Prayer Guide

September 3, 2025

I want to draw your attention to a verse that should radicalize and energize your prayer life. It should motivate you to fall to your knees frequently and passionately. It’s a verse that you’ve perhaps read often but that, if you’re like me, you either haven’t noticed or taken seriously.

Ready?

Paul is talking about Abraham: “(As it is written, ‘A father of many nations I have made you’) in the presence of Him whom he believed”—OK, drumroll—“even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist” (Romans 4:17 NASB1995; emphasis added).

What do you need today? You say, “I need something that does not exist!”

• I need health, wisdom, a mate, or a child.
• I need hope, strength, self-control, joy, and peace.
• I need the ability to see life differently AND for people to see me differently.
• I need a job or clients–I need business.
• I need more money and less time between paychecks!

What you need doesn’t exist? That’s not a problem! “God calls into being that which does not exist.”

There once was a time when there was nothing. Out of nothing, God created everything. He created the sun, the moon, stars, oceans, mountains, birds, dogs, cats (not sure why ), chocolate, air to breathe, and people we love.

Let God know what your need is today.

• Maybe you’ve done it many times. That’s why He says we are to ask, seek, and knock.
• Maybe this would be the first time you have truly asked in faith, believing that He really is able to answer your prayer.

Whatever you need, ask. “God calls into being that which does not exist.” If He can create a universe, He can create what you need AND what those you are praying for need!

Pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit

In 1 Kings we see an encounter between Elijah the prophet and the prophets of Baal:

“‘Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’ And all the people said, ‘That is a good idea.’ … Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come near to me.’ So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. … At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.’ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God’” (1 Kings 18:24, 30, 36–39 NASB1995; emphasis added).

It’s one thing for a glass to be clean. It’s another to be filled. It’s one thing to be spiritually alert and armed. It’s another thing to be anointed by God’s Spirit.

We need the fire of God to fall upon people and churches.

• Pray God’s people will hunger for His presence and power and will not be satisfied with anything but God Himself. “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence” (Isaiah 64:1 NASB1995).
• Pray God, the Holy Spirit, will breathe life upon us. “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord GOD, You know.’ … So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:1–3, 10 NASB1995; emphasis added).
• Pray God will revive His people. “Will You not Yourself revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6 NASB1995).

Pray for lost people to be saved

Lost people act like lost people because that’s who they are. Christians need to share Jesus. Lost people need to be convicted of their sin and turn to Jesus.

• “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NASB1995
• “And He [the Holy Spirit], when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:8 NASB1995

Pray for unity in the church

Two mighty things happen when Christians are living in unity. First, the world believes that God the Father sent Jesus. Second, we experience life eternal.

• “That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21 NASB1995
• “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard … for there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forever.” Psalm 133:1–3 NASB1995

Pray that families would live a Biblical model

Families are the fundamental building block of life. Churches are seldom more spiritually powerful than the families in them are spiritually healthy.

• “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3 NASB1995
• “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Deuteronomy 6:4–7 NASB1995

Pray for political leaders

We have been commanded to pray “for kings and all who are in authority” (1 Timothy 2:2).

• Pray those who are saved will lead with righteous values and share the Gospel of Christ with other political leaders.
• Pray the pressures of leading will cause lost politicians and judges to call on Jesus to be saved.

Donald J. Trump

Vice President of the United States:
J.D. Vance

Supreme Court Justices:
John G. Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
Clarence Thomas
Samuel A. Alito
Sonia Sotomayer
Elena Kagan
Neil M. Gorsuch
Brett M. Kavanaugh
Amy Coney Barrett
Ketanji Brown Jackson

Governor of Tennessee:
Bill Lee

Tennessee Senators:
Marsha Blackburn
Bill Hagerty

West Tennessee Congressmen:
Steve Cohen
David Kustoff

Memphis/Shelby County Elected Officials

City Council:

Shelby County Commissioners:

Pray for Memphis