Life has a way of beating you down to the point where it’s hard to do anything — even pray. There are times when you are discouraged or frightened or defeated — it can be overwhelming. What do you do in those moments? Where do you turn? Here are five biblical prayers for you to pray when you don’t feel like praying.
How to Persevere with Prayer
By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” — Charles Spurgeon
Pray without ceasing.” — 1 Thess. 5:17
Victor Hugo called perseverance the “secret of all triumph.” That’s nice, but how do you persevere? How do you push through pain and desperation to get to the other side? How do you overcome the inner demon that wants you to give up?
“Where does my help come from?” the psalmist asked, rhetorically (Ps. 121:1). His answer — “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Ps. 121:2). How do you tap into this “help from the Lord,” when you don’t even have the strength or the faith to pray?
Five Big Biblical Prayers
You can always go to God’s Word and begin to pray the prayers of those who have gone before you. Pray the Holy Spirit inspired prayers of those men and women of the Bible who have been in the same pit in which you now find yourself.
Here are five prayers to pray when you are in the pit.
1. Jonah’s Prayer for Deliverance (Jonah 2:2-9)
Jonah was running away from God. He found himself in a terrible storm. Just when it seemed it couldn’t get any worse — it did. He was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a great, big fish. Now, he was waiting to die. It was in the belly of the fish that he prayed this desperate prayer of deliverance.
Have you been running from God? Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse — it did? Are you suffering the consequences of bad decisions? Are you distressed over some great big cloud that is hanging over you? Are you feeling trapped by depression, anxiety, addiction?
Pray Jonah’s prayer for deliverance.
In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
2. David’s Prayer for Forgiveness (Psalm 51:1-4, 7, 10-12, 14-15)
David had everything in the world going for him. He had wealth and fame and power and influence. Then he blew it. He stole something that wasn’t his. He murdered someone who was loyal to him, in order to cover up his own sin.
And now his terrible lie was out in the open. Everyone knew what he had done. There was no escaping the consequences of his sin. He goes to the Lord and throws himself on the mercy of the court.
Have you messed up big time? Is there no escape for you? No way out of your sin? Are you feeling the shame of having disappointed everyone you love? Is the pain too much for you?
Pray David’s prayer for forgiveness.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.”
3. Paul’s Prayer for his Friends (Phil. 1:9-11)
Paul was in prison for preaching the gospel. He was facing his own possible death. Even so, he wrote a letter of thanksgiving to the church at Philippi. Paul had started the church at Philippi and he loved them as a parent loves their child. They were the one church that stuck by him through thick and thin. Paul lifts them up in prayer.
Are you facing difficult times? Are you struggling with life? Sometimes it helps to take the focus off of your situation and begin to pray for your friends. Do you have friends who have been with you through everything? Friends, who are always there for you?
Even in the face of your own trials — Pray Paul’s Prayer for friends.
And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”
4. David’s Prayer for Guidance (Psalm 25:1-2, 4-5)
David was on the run. The most powerful man in the Mediterranean world, Saul, was trying to kill him. David was sleeping in a different cave every night, just trying to stay alive. He didn’t know what to do. He was running out of options. He didn’t know where to turn. He was running out of real estate.
Do you ever find yourself on the run? Chased by your struggles? The enemy bearing down on you? Do you feel like giving up? Nowhere to turn? Running out of space to hide? Not sure who to trust?
Pray David’s prayer for guidance.
In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”
5. Habakkuk’s Prayer for Joy (Hab. 3:2-3, 17-29)
Habakkuk was not a happy camper. He lived in a time when it was tough to be an Israelite. His people were being oppressed by a superior empire. Everything he loved was being destroyed. It seemed like evil was winning on every front. He opens his writing with a cry — “How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?” (Hab. 1:2-3).
But then Habakkuk hears God’s voice and he discovers the joy he can experience regardless of his current circumstances. His heart is filled with the joy of the Lord.
Do you feel like nothing ever goes right for you? Are you tired of feeling like a failure? Are you tired of spinning your wheels? Are you tired of the injustice all around you? Is life stealing your joy?
Pray Habakkuk’s prayer for joy.
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.
Pray Even When You Don’t Feel Like It!
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” — Helen Keller
There they are — five biblical prayers for you to pray when life tries to beat you down. Five prayers that will help you to persevere. Five prayers that will help you overcome whatever you are facing in life.
I hope you can begin to pray them, even when you don’t feel like it!
