The prayers found in the Bible are wonderful models of prayer for us today. The prayers of the Bible include deep human emotions, statements of awe and wonder at who God is and what God has done, and rich expressions of confession of sin and concern for the needs of the world. We can model our prayers after the prayers of the Bible, and in many cases we can use them as our own prayers.
The Bible encourages us, even commands us, to pray. "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6). In the Bible, we have many models of people who pray, ranging from Moses, Solomon, and Jeremiah in the Old Testament to Jesus, Paul, and the apostles in the New Testament.
The Bible also contains a surprising number of prayers. Scholars have noted about eighty-five prayers in the Bible, and, in addition, many whole psalms and parts of psalms can be called prayers because they address God. These prayers are a wonderful resource for us. We can learn about prayer from them, and we can use them as our own prayers.
The first session focuses on prayers of praise and thanksgiving. The second session looks at prayers of confession and intercession. In both sessions participants are encouraged to learn from the prayers in the Bible and discuss whether and how they might help one's own prayer life.