Books on Prayer

Prayer
Tim Keller

A Praying Life
Paul Miller

Prayer
Ole Hallesby

Praying the Bible
Donald Whitney

A Simple Way to Pray
Martin Luther

Praying
J.I. Packer

How to Spend an Hour With God

A.W. Tozer once wrote, “God waits to be wanted.” God is eager to meet with his people and he is inviting us to come to him, to be with him, to listen to him and to find life and peace and purpose in his presence. But we often find it difficult to linger with the Lord.

This guide is a simple aid to help you spend an extended time with God in praise and prayer. It is not a legalistic formula but a suggested pattern to help you as you seek to encounter God. 

Approach God With Confidence & Joy

By his life, death, and resurrection Jesus has made a way for us to come into the Father’s presence with confidence and find grace to help us in our need. In Christ, you are welcomed by God with mercy and love. 

Hebrews 10:19, 22 (ESV) — Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 4:16 (ESV) — Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

Begin With Praise & Thanks 

Get your heart happy in God through praising him and thanking him. Adore God for who he is and thank God for the various expressions of his kindness and grace to you.

Psalm 95:1-2 — Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 

Confess Your Sins to the Lord & Receive His Forgiveness 

As we praise God, we also acknowledge the things in our lives that are not praiseworthy. As we confess those sins, God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us 

1 John 1:9 (ESV) — If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Consider using this prayer of confession to aid you.

“Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.”
(from the Book of Common Prayer) 

Pray for Your Own Spiritual Health

God is concerned with the people we are becoming. Ask him to increase his activity in your own life that your life might be lived for his glory.

• Pray that the Holy Spirit would give you assurance of God’s love for you (Romans 8:15-16).

• Pray that you would grow in your love for God and your love for others (Philippians 1:9-11).

• Pray that you would bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

• Pray that you would grow in personal holiness (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

• Pray that you would increase in the knowledge of God, that you would live in a way that pleases him, and that you would be filled with joy and patience (Col 1:9-12).
  

Pray That the Church Would Be Full of God’s Spirit & of Power & Be Revived

Acts 4:31 (ESV) — And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

• God’s power is available to God’s people, but only for God’s purposes.

• Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower you and all God’s people for a life of love, holiness, joy, and bold witness to the world.

• Pray for an endowment of spiritual gifts among God’s people for the maturity and mission of the Church.

• Pray for God’s power to be manifest through the salvation of the lost; healing of those who are sick; deliverance of those in bondage; restoration of marriages; renewal of homes; and returning of prodigals.

• Pray for revival to sweep through God’s Church.

Pray for Specific Needs in Your Life and in the Church

We believe that God works in response to the prayers of his people. As we pray, we are contending for the purposes of God, and our prayers help bring about those purposes. Pray with faith and with boldness.

Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV) — do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

1 John 5:14–15 (ESV) — And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Pray for Governments & Leaders in Places of Authority

God has granted to the Church the privilege and responsibility of shaping the world and its leaders through prayer. Pray for God to establish peace in the earth through righteous and just leaders who lead with integrity. Pray for our own nation, that God would establish righteous leaders who do not seek to hinder the Church from fulfilling its mission.

1 Timothy 2:1–4 (ESV) — First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Pray for the Spread of the Gospel

Matthew 24:14 (ESV) — And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

• Pray for the Gospel to spread among those you know and love, saving the lost and bringing back the prodigals.

• Pray for the Gospel to spread among your neighbors, praying for them by name.

• Pray for the Gospel to spread through our cities as God works through the churches.

• Pray for the Gospel to spread through our church plants and partners.

  • Cross and Crown Church in Fort Worth (Pastor James Sercey)

  • Kings Cross Church in Farmington, UT (Pastor Austin Glenn)

  • Empower One in South Sudan and Sudan (Director Mike Congrove and Pastor David Kia)

  • Send Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico (Church planting and Mercy Ministries)

  • For the Nations in Dallas, TX (Sarah Guthrie)

  • Compassion International (Releasing Children from Poverty in Jesus’ Name)

  • North American Mission Board (Church Planting throughout North America)

  • International Mission Board (International Church Planting among Unreached People Groups)

  • Radius International (Training future missionaries to the unreached and unengaged peoples)

  • “S” & “C” serving in the Middle East among a nomadic people.

  • Scott and Rachel Partridge serving in Germany.

End Your Prayer With a Confession of Faith & Submission to God

Confess your trust in the faithfulness of God. We can trust his heart. He will answer our prayers in keeping with his wisdom and love. Yield yourself to him in faith.

1 Corinthians 1:9 (ESV) — God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

"Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to

you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so

control our wills, that we may be wholly yours,

utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray,

as you will, and always to your glory and the

welfare of your people; through our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ. Amen."

(from the Book of Common Prayer)

Pray 30 / 20 / 10

Jesus died for us so that we might be brought to God and have him as our Father in a relationship of intimacy and awe. Milton Vincent, in his book A Gospel-Primer for Christians, put it this way:

“God is radically committed to my life of prayer. He shed the blood of His Son so that I might be cleansed and rendered fit to stand before Him in love. He also permitted the brutal rending of His Son so that I might now have a way to enter into the Holy Place through the torn flesh of Jesus. ‘Draw near,’ he says… How can I not feel the infinite sincerity of these invitations, especially when considering the painful lengths that God endured so that I might enter his presence in prayer. Indeed the Gospel serves as the sweetest of invitation to pray.” – Milton Vincent

We pray because God invites us to come to him and enjoy him as our Father, delighting in all that he is for us because of Jesus. But we also pray because we believe he is our Father in heaven with all power and authority. He is omnipotent and with him, all things are possible (Mark 10:27; Luke 1:37). As we look out at the brokenness around us and even inside of us, we are forced to face our need for the grace and renewing power of God. Prayer is how we express that need.

That is why we have launched Pray 30/20/10. We are encouraging the people of Church at the Cross to commit to creating three slots of time in your day to give 30 minutes, 20 minutes, and 10 minutes to the Lord in his Word and prayer. If you are a night owl, make the 30 minute slot in your evening. If you are an early riser, schedule your 30 minute slot in the morning. The goal is to keep your hearts tethered to God throughout the day, listening to him in his Word and speaking to him in prayer.

AS YOU PRAY

• Schedule it in or everything else will schedule it out.

• Pray with confidence that Jesus has given you access to the Father.

• Pray the Bible (use the Psalms or the Lord’s Prayer).

• Prayer prayers of praise, confession, and gratitude.

• Pray for specific needs: yours, others’ and the world’s.

• Pray for those who do not know Jesus.

• Pray for our Church’s maturity, mission, and leaders.

Prayer Prompts to Use In Your Quiet Time

PRAYER PROMPTS

Helping people and places encounter Jesus is an impossible vision apart from prayer. If we are going to experience God renewing our lives and relationships as well as using us as instruments of renewal in the world, we must become a praying people. We want to encourage you to use the following prayer prompts to guide you as you pray.  You need not limit your prayers to this specific language, but use these prompts to lead you into more specific and robust prayers. These prompts are informed by the values of Church at the Cross and will serve us as we pray for our leaders, our life groups, our homes, and for our own personal lives. We encourage you to use these prompts in your 30/20/10 prayer times as well as in times of corporate prayer.

CENTERED ON JESUS

Pray that God by his Spirit would give us the grace to know, love and obey Jesus in greater measure.

DRIVEN BY GRACE

Pray that God by his Spirit would give us the grace to rest in and respond to his unshakeable love.

SHAPED BY SCRIPTURE

Pray that God by his Spirit would uniquely shape and direct his Church through the truth in his scripture 

RENEWED AS COMMUNITY

Pray that God by his Spirit would enable us to promote love, wisdom, and holiness among one another.

SENT ON MISSION

Pray that God by his Spirit would empower us to courageously declare and demonstrate the gospel to our neighbors and  among all nations.

EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

Pray that God would grant us more of the Spirit’s presence and power in our lives.