
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Trusted books and journals to help you go deeper into "When you don't know what to pray".
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The Prayer Life — Andrew Murray
Classic on communion with God in prayer.
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Prayer — Tim Keller
The best modern book on prayer.
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Prayer journal
A guided journal for daily requests, praises, and answered prayers.
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