How To Encourage Someone To Pray

Praying is one of the spiritual disciplines that we as Christians should always keep, along with reading our Bibles and being in fellowship with fellow believers. It is also one of the means of grace that God has instituted in us. If we face challenges in life and need God’s grace and strength to face it, it is impossible to do so if we are living a prayerless life, are Word deficient and disconnected with fellow believers. The Bible shows us that even the early church saw the importance of these things and devoted themselves to them. We should always value our prayer life. When we pray, it should not be out of the remaining free time of our life, like the breadcrumbs of our time. Praying to God should always be our priority, rather than other temporary things in life that do not bear any weight in eternity, like work, hobbies, or studies. Not that those things are bad, and we should strive to be faithful and excellent in those things, but not at the cost of our religious life. Prayer life is much more important than those things. If a Christian doesn’t pray to God when things are smooth in his or her life, how much more will they pray if things get tough?

Acts 2:42

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

How can we encourage Christians to pray?

If you know of a Christian who does not pray, what you should do is admonish, correct them, and speak the truth in love. Praying to God is not something you should encourage Christians to do, but rather remind them of doing so because they should be praying to God in the first place. 

Praying to God should be something that Christians delight in doing, not something that they must be reminded or convinced to do. While we are not like God, who can see the state of a person’s heart, the problem in such a case is the person’s heart. A Christian whose heart has truly been changed by the Holy Spirit will repent from his or her life of sin and commit to follow Christ and live an obedient life in God. That includes preaching the Gospel, ministering to the lost, and maintaining spiritual disciplines that a Christian needs for his or her spiritual growth. Such things are praying, reading the Bible, and fellowship with other believers.  

Ezekiel 36:26

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.

Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

As Christians, we must understand two things regarding why we should pray to God. First, we are commanded to pray. If we truly know God, we will worship Him and adore Him, which includes praying to Him. Knowing who God is, that He is the Almighty, Sovereign, Holy, Everlasting, and Transcendent God who is the Creator of the universe, we cannot help but bow down to Him, pray and worship Him. Also, genuine Christians, though not perfect, have a changed heart because of the Holy Spirit. That changed heart manifests when the desire of that person also changes. If before, all they desired were sinful things, now, all they desire is to grow in holiness and live an obedient life in the light of God. That includes obeying God’s commands of praying to Him. When God commands us to pray, these are not necessarily prayers or dialogues about God and you alone. You can also pray to God regarding your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, such as praying for the well-being of others. We must even pray for our enemies and those who persecute us.

Matthew 6:9

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Luke 6:28

Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Luke 22:40

And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Pray without ceasing.

Philippians 4:6-7

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 2:1

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

James 5:16

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The second thing to remember about why we pray to God is that we are already in a relationship with God. The Gospel plays a major part in this. If a person has truly been changed because of the Gospel and understands how it changes his or her life and standing before God, he or she will desire to always pray to God. Because of our sin, we are all eternally separated from God and are recipients of God’s wrath. However, because of what Christ has done on the cross for us, we can find eternal life and forgiveness in Him. Christ’s death on the cross satisfied God’s wrath. That is why anyone who believes in Christ and repents stands forgiven before God, not because God sees us, but because of Christ. Because of that, we receive the Holy Spirit, which is the evidence of our adoption as God’s children. That is why only those who are in Christ can have God as his or her heavenly Father and freely approach His throne of grace. Christ has brought peace between God and us and has restored our relationship with the Father. This gives us a clear picture that we can pray or dialogue with God only because of God’s grace towards us. It is a privilege in line with what Christ has done on the cross.

God is an all-knowing God; there is no need to pray to Him in the first place, because whatever you will say, He already knows. Yet God still allows us and commands us to pray to Him or have a dialogue with Him and spend time with Him; He instituted prayer not just as a means of grace, but as a means to cause things to happen with the prayers we offer. As Christians, we delight in prayer because we get to spend time with our Father and converse with Him. Just as we delight in talking to our loved ones and don’t need to drag ourselves to do it, so too should we delight in conversing with our Heavenly Father. If we truly understand the Gospel, we will get to appreciate even more that Christ mediates between God and us, and because of that, we can freely converse with Him. Unbelievers can never do that because their sin separates them from God. That is why, if a Christian is indeed genuine, praying to God is something that they should never force themselves to do. God is the God of wisdom, the One who gives us counsel, the One who comforts us in times of affliction, the One who gives us the grace we need in life, and so much more. If we truly know that and understand that, we will always want to talk with God.

Galatians 4:4-6

4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

1 Timothy 2:5

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

If you know of a fellow believer who is neglecting their prayer life, you can remind them of these truths. Remind them what a privilege and grace it is to be able to have access to God’s throne to cry out to Him for help, offer prayers of thanksgiving, and converse to Him about your day. However, as mentioned, it is a heart issue. More than reminding them of these truths, you can pray for that person.

Here is how you can pray for your fellow brother or sister in Christ:

Father in heaven, You are the God who gives grace. Remind [name of the person] to never neglect their prayer time with You and that they would never let the business of life hinder them from spending time with You. Convict them,  Holy Spirit and bring to their remembrance the grace and privilege that they received in Christ to come before God. Work in their heart, Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

1 John 5:3

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

While praying to God is indeed something that He has commanded us to do, we do it out of delight, not out of being required to do so. This obedience to God’s commandment is something that we never see as burdensome, but something that we instead delight in doing. Communication is essential in a relationship. If we are in a relationship with God, we must regularly communicate to Him through prayer.