How can I know what to pray for?

from the old testament

• Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." As we draw our joy from our relationship with God, this will influence what we desire, which will influence what we pray for.
• During times of prayer, we can come before God in confession: “I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin” (Psalm 38:18).
• Our prayers should include praise and thanksgiving to our Lord (Psalm 107:1, 118:28-29, 145:1-3, 150:1-2

from the new testament

• Jesus gave His disciples an example prayer in Matthew 6:8-13. It includes worship of God, request for God's will to be done, supplication for daily needs, confession of sin, and request for protection. This helps us understand what our prayers to God should look like.
• Jesus said, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11). When we pray to God, it is appropriate to make requests to Him. He wants to bless us, and we can trust that He is a good Father.
• Our spiritual life suffers if we try to be and think like everyone else in this world. We must renew our minds by reading the Word of God (John 8:31-32). Doing so helps us know what to pray for.
• We can boldly approach God as a generous Father in heaven (Romans 8:15). At times, of course, human words and wisdom will not be enough; our hearts are too heavy to pray at all. In such situations, we can rest assured that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf (Romans 8:26).
• Sometimes it is good for us to simply pray for God’s will to be done. Romans 12:1-2 gives us a key to how we can come to know the will of God: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
• If we are unsure what to pray for, we can turn to the body of Christ and ask for wise counsel (Ephesians 4:11-16).
• Philippians 4:6 says, "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Instead of carrying all our anxieties alone, we can bring our every request to God and trust that He listens to us and cares about our specific situation.
• 1 Timothy 2:1-4 says, "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." We can pray to God for those who are both in and outside of our inner circle.
• James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." We can pray for wisdom and know that He will grant our request.

implications for today

Sometimes the answers to our prayers, no matter how well-intentioned, will be a firm "No" from God or a very long-delayed answer in a form we weren't expecting. As we grow in our spiritual walk, we can learn from God’s responses to our prayers more about what is important to Him, how He tends to work, and that some things will be unfathomable to us. Practically, we can know what to pray for through listening to the needs of those around us and examining our own life to see what we could grow in or even personally benefit from. Prayer requests can be anything from asking God to grant our friend a recovery from an illness to asking Him to help us grow spiritually. If we are feeling lost in how to pray, we can ask Him personally through prayer to help us (James 1:5), look into the Scriptures for guidance, as well as ask for counsel from mature believers we can trust. Although it might be hard to accept, it has been said that the one prayer we can always count on God answering is “Your will be done.” No matter how God responds to our prayers, we must remember WHO we are praying to: a faithful, nurturing, loving God, who cares about us deeply.