19 Things to Pray Before Health, Wealth, and Success
Most prayer requests can be narrowed down to 3 categories: Health, Money, and Success. They are 3 powerful areas that can produce immediate joy and temporal happiness. Their absence from our lives or the lives of loved ones can lead to immediate physical pain. Hence, they are the needs we focus on most. But, are they truly our greatest needs?
Jesus’ ministry healed sicknesses. He taught us important truths about money while being compassionate toward those with money struggles. He taught us to seek physical provision from God by asking, “give us today, our daily bread.” We all hope and pray for these things, and I’m not suggesting that we stop. God knows, we need these things–at least we need them to a measured extent. But when we give them a status above all other things in our prayer life, we end up omitting greater needs. Jesus reminds us to “seek first” His Kingdom and do what He wants, meanwhile, these other things will be given in addition.
It’s not that God has little interest in our immediate needs and desires. He just wants our desires to be bigger, broader, and more substantial than only the tangible and physical. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” The principle might be paraphrased: humans weren’t meant to live by money, health, or physical fulfillment alone. In fact, as much as it seems like a bad idea to us, sometimes God does great things in the absence of physical blessings. So, as we prioritize our prayer list, consider integrating these important themes below in your own way.
PRAY:
1. For wisdom, discernment, knowledge, understanding, guidance, and direction in all matters of faith and life. To see what God is doing in the world and join Him in the work.
2. For God’s Kingdom to advance in our heart, in our church, and in our world–that we would fully surrender to his reign and authority for our lives.
3. For us to be good stewards of everything– every relationship, talent, dollar, moment, skill, experience, knowledge, material provision, and gift God grants us.
4. For integrity, purity, holiness, peace, patience, gratitude, kindness, love, hope, faith, humility, self-control, courage and all matters of character.
5. To use our struggles, victories, health, poverty, sickness, riches, losses and circumstances for God’s service and for his glory– that they would be opportunities to help and influence others for good. To remain faithful in the midst of our pain and suffering.
6. For God’s glory and reputation to be expanded throughout the world–that He would be esteemed above all things.
7. To know God better. To trust and rely on God in all the ways we should. To understand and follow His desire and purpose for our lives.
8. For God’s Holy Spirit to enter our lives and our spaces to the fullest extent– to do more of all the wonderful and mysterious things it does within us.
9. A prayer of apology– for all the times we have failed to trust God. For failing to take positive action or not having been the kind of person we should be.
10. To further develop our skills, talents, and gifts to make us effective at fulfilling our individual and collective purposes, in whatever contexts we are located.
11. For the church all over the earth to be united in Spirit, truth, mission, love, passion, and purpose– to faithfully, courageously, boldly, and effectively proclaim the truth of Christ.
12. For church to be engaging, relevant, powerful and effective in accomplishing the harvest and promoting discipleship for all believers.
13. For our friends, our enemies, our society, and the church to witness the love of Christ in each of us. For others to feel honored and respected in our treatment of them. For us to consider others’ best interests before our own.
14. For us to be bonded-together in healthy relationships as God’s people, no matter our similarity, difference, history, background, “weirdness,” or popularity. And that we would all manage conflict in a healthy and uplifting way.
15. For God’s grace and forgiveness to cover our many faults and mistakes. And to be more aware of them in our own lives that we may be more humble and graceful to others.
16. For God’s power to give us strength over every trial and temptation that threatens us.
17. For those in leadership to lead with God-given vision, fairness, justice, humility, servant-heart, respect and honor for those they lead. And to lead towards the most important purposes and goals.
18. A prayer of praise for who God is–Praise what He has done, what He is doing, and He will do. To join Him in His work. And to love and obey Him more.
19. A prayer of gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ, His love, and the redemption we experience. Thanks for bringing good out of all the relationships, experiences, and circumstances that we endure. And thanks for His work in each of the requests contained here.
I don’t mean to imply that all of these requests should be asked at every prayer time or even be worded like they are listed here. I’m not saying there aren’t times to pray first for health, money, or success, in a given time or situation. The point is integration of the principles in a holistic prayer life. It’s like eating a diet high in nutrition: bread is good, but don’t leave out the fruits, vegetables, and protein. And there are surely many other noble things to pray about.
Fortunately, the full weight of the matter does not rest on our shoulders. We serve a God who responds to needs we haven’t prayed and gives blessings before we have known we needed them. His power is not necessarily constrained by our lack of words or narrow focus. Even so, it seems like God is ready to answer our prayers with ‘yes!’ when we pray simple prayers in line with his biggest desires for us, His church, and the lost. Seeing and receiving requested blessings can seem slow at times, but they tend to match the contours or our journey and often correspond to our perseverance in seeking. He is faithful to respond to our sincerity and complementary actions with blessing. . . to “open the doors” and “move mountains” when we continue to “ask, seek, and knock.”
Integrating these principles might change the way we pray about health, money, and success. We may find we ask for them in the hopes of being better able to fulfill God’s will. And that they will be used to bring Him glory. At the same time remembering that our sickness, poverty, and failure may also result in God’s glory. There are times when God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.
It is not easy to go through life, especially when things are difficult. But when we have sought blessings that don’t fade away, our hearts can find gratitude and solace no matter our circumstance.
