How to Pray Before Starting a Sermon

A sermon or preaching is something that one should take seriously. When someone preaches a sermon, they have a significant influence over a congregation, but this also involves handling God’s Word, to which we should be faithful. While it does not replace our own Bible reading, a sermon is essential in the Sunday gathering of believers. This is how believers get edified, encouraged, ministered to, admonished, and corrected. What makes it essential is not the act of preaching itself but that it’s God’s Word being preached. Preaching a sermon is a big responsibility, and therefore, anyone who preaches should always come to God in prayer.

What makes a good sermon?

To know what and how to pray in a sermon, we should know what makes a good sermon. First, a good sermon is one that has been studied well. This is something that a preacher should pray for during his preparation and not just before starting a sermon. If a preacher wants to make sure that he is not using verses out of context or wants to deliver the full power of the passage to the congregation, they must intensely study the passage. 

That leads us to the next point, which is that a good sermon is where the Word of Truth is rightly handled. The Word of God is holy; it is God’s Word for us. A sermon must be faithful to what God says and not be tweaked just to fit what the believers want to hear. Rightly handling the Word of Truth in a sermon also means preaching the truth to the congregation, even if it is something that they don’t want to hear. A good sermon preaches the truth that believers need to hear, not just what they want to hear or what suits their passions.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

[2 Timothy 2:15]

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears

[2 Timothy 4:3]

A sermon should always be centered on God’s Word. Good preaching is expository when a preacher gets into a passage and dives into what that specific passage is saying; not the other way around, where there is a specific topic and the Scriptures are fit in. Being centered on God’s Word means that a sermon starts with God’s Word and ends with God’s Word.

Just as all sermons should be centered on God’s Word, all sermons should also be Christ-exalting or Christ-magnifying. Christ is the fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament. Even if the sermon is about a passage from the Old Testament, it still finds its fulfillment in Christ; magnifying Christ and glorifying Him even if the sermon deals with something in the Old Testament. One good example is Exodus. A preacher may talk about how God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, but a good sermon will always lead to the work of Christ, Who frees from the slavery of sin those who repent and believe in Him.

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

[2 Corinthians 1:20]

A sermon is also good if it convicts people. For example, if you are talking about the holiness of God and how we should be holy as well, it should convict people of their sins and drive them to pursue holiness, knowing that God is a holy God. Last, a good sermon ends with the application. The preacher should always answer the question “So what?” after preaching his sermon’s main thrusting point. It is “so what?” in the sense of how the believer should apply the sermon in their lives. It is not enough that we know the truth or hear the Word of God. We should apply His words and obey them.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass

[James 1:22-23]

How can you pray before a sermon?

A preacher prays to God before starting his sermon because, first, he is dependent on God’s grace and mercy as he preaches. The preacher is only but an instrument of God—His mouthpiece. The wisdom and grace that he needs to deliver a good sermon is not something he draws from his strength but from the grace and mercy that God provides. A preacher preaches not by His might but by God’s Spirit.

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

[Zechariah 4:6]

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

[2 Corinthians 12:9]

A preacher should also pray because God works in people’s hearts, just as he is dependent on God as he delivers the sermon. The Holy Spirit softens the congregation’s hearts so that they may comprehend, understand, and receive the truth being preached, even if it is a truth that is hard to swallow. Such things are so, not because the preacher is good at preaching, but because the Holy Spirit is at work in the people’s hearts. No matter how good the preacher and the sermon are, if the people’s hearts are hardened, they will never receive nor comprehend it.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

[Ezekiel 36:26]

Knowing that the Holy Spirit is the One Who works in the hearts of the congregation as they listen to the sermon, it is also true that it’s the Holy Spirit Who opens their eyes to behold the wondrous things of God’s Word. That is why it should be our prayer before starting a sermon that the Holy Spirit will not only work in the hearts of the people but that He shall also open their eyes to behold the wondrous things of the Scriptures on which the sermon is based. Last, we pray for the Holy Spirit to convict the people of sin if there are any areas in their lives that they should repent or surrender to God. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit convicts us and brings remembrance to us of the truth. 

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

[Psalm 119:18]

A key thing to remember when praying before the start of a sermon is humility. A preacher depends on God as he preaches and on God for his sermon to penetrate the people’s hearts. The preacher can also include praying for the sermon to cause transformation of the people as the Holy Spirit works in them and that they shall be humble to receive and listen to whatever truth is being preached. In line with the things we have mentioned in this section, you can also add the points we covered about what makes a good sermon and include those things as you pray before your sermon. 

Here is an example of how you can pray before starting your sermon:

Holy Spirit, You are the One Who empowers me and gives me the boldness to preach the truth. I pray that I shall magnify Christ in the sermon I am about to preach and stay true to God’s Word, and be centered on it. Give me the grace and mercy to rightly handle your Word as I preach today. I pray that the sermon I am about to preach will convict the congregation and penetrate their hearts. Soften their hearts, Holy Spirit, and open their eyes to behold the wondrous things in Your Word. Convict them of sin and any area in their life that they need to repent. Use me as Your mouthpiece. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

In the end, preaching a sermon is something that a preacher does only by the grace of God. No matter how ineloquent a preacher thinks he is, it does not matter because Christ’s power is displayed in a person’s weakness. A preacher should always humble himself and come to God in prayer, whether preparing a sermon or about to preach one because he is dependent solely on God.