This prayer is written for a prayer group that meets to bring its own needs, and the needs of others, before God. Pray it at the start of your gathering, after people have shared their requests and before the first person begins to pray aloud. You can read it word for word, or you can use it as a starting point and speak in your own words about the people in the room and the names on your list.
Prayer for a Prayer Group
Lord, we come together because you have invited us to come, and because you have promised to listen when two or three gather in your name. Thank you that we do not have to arrive with polished words or a clear grasp of every situation. Please meet us here, quiet the noise of the week, and make us aware of your presence among us. Guide what we say and what we leave unsaid, and help us to pray for one another with honesty and tenderness.
We bring to you the people we love who are carrying heavy things right now: the marriage under strain, the child who has stopped answering the phone, the job that may not last through the spring, the diagnosis still waiting for a clear result. Be near to each of them in the hours when no one else is awake. Where we know the names, we speak them to you now, and where we do not know the details, we trust that you do. Give us wisdom for the questions we cannot answer and patience for the ones that will take years. Keep our group from becoming a place of gossip or performance, and let it be a place where people feel safe to say, “I am not okay.”
Lord, we ask that you would form us into people who pray with faithfulness long after the meeting ends. Teach us to keep our promises to pray, to follow up with the friend who asked for help, and to celebrate with the one whose prayer was answered. Bind us together in a love that does not depend on our moods or our schedules. We give you this time, our words, and the people we carry in our hearts. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Father, we are gathered in your name and we need you here. Be with each person in this room and with every name we have brought to you. Give us the courage to speak honestly and the humility to listen well. Let this group be a place of trust and steady hope, and let what we pray today shape how we love one another this week. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
(WEB)
Read this before you begin, and let it settle the question of whether your small group matters. Thank Jesus that his presence is promised to gatherings that may feel modest, and ask him to make himself known in the room.
Philippians 4:6-7
6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
(WEB)
Use this passage to bring the worries that people have shared into prayer rather than letting them hang in the air. Ask that the peace Paul describes would guard each heart in the group as the specific requests are lifted up.
Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
(WEB)
Pray this verse over the way your group treats one another. Ask God to give you the ability to rejoice with those who have good news and to sit with those who are grieving, without rushing either response.
Galatians 6:2
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
(WEB)
Let this verse shape the practical side of your fellowship. Pray that the burdens shared in the group would be carried by more than one person, and that you would notice when someone needs help beyond prayer alone.
James 5:16
Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
(WEB)
Ask God to make your group a place where honesty and prayer go together. Pray that people would feel free to confess what is weighing on them, trusting that prayer offered in truth carries real power to heal and to strengthen.
How to Pray This Prayer
Choose a time near the beginning of your meeting, before conversation drifts into other topics, so the prayer sets the tone for the evening. Keep a pen and paper nearby, and write down each request as it is shared. Holding something in your hands, such as a card, a candle or an open notebook, can help a quiet person stay focused and give a nervous speaker something steady to hold while they pray.
If your group is large, invite a different person each week to read the main prayer aloud, and let others add a sentence of their own in response. You might also ask someone who is not in the group to pray for it from home on the same evening, so the circle of prayer stretches beyond the people in the room. Close by asking who will check in with each person before the next meeting.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord who meets two or three gathered in his name keep each one of you close this week. May he give you peace in the places where you are anxious, strength for the tasks ahead, and friends who pray with you faithfully. May his face shine on this group and on the people you love.
