Does God answer prayer?
Jesus speaks about prayer with startling confidence. Ask, seek and knock, and you will be heard, because the One you are asking is a Father who gives good things to His children (Matthew 7:11).
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
“And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
“I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.”
These promises come with a frame. John says God hears us when we ask “according to his will” (1 John 5:14, KJV), and on the night of His arrest Jesus Himself prayed, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42, KJV). Paul asked three times for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away, and God answered with grace instead (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). So God hears every prayer of His children, but His answer is not always yes. Sometimes it is wait, and sometimes it is something better than we knew to ask for.
James 5:16 adds that prayer is not only private: believers are to confess to one another and pray for one another. And Jeremiah 33:3 came to the prophet while he was shut up in prison (Jeremiah 33:1). Prayer reaches God from anywhere.
Pray without ceasing: what does it mean?
“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, KJV) is one of the shortest verses in the Bible. In the King James Version only two verses are shorter, and one of them is the verse just before it: “Rejoice evermore” (1 Thessalonians 5:16, KJV). It is also easy to misunderstand. Paul is not telling you to quit your job and pray every waking minute. The NIV puts it “Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NIV): prayer as a conversation that keeps coming back to God all through the day.
“Pray without ceasing.”
“Pray continually.”
“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving”
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.”
Paul himself worked with his hands as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3) and still wrote this, so he meant something that fits a working life. In practice it looks like set times, the way David prayed “Evening, and morning, and at noon” (Psalm 55:17, KJV), plus short prayers in between: thanks at a red light, a cry for help before a hard phone call. And Jesus told the parable of the widow who kept coming back to an unjust judge so that we would keep praying and not lose heart (Luke 18:1-8).
What if I don't know what to pray?
Sometimes the hardest part of prayer is that there are no words. The Bible does not scold that. It promises help.
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
“Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
“The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”
When Hannah prayed for a child, her lips moved but no sound came out, and the priest thought she was drunk (1 Samuel 1:13). She told him she had “poured out my soul before the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:15, KJV). You can pray with groans, tears, a single name, or a psalm borrowed word for word. That is one of the gifts of the Psalms: when you cannot find words, you can pray theirs.
If you would like help getting started, Faithero's daily plan includes a prayer each day, and “Pray about your day” opens the Bible Guide to help you pray. For a simple routine of Scripture and prayer, our guide to keeping a daily devotional takes about ten minutes a day.
Bible passages about prayer
Single verses are a good start. These longer passages are worth reading whole, in one sitting.
| Passage | What you will find |
|---|---|
| Matthew 6:5-15 | Jesus on praying in secret and without empty words, the Lord's Prayer, and forgiving others |
| Luke 11:1-13 | The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray; the friend at midnight; ask, seek and knock |
| Luke 18:1-8 | The widow who kept coming back to an unjust judge, told so that we would not give up |
| John 17 | Jesus prays for Himself, for His disciples and for everyone who would believe through them |
| Daniel 9:3-19 | Daniel confesses his people's sin and pleads for mercy, trusting God's mercy rather than their own goodness |
| Nehemiah 1 | Nehemiah weeps, fasts and prays for Jerusalem before he asks the king for help |
| Psalm 51 | David's prayer of repentance after his sin with Bathsheba |
Prayers in the Bible
Seven of the great prayers of Scripture, and where to read each one.
| Who prayed | Where to read it | What the prayer is about |
|---|---|---|
| Hannah | 1 Samuel 2:1-10 | Thanks after Samuel's birth: God lifts up the poor and brings down the proud |
| Solomon | 1 Kings 8:22-53 | Dedicating the temple, and asking God to hear every prayer made toward it |
| Jabez | 1 Chronicles 4:10 | A one-verse prayer for blessing, more land, God's hand with him and protection from harm |
| David | Psalm 51 | Confession after his sin with Bathsheba, asking for a clean heart |
| Mary | Luke 1:46-55 | Her song of praise, the Magnificat: God lifts up the lowly and fills the hungry |
| Jesus | John 17 | Prayer for His followers, then and now, that they may be one |
| Paul | Ephesians 3:14-21 | That believers be strengthened by the Spirit and grasp how great the love of Christ is |
Read Hannah's prayer and Mary's song side by side: both praise the God who brings down the proud and lifts up the poor. Mary's song is called the Magnificat after its first word in Latin. And the Psalms are a whole book of prayers and songs; one section even closes with “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended” (Psalm 72:20, KJV).
Frequently asked
What does the Bible say about prayer?
The Bible invites God's people to bring everything to Him in prayer, with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). Jesus gave the Lord's Prayer as a pattern (Matthew 6:9-13), promised that the Father hears those who ask, seek and knock (Matthew 7:7-8), and told a parable so that we would keep praying and not give up (Luke 18:1-8). Paul adds, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17, KJV).
Where is pray without ceasing in the Bible?
It is 1 Thessalonians 5:17, in a short run of commands: "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, KJV). The NIV renders verse 17 "Pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NIV). It means keeping up a conversation with God through the day, not praying every second.
Where is the Lord's Prayer in the Bible?
In Matthew 6:9-13, in the Sermon on the Mount, and in a shorter form in Luke 11:2-4, where the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. The familiar closing line, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever" (Matthew 6:13, KJV), is in Matthew in the King James Version but not in Luke.
What are some prayers in the Bible?
Some of the great prayers of the Bible are Hannah's prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10), Solomon's prayer at the temple (1 Kings 8:22-53), the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10), David's prayer of repentance (Psalm 51), Mary's song (Luke 1:46-55), Jesus' prayer for His followers (John 17) and Paul's prayer for the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:14-21). The Psalms are a whole book of prayers and songs.
Does God answer every prayer?
The Bible says God hears His people (Psalm 145:18, 1 John 5:14-15), but He answers according to His will and wisdom. Jesus prayed, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42, KJV), and Paul's request to have his thorn removed was answered with grace instead (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes wait, and sometimes something better than we asked.
Why pray if God already knows what I need?
Jesus said our Father knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8), and in the next breath He taught us to ask. Prayer is not giving God information. It is talking with a Father, depending on Him, and being changed by time with Him. Scripture also says prayer makes a difference: "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16, KJV).
Start smaller than you think
Most of us do not need a better method of prayer so much as a smaller first step. Pray the Lord's Prayer slowly once today, stopping after each line to say what it means for you right now. Or take one verse from this page and turn it into a sentence to God. Or do what Hannah did, and simply pour out what is in you.
Prayer grows the way friendships do: by showing up again and again, honestly, including on the days you have little to say. God is not grading your words. He is glad you came.
How does the Bible teach us to pray?
Jesus' main teaching on prayer comes in the Sermon on the Mount. He warns against praying to be seen and against piling up empty words, and then He gives His disciples a model. Here is the Lord's Prayer in full, as the King James Version has it:
Notice how Jesus introduces it: “After this manner therefore pray ye” (Matthew 6:9, KJV). It is a pattern as well as a prayer. It starts with God before it gets to us: His name, His kingdom, His will. Then it asks for the most ordinary things: bread for today, forgiveness, protection. Nothing is too spiritual or too small to pray about.
Luke records a shorter form of the same prayer (Luke 11:2-4), without the closing line “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever” (Matthew 6:13, KJV). Protestant and Eastern churches include that line of praise when they pray it. At a Catholic Mass the priest first adds a short prayer, and then the people answer with a similar line of praise.
Around the Lord's Prayer, Scripture adds a few simple instructions:
Jesus also said, “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:8, KJV). So why ask at all? We take up that question in Why pray if God already knows? The short answer: prayer is not giving God information. It is spending time with your Father, depending on Him, and being changed by being with Him.
Psalm 5:3 is a morning prayer. If mornings are your time to pray, our morning prayers can give you words to begin with.