Join Kelly and Olivia as they talk and pray through Hebrews 1

Kelly Light

Kelly has recently joined the GROW committee. She is a former paramedic who is studying at Queensland Theological College. She looks forward to new seasons of Survivor she can watch with her housemates. She loves how much the author of Hebrews uses the Old Testament.

Olivia Tan

Olivia was born in New Zealand but now calls Brisbane home. She is married to Khai and has two daughters, a tween and a teen. She worships at City North Baptist Church. This is her second year as a member of the GROW committee and she loves encouraging women and seeing them grow in their relationship with Jesus

Resources on Prayer

(*a good resource to start with)

About Prayer

*Stephen Shead – Growing in Prayer: Learning to Pray With Dependence and Delight

  • In a sea of busyness and distractions, prayer often falls off the agenda. Four weeks of daily reflections to get you on track with a pattern of prayerful living. Includes 4 optional group studies.  

*Philip Jensen and Tony Payne – Prayer and the Voice of God.

  • A clear, readable and practical guide for new Christians wanting to get started in prayer, or longer-serving Christians whose prayer-lives are wilting. 

*Paul Miller – A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World.

  • This book will help you go from a life of prayerlessness often marked by fear, anxiety, joylessness and spiritual lethargy to a vibrant prayer life filled with power and joy.    

*Tim Chester – You Can Pray.

  • This book is not about the steps you can take to become a great pray-er. The message of this book is that you already are a great pray-er in Christ.

J. Gary Millar – Calling on the Name of the Lord – a Biblical Theology of Prayer.

  • What the bible teaches us about prayer and how to pray in light of that.

John Calvin’s 4 Rules of Prayer.

  • This short blog post is a good place to start when reading Calvin. 
  • If you enjoyed this then read Calvin’s full work on prayer from his Institutes here.

John Calvin – The chief Exercise of Faith: John Calvin on Prayer

J.C. Ryle – A Call to Prayer.

  • A short classic, that will leave you edified and with hope.

Praying Scripture

*Kevin DeYoung – How to Pray using Scripture.

  • Very short article with simple, easy to remember and helpful method, giving an example from a Psalm.  3 R’s. Rejoice, Repent and Request. 

*John Piper – How do I pray the Bible?

  • 11 minute Audio and written transcript, describing how to pray the bible and giving an example from Colossians. 

Ben Patterson – God’s Prayer Book, the Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms.

  • There is no better place than the Psalms to learn to be with God and see with the eyes of faith the face of the One who longs to form us fully in his image.

D.A. Carson – Praying with Paul. A Call to Spiritual Reformation.  

  • This book calls believers to reject superficiality and revolutionise their lives by embracing a God-guided approach to prayer.

Model Prayers

Barbara Duguid and Wayne Duguid Houk- Prone to Wander – Prayers of Confession and Celebration.

  • Beautifully models biblical prayer, especially confession by pointing us to our great Saviour, who has atoned for us and lovingly pursues us despite our wandering.

Scotty Smith – Everyday Prayers: 365 days to a Gospel Centred Faith.

  • Smith helps readers pray the Scriptures through the lens of the gospel, mining the resources of God’s grace and applying them in every season of life.

Calvin’s Prayers

  • Four daily prayers from Calvin are listed in this blog post.

Arthur Bennett – The Valley of Vision: a Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.

  • A classic with scripturally rich prayers that shows readers how to pray by example.

Olivia’s Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

Lord we thank you that we can come before you now, that you are not remote and that you have spoken to us through your prophets long ago. But Father we are eternally thankful and grateful that you have now spoken to us through your son the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you Jesus because you are superior to the angels and prophets and all other authorities. Not only is Jesus the fulfilment of all the Old Testament promises he is the heir of all things, creator of the universe and upholds the world by the word of his power. Jesus you have the power to supply all our needs, thank you. It has been extremely difficult and hard for many lately in so many ways and we are grieving the loss of normality and finding the new circumstances difficult. Lord we thank you that you are sovereign and you know each one of us intimately, our individual situation, our grief, our worries and hardships, our hearts and you love us deeply. Thank you for being with us through this time and we pray that you continue to bring us to a place of full dependence on you Lord. Help us to hold on to your promises and meditate on who you are, and the supremacy of Jesus, which will provide us ultimate comfort and meet all our needs. Thank you Lord that you rule over the future and we can go forward into uncertainty trusting in you.

Thank you that Jesus is an exact representation of you Lord and the radiance of your glory. Lord forgive us when we don’t give you and Jesus the reverence and honour you deserve. Thank you for your mercy to us by providing Jesus, the perfect mediator, who has made purification for our sins and now sits down at your right hand. We were isolated from you because of our own rebellion and self-absorption and our greatest need is not our health or our finances but to have a relationship with you Lord. Thank you that Jesus has taken on the punishment for our sin and because we have believed in Him and what he has done for us on the cross you have washed us clean. It’s so easy to read this passage and go WOW, look at how superior and glorious Jesus is and then go on with our daily lives focused on ourselves and our needs. Lord forgive us when we do this. Thank you that we can come to you for mercy time and time again, that your mercy is unending. Thank you Lord that you love to change our hearts. And we ask Father that by your Holy Spirit you would do that and help us to keep that image of Jesus as supreme ruler and king at the forefront of our minds and hearts daily, and may our actions and words reflect this. When we do wander away, please bring us back to sit in awe and wonder at Jesus’s feet. As when we are there we need not fear anything, viruses, expenses, what others think of us. Nothing. Thank you Lord.

Father we thank you and praise you that you have been ruling and sustaining us and continue to do so through these uncertain times. Lord we pray for wisdom and clarity for our Pastors moving forward. We do thank you for the internet and the different technologies to allow us to meet virtually but Lord we are longing to go back to meeting face to face and praising and worshipping you as a community of believers. Help us to make the most of the easing of restrictions to meet in small groups or to chat over the phone or online to encourage one another and feed on your word together. Strengthen and grow our churches at this time Lord. And we pray for those who are not in a church family Lord. We pray you will guide and lead them to find a gospel centred church where they can be part of a community and grow and serve you.

Lord we also pray for wisdom for ourselves and our families as life slowly returns to normal and for those who life is now harder than ever. Help us Lord not to blindly fall back in to the patterns of our previous life but to prayerfully think through our priorities. To fix them on Jesus, that you will be at the centre of our activities and how we spend our time. For many of us this time has been quieter and enabled us to spend more time in your word and in prayer as individuals and families and we thank you for this Lord. I pray that as restrictions ease our time spent with you will not lessen. Lord forgive us if it has, when we have rushed out and met with friends, gone shopping or for a drive and neglected time with you. Forgive us Lord for this and help us by your Holy Spirit to fix our eyes and thoughts on Jesus and for them to remain on Him, as Jesus is our greatest need. Thank you Lord for Jesus, in whose most precious and holy name we pray, Amen.