Introduction

We are so glad you are joining us for these daily prayer posts. Over the next four weeks we are going to listen to the prayers of the Bible, and the saints of God. Their prayers are going to teach us how to pray.

Each devotion will take five to seven minutes of your time.

1. We will look at an insight from those who know something important about prayer.
2. We will listen to the prayers of people in the Bible—people just like us. And to people who gained a deep measure of spiritual intimacy with God because they prayed.
3. We will reflect, asking the same four questions each day that invites us to look and listen with intent.
4. And we will pray, for it is in praying that we learn to pray. And it is in praying that the Spirit changes our hearts.

May we encourage you to grab a notebook, a journal, something to write on as you do each prayer guide. Yes, it will add a few minutes to the time it takes to do the devotion, and it will also deepen your experience and shape your walk with God for years to come.

Look

Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine.

C. S. Lewis

Listen

Have you ever wondered what angels pray about? They know things we don’t know and have a perspective far beyond our own (at least for now). What might their prayers teach us about things we cannot yet see? What might we learn about prayer from them? Let’s find out.

Revelation 5:11-12

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

Revelation 7:11-12

¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Reflect

1. Having read the Word, sit silently for a minute and give God’s Word a moment to settle within you.
2. Re-read the verses slowly and write down some thoughts that resonate with you.
3. Ask the Spirit to help you see the deeper longings, desires or motives in your heart that those thoughts are pointing to. (for example: you may write down, “The angels seem captivated by God’s glory.” The Spirit can help you discern your own feelings and desires when you consider the glory of God.)
4. When you read the angels’ prayers of worship in the passage above, do they seem foreign or familiar to your prayer life?

Pray

In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul writes, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Someday we will see what the angels see. And on that day, all our petitions will turn to praise.

Let’s start practicing now by making the angels’ prayer our prayer. Spend a few moments worshipping God by proclaiming to Him the parts of His character and attributes that are most meaningful to you. (For example, you might say, “God, you are faithful; You are loving; You are powerful…) Then end your prayer with the angels’ words from Revelation 7:12, Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.