Call upon the Name of the Lord
Genesis 4:26 And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord . Chapter Related Psalm 65:2 O You who listen to prayer, all people will come to You. Chapter Related Psalm 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth. Chapter Related Jeremiah 33:3 Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Chapter Related Isaiah 65:24 Even before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear. Chapter Related
Pour Out Your Hearts
Psalm 62:8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah Chapter Related Genesis 18:23–25 Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there? Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” Chapter Related Exodus 32:11–14 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord , why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’” So the Lord relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people. Chapter Related Psalm 13:1–2 How long, O Lord ? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me? Chapter Related Nehemiah 2:4–5 “What is your request?” replied the king. So I prayed to the God of heaven and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city where my fathers are buried, so that I may rebuild it.” Chapter Related 2 Kings 19:14–15 So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord . And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord : “O Lord , God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.” Chapter Related Daniel 9:18–19 “Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.” Chapter Related
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
Mark 1:35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went out to a solitary place to pray. Chapter Related Luke 6:12 In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God. Chapter Related Luke 11:1–4 One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” So Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” Chapter Related Matthew 6:6–8 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Chapter Related Luke 11:5–8 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” Chapter Related
He Always Lives to Intercede
John 17:20–21 I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. Chapter Related Romans 8:26–27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Chapter Related Romans 8:34 Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us. Chapter Related Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. Chapter Related
Devote Yourselves to Prayer
Acts 1:14 With one accord they all continued in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. Chapter Related Acts 4:31 After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Chapter Related Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him. Chapter Related Ephesians 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints. Chapter Related James 5:16–18 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops. Chapter Related
Like Incense
Psalm 141:2 May my prayer be set before You like incense; my uplifted hands, like the evening offering. Chapter Related Revelation 5:8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Chapter Related Revelation 8:3–4 Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel. Chapter Related Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! Chapter Related
The first mention of prayer in the Bible is plain: “At that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” God’s side is just as plain: “Call to Me, and I will answer,” and even “before they call, I will answer.” What follows is rarely polite. Abraham argues for Sodom: “Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” Moses pleads for a people who have just made a golden calf, and the Lord relents. A psalmist asks four times, “How long?” This is what God asks for: “pour out your hearts before Him.” Prayer can be a single breath, as when Nehemiah prays between the king’s question and his answer, or no words at all, as when Hezekiah spreads a threatening letter out before the Lord. Daniel asks on the strength of God’s compassion, not his own righteousness. The disciples watched Jesus go out before dawn to pray and spend whole nights in prayer, and the one thing they asked him to teach them was how to pray. His answer is short, because “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him,” yet he tells of a friend who keeps knocking at midnight until the door opens. No one prays alone. Jesus prays for “those who will believe in Me through their message,” the Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words, and Christ always lives to intercede. The church prays and its meeting place is shaken; it prays for Peter in prison; Elijah, “a man just like us,” prays and the rain stops. None of it is lost. The prayers of the saints rise before God like incense, and the Bible’s last prayer is three words: “Come, Lord Jesus!”