Focused, Sustained, United, Biblical Prayers for Cities
By Steve Hawthorne
Praying for one’s city makes sense. The basic command to love our neighbors inclines us to pray beyond our own concerns.
But how do we pray for our communities? In the WayMakers ministry, we’ve learned many things about this practice, but here is the key: encourage focused, united, and sustained praying with written prayers of biblical hope.
Focused Praying: Pray Scripture
Many are accustomed to praying about specific needs or problems, framed as prayer requests by the persons needing or asking for prayer. If people tell us their requests, we will pray. Many Christians, however, have run that logic backwards: if we don’t know their requests, then we won’t know what to pray.
Let’s help each other learn the art—and the heart—of praying the Scriptures. We can discover so much about the ways and the work of our God from the Bible’s stories, prophecies, covenants, hymns of praise, and written prayers. Of course, Scripture can be misinterpreted and misused, but usually the reflective process of actually writing out these prayers helps us stay within the intended meaning of the biblical authors.
By seeking to pray in accord with God’s Word, our words will express what we can be sure is God’s heart.
Sustained Praying: Pray Purpose
If we pray in accord with Scripture, we’ll find that God has promised us far more than help through tough times. He is resolutely pursuing His global purpose that, by the power of the gospel, His Son would be famous and followed, bringing His transforming blessing among all peoples.
God is unfolding this massive, all-encompassing purpose in a multimillennial, generational time frame. It’s humbling to realize we are probably doing a feeble job of restating what other saints and grandparents in the faith have prayed. Some of the most important prayers for cities are long-haul prayers for God to fulfill over lengthy time spans. We may be praying 50- or 100-year prayers—prayers that our great-grandchildren will be glad we prayed. God is not offended if we cry out, “How long?” (Rev. 6:10 and 15 times in the Psalms).
I’ve learned that our best prayers are those worth praying more. It’s not a matter of merely praying them again. Praying more is the work and the joy of reiterating and refining our prayers. I have sometimes given a particular person the assignment of being a “prayer scribe,” listening to a group that is praying and taking notes regarding the prayers worth praying again. Writing down the main ideas of those prayers gives us a way of pushing those prayers further to deepen, strengthen, and simplify our praying.
Some churches keep written accounts of select prayers and Scriptures that have been prayed. Reviewing those records gives a congregation solid ground to offer God praise. And, of course, in later years and generations those prayers can inspire others to pray onward. Written, biblical prayers can encourage others to pray with the heart as well as the mind, in spirit as well as in truth.
United Praying: Pray Together
The prayers we yearn to pray for our cities are not just long—as in the lengthy timelines of prayers offered and answered. The prayers are also large—as in the multitude of issues and complexities of communities of any size. One pastor told me what he thought of some prayers I had written for citywide prayer: “These prayers are too big for us to pray alone. We’re going to have to get other churches praying with us.”
Yes, indeed. And effectively praying prayers of this magnitude demands that people pray in every place, lift prayers in many languages, and intercede in every dimension of community life. God is pleased to hear the prayers of each of the diverse streams of Christ’s people as if we were speaking with one voice.
We’ve enjoyed renewal in our citywide prayer gatherings in Austin, TX, as we stand before our Lord shoulder to shoulder. Such gatherings to pray as one people are essential, but they take work. And despite our best scheduling and organizing, many may be left out of our gatherings.
One way of uniting in prayer is to publish and distribute simple, biblical prayers that can stimulate even more specific prayers. Because of the unity Christians enjoy in the Bible, we can create effective prayer guides that resound with the Scriptures and focus on the glory of Christ alone.
Form Helpful Scripted Prayers
For more than 20 years, our team at WayMakers has published a prayer guide called Seek God for the City, featuring prayers of biblical hope. Here are a few things we’ve learned:
- Restate truth with fresh vocabulary. Paraphrase (“prayer-a-phrase”) essential truths of the biblical text. Avoid churchy jargon. Use different words but words that are accessible. Instead of divide, use fragment or split. Instead of see, try glimpse or gaze.
- Provide the Scripture. Do more than print a chapter-verse reference. People rarely look up references, so write out the quotation for them.
- Confess the truth found in the Scripture. What does the Scripture say about you or those you are praying for? Keep such statements brief and incisive, setting up what, specifically, you will ask God to do.
- Ask God to do something. Choose Scriptures that reveal God’s ways and work. Use crisp verbs to ask God to act in accord with the Scripture. Beware of expressions such as, “We thank You that. . . .” and then run on saying whatever you want to say. As true as your statement might be, it may not be prayer.
- A pray-then-write cycle. Write what you’ve prayed and then pray what you’ve written.
I’m delighted to see many others write biblical prayers that help people unite and focus their praying. Let’s continue to equip and encourage God’s people to pray His purpose.
Following are three sample prayers, using three kinds of Scriptures (from Seek God for the City), that can help you write and refine your own prayers:
- Use a Prayer from a Song
The biblical text is a worship song, such as the one below. We use the truths to confess how little God is known and why He has “gone anonymous.” Then we give several rapid-fire requests with active verbs: “do something great; become famous; reestablish Your reputation; stir Your people.” These kinds of prayers are easy to pray and can expand extemporaneously.
Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make them remember that His name is exalted . . . He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth (Isaiah 12:4–5, NASB).
Living God, although You are heartily praised in our churches, You are lightly regarded, fiercely hated, or utterly ignored by many in our city. For too long You have gone anonymous. People fail to recognize the good things You constantly do for them. Your goodness is deemed luck or coincidence. Kindness is considered a random thing. Lord of glory, we ask You to do something great for Your name. Become famous for who You really are. Reestablish Your reputation among those who have forgotten You. Stir Your people to tell the story of Your glory in their lives so that You are praised beyond the walls of our churches. - Use a Prayer from a Gospel Story
First, we recount part of the story of Jesus restoring a demonized man to his household. His whole city heard the news. The prayer highlights some of the unfamiliar facets of the story. Then we add four sentences, each a request about multiplying “fresh tellings of the gospel.” Jesus told the man,
“Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him (Luke 8:39).
One man told his family all about the great things You did for him. Then the news spread beyond his household so that the whole city heard. Do the same thing yet again in our city. May one person relay the gospel to another, and then throughout their households. Make Your Word resound through neighborhoods and networks of friends. Fill our entire community with fresh tellings of the gospel. From our city, send the message to many peoples and places across the face of the earth. - Use a Prayer from a Prophetic Promise
A rarely noted or quoted passage promises good things for families. Once again, we can use the Scripture to reveal our need. And then we offer five succinct sentence petitions, each of them expanding the promises.
“All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace” (Isaiah 54:13).
You have entrusted to parents a great responsibility, that they would become the pattern of life their children follow. Even the best of parents in stable homes can sometimes fail to guide their children well. Children sometimes rebel with no apparent cause. So we approach You, our marvelous heavenly Father. Make Your presence known in our homes. Reconcile wayward fathers and mothers to their children. Restore prodigal sons and daughters to their parents. Open our minds and lives to receive You as our teacher. And may Your peace be great in homes throughout our city.
These are only a few of the ways we all can pray great prayers for our cities by using biblical prayers of hope and joining other believers and churches in sustaining unified prayers for generations to come.
–STEVE HAWTHORNE is the director of WayMakers in Austin, TX. He is the coauthor of Prayerwalking and the author of Seek God for the City prayer guides. The prayers in this article are excerpts from the 2019 prayer guide.
