Prayers for The Church

As a rule, our prayers are to be God-centered prayers, rather than devil and demon-centered or sin-focused prayers. This is the New Testament model of prayer. The major thrust of our prayers should be for a greater release of the ministry of the Holy Spirit and for the impartation of virtues such as love, holiness, unity, hope, and peace.

We can pray for the Church using the following scripture based prayers:

a) Pray for the presence of God to be evident in our Church services; for people to be saved, set free, healed, and refreshed by the Holy Spirit during the worship, preaching, and ministry times.

b) Pray that love will abound and that we God’s people will approve the things that God calls excellent {Philippians 1:9–10}.

c) Pray that the anointing of conviction will rest on the preaching of the Word so that both believers and unbelievers are impacted greatly {John 16:8}.

d) Pray for a spirit of holiness and love to prevail in the Church.

e) Pray for a great increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Church and the manifestation of these gifts through words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discerning of spirits, healings, and miracles.

f) Pray for a prophetic spirit to rest on preachers, worship teams, and ministry leaders, according to Acts 2:17.

g) Pray that the Holy Spirit will open more doors to minister to unbelievers and that He will prepare them to receive the Gospel {Colossians 3; 2 Thessalonians 3:1}.

h) Pray that the Holy Spirit will motivate more believers to share the gospel and give more believers a burden for evangelism {Matthew 9:37–38}.

i) Pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, His will, and His ways to be given to leaders of Churches and the individual members {Ephesians 1:17}.

j) Pray that believers will be strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit in their inner man {Ephesians 3:16}.

k) Pray for unity among all the believers and all the families in the Church {John 17:21–23}.

l) Pray for an increase of the spirit of prayer to be released in the Church {Zechariah  12:10}.

m) Pray for every family member to be saved and healed and for every family to prosper with secure, steady jobs (3 John 2).

n) If we pray consistently and faithfully in this manner for the Church in our cities, over time we will see both the Church and the cities transformed before our eyes.

New Testament Church Prayer Themes

The majority of the prayers and promises in the Bible (New Testament) fit into one of three general prayer themes: gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

1) The gifts of the Holy Spirit: 
Praying for a greater release of the gifts of the Spirit involves praying for the release of God’s power, including His supernatural favor, provision, and protection. We ask for a greater measure of God’s power to be manifest in our lives. {1 Corinthians 12:7-11}

2) The fruit of the Holy Spirit: 
Praying for a greater release of the fruit of the Spirit refers to asking for God’s character to be formed in the lives. We ask that the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit formed in us. {Galatians 5:22-23}

3) The wisdom of the Holy Spirit: 
When we pray for a greater release of the wisdom of the Spirit, we are asking for an increase of understanding and insight into God’s plans, God's will, and God's Word. {Ephesians 1:17-19}

So we pray:
a) that the fruit of the Holy Spirit or godly character to be established in us, as the Spirit reveals the knowledge of God, and releases more of the beauty, love and fear of the Lord to us.

b) that the wisdom of God to be given to us, so we would walk in God’s will, plan and purpose for our lives.

c) that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural power, favor, and protection of God, to be released to and through our lives.