How to Pray Through a Global Crisis
Plus, Anytime
Prayer feels weird for a lot of us for a lot of different reasons. But prayer is powerful, and the awkwardness of it or the struggle you feel in finding time to do it ought not to stop us. When we pray, we are calling down heaven into our present circumstances. We are calling on the God who created all things to exercise his power among us. The question isn’t so much how can we pray as much as it is how can we not pray?
Our prayer life is part of our spiritual journey. With time, we can develop strategies that work best for us. As you journey toward a vibrant prayer life with God amidst all that is going on in our world, here are five ideas to get you going:
1. Pray aloud and on the go.
One of the many reasons we have for not praying is that we get distracted or tired in the midst of prayer. Maybe you were always taught to pray before bed, and so you have saved up all your prayers for that small window of time before you cross over into dreamland. The pillow is just so soft and your eyelids are more than heavy. Try praying throughout the day.
Got a busy day? Pray while driving. Commit to turning off the music, podcast, even your phone in general for one of the ways of your trip. If you are running an errand, driving to work, or picking the kids up from school, commit to praying on the way there and then getting back to whatever it was you wanted to listen to on the way home. Or vice versa. Whatever it is that works for you.
As for praying aloud, I do it all the time while I’m driving. It is a lot harder for your thoughts to wander when you can hear your own voice. The cars next to me probably assume I’m just talking to someone hands-free. In fact, I’m talking to the God of the Universe with the power to change things in my life and around the world.
2. Use the news – physical or digital – as a prayer guide.
Prayer can be educational. When I commit to praying, I am committing to learning. When a global crisis erupts, I may not know a lot about that area of the world or the rising conflict that brought us to where we are today, but I can learn. When a headline comes through your phone, use it as a guide for prayer. Read a paragraph and then stop and pray about what you just read. Then, keep reading, and repeat the process.
Additionally, many nonprofits and mission groups send newsletters, promo material, even prayer guides through the mail. If you’ve donated to an organization, chances are you are getting these materials in your physical inbox or your email. Use them to learn and to pray. If there is a particular domestic or global issue that is catching your attention, you can reach out to the organizations specifically serving those humanitarian crises and request to be on their mailing list. A small donation to the organization will usually accomplish the same thing. The most recent educational material that was sent to me was from Free Burma Rangers, in advance of their Global Day of Prayer.
3. Pick a day to go deeper.
One brochure I picked up at a mission conference was a prayer guide called Praying for Muslims. It suggests readers set aside Friday as the day to pray through this prayer guide each week. Friday marks the Islamic weekend, so there is significance in the day that was chosen. Once again, even though it is labeled a prayer guide, each entry includes a page of educational material to teach those praying about different aspects of our Muslim friends and their faith life. It teaches us how to better love our neighbors and gives us specific ways we can pray that are based on a deepening understanding of our neighbors.
Like the example above, you could choose Fridays to pray for global issues or for the people of another world religion. Additionally, Tuesdays are a great day to pray for domestic leaders here in the U.S. Tuesday represents the day of the week that voting takes place here in America, whether at the local or national level. Why not pray every Tuesday specifically for the leaders at every level within our country: school, city, county, state, and country? Like with the nonprofits, your local senators probably send occasional surveys through the mail. Begin to make a list of the names of those serving in your jurisdiction.
Recently, I went to an art show for my daughter that was held at the State House. There were posters there available for free with a list and picture of every single senator in our state. I thought to myself, who would want a poster with the mugs of hundreds of senators? I do. After second thought, I realized I could more specifically pray for our state’s leadership by name, and with a face to go along with it. The point is, use whatever you’ve got.
4. Pray with someone.
Are you married? Pray with your spouse. Do you have a friend in Christ? Schedule a time the two of you will get together to pray. Are you part of a local church? Find out what kinds of corporate prayer your church participates in and join in. If you have an idea that isn’t yet being done, plan something yourself. You never know where it will lead. It doesn’t have to be fancy or well-planned. Just gather people and commit to praying for a particular global issue.
5. Use an app.
Do the needs of the world sometimes seem overwhelming? Of course they do. They can even discourage us from doing anything at all. The needs are too great, and I am too small, we think. This defeatist attitude is sometimes the greatest threat to our prayer life.
There are apps for every need under the sun, and a prayer app can help you address this very issue. I use the Echo prayer app. I like it because I can create prayer lists. Sometimes I just make a new list each month titled “March 2022” or whatever month we are in, and add prayer requests there anytime I come across one, even while on the go. That way, when I am praying through specific requests, I can reference the list I already made.
I know we all struggle with the “I’ll pray for you” sentiment that is so easy to give, yet not so easy to follow up on. You can either stop saying it and actually do it right then and there, or if that’s not feasible in the moment, the Echo app can help ensure that you are diligent in doing what you say you’re going to do: pray. The YouVersion Bible app also now has a section dedicated to helping you pray.
6. Pray through the Psalms.
I guess this is a bonus suggestion; I said there would be five. But this one is crucial. We often want to defend that the Bible is relevant to those who may assume otherwise. The Psalms have an unarguably familiar tone when we are going through a time of crisis, whether personally or globally. When you read King David’s real and raw anguish, and his desperate and honest pleas to God, it gives voice to our own internal struggle. Pick a Psalm and start praying.
When considering the freedom we have in talking with God in multiple formats because of Jesus, we can get more prayer in with God each day. We know he listens and in Revelation, there is a reference that our prayers are collected in bowls up in heaven, each one kept safe. And since nothing is impossible with GOd, we are compelled to bring our requests before him.
Found this Prayer Guide useful? Read Something Like Scale’s Bible-Reading Guide HERE.
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Very helpful and practical. Great ways to get praying 🙂