What Do I Say When I Pray?

Do you ever struggle with what to say when it comes to praying with others? Or are you afraid your prayers won’t sound as great as those you’re praying with?

Jesus had just finished praying and the disciples wanted to learn how to pray, too.

However, they didn’t ask Jesus to teach them how He prayed, they requested to learn how to pray like John the Baptizer had taught his disciples. Maybe they forgot what John said about Jesus (see John 1:27); they were about to get a lesson on prayer from an even greater expert, the Son of God.

Jesus responded to their request by sharing a simple prayer packed full of ways to focus your conversation with God, as Heavenly Father.

Jesus said to say these things when you have a conversation with God. As you consider what prayer with a friend sounds like, here’s a great place to start:

• Address God as your Heavenly Father and as One who is holy.

• Declare God’s way of doing things (His kingdom) to come into every aspect of life (Luke 11:2).

• Look to your Heavenly Father as your daily Provider (Luke 11:3).

• Ask God for forgiveness and help to forgive others (Luke 11:4).

• Ask your Heavenly Father to lead and steer you and those you’re praying with from anything that would take you further away from Him (Luke 11:4).

Here’s what it could sound like to take Jesus’ model of prayer and pray this with others:

Heavenly Father, thank You for being a good God who is so worthy of our worship. As we’ve been talking, we recognize that we want Your way of doing things in [name specific things in relation to what you and your friend talked about]. What does that look like for our lives? We look to You to provide exactly what we need. Show us how to open our eyes to Your provision in [fill in with specifics to your conversation].

Together, we both recognize where we’ve messed up recently. Please forgive us. [Use this as an opportunity for out loud or silent confession.] Show us who we need to forgive and what that looks like. We’re grateful to be Your children. Continue to guide us closer to You. . . . [Continue the prayer adding in whatever specific ways He leads you to pray.]

Talk It Over Together:

Whether in the chat or in person, here are some questions to consider as you find more opportunities to pray with a friend:

• From the things Jesus mentioned about what to say when you pray, which one stood out to you and why?

• How does Jesus’ model of prayer help you know what to say when praying—especially with a friend? Are there parts of prayer you were reminded of as you looked over what Jesus taught His disciples to say?

• What was your experience as you used this prayer, from Luke 11, and prayed it with a friend?

How encouraging that our brother Jesus wants to guide our conversation when we pray. Notice how His words give you the needed confidence to reach out and pray with a friend.