A beginner’s guide to prayer

Key Scriptures
Nehemiah 1:4
New International Version
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Luke 11:1
New International Version
Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer
11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Psalm 103:13
New Living Translation
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

1 John 5:14-15
New Living Translation
14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

Matthew 6:5-7
New Living Translation
Teaching about Prayer and Fasting
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

Jeremiah 33:3
New Living Translation
3 Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.

Isaiah 30:18
New Living Translation
Blessings for the Lord’s People
18 So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.