> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.makeprayerbeautiful.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to Know What to Pray in Any Situation - URL: https://blog.makeprayerbeautiful.com/how-to-know-what-to-pray-in-any-situation/ - Published: 2026-09-05T20:35:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-08T20:36:22.000Z - Description: Ask God what to pray, then pray it. The method, plus a full worked example: a long prayer for unity in the church. - Author: Amy Lykosh - Tags: Praying for Others ## **What Is Crafted Prayer?** How do I make sure that God hears me? What do I do if my prayers don't seem to be working? Do I change them? How do I pray in faith? What does that even look like? What is the right way to pray in this situation? In answer, Graham Cooke recommends what he calls crafted prayer, and wrote a short book with that name. We ask: *Lord, what is it that you would have me pray in this situation? How should I pray for this person?* Different scriptures or stories will come to mind. Pray through them. ## **How I Did It: Unity in the body of Christ** For me, I asked the Lord what he would say about unity in the body of Christ. Here is what I wrote initially: “Colossians 3, Philemon, 2 Chron. 7:14, love the Lord your God, servant of all, unity in John, ‘unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,’ waters cover all, remove sin, ask for wisdom, new Jerusalem, healing of the nations, righteousness and praise spring forth, forgiveness asked and extended, David and the Gibeonites—restore, bear one another’s burdens, sin does not leave any untouched, Prov. 14:34, even Nineveh, Lord’s name.” So, let’s pray through the list. ## **The Full Prayer** *Lord, in Colossians 3, Paul wrote, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Lord, I love that there is no division between your people. I ask that this would be true in your Church.* *Lord, in the book of Philemon, Paul calls out to his beloved brother, asking him to receive back a man he had enslaved, “no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother.” Welcome Onesimus back as a fellow brother in Christ. “Welcome him as you would welcome me.” Lord God, I ask that we would welcome your people, whatever they look like, that we would welcome them as we would welcome the apostle Paul, as we would welcome Jesus. May we treasure our brothers and sisters.* *Lord God, in 2 Chronicles 7:14, you say, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” That's what we want, Lord God. We cry out for that.* *Lord, you tell us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” Lord, I ask that we would do both of those things.* *When Jesus walked the earth, he said that the one who wanted to be great among us must be a servant of all. Lord, teach us to be servants. Teach us not to seek to be kings and rulers.* *Lord God, John wrote about unity, being united with you, and united one with another (John 17:21). Lord, I ask that you would pour that out on your Church.* *Lord God, I ask that you would increase the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.* *Lord God, I thank you that your Scripture says that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. I ask that we would come to see that.* *Lord God, I ask that you would remove our sin as far as the east is from the west.* *Lord, for the problems that we face in our country and in our world, you tell us to ask for wisdom and that you give it to us. So we ask, Lord God, for wisdom.* *Lord, we look forward to the day when there is the New Jerusalem, when there will be no more crying nor tears. Lord, we ask that we would bring that heaven to earth. To the extent that it's possible, we thank you, Lord.* *Lord, you say that the leaves of the tree of life are there for the healing of the nations. We ask that we would take of those leaves and that we would use them to heal the nations.* *Lord, in Isaiah 61, what a beautiful passage. “For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” We want righteousness and praise to spring forth, not just in our own hearts but before all the nations, O God. We cry out for that.* *Lord God, we thank you, that you are a God of forgiveness, that you forgive us our sins, and that we are to forgive the sins of others. I ask, too, that we would do as James 5:16 says, that we would confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we may be healed. Lord, we need healing in this nation in this world. We ask for that.* *Lord God, in the story of David and the Gibeonites, Saul had broken covenant with the Gibeonites, and the land was sick. To heal the land required bloodshed. Lord God, we are so grateful that Jesus came and shed his blood. We claim the blood of Jesus over this broken and hurting land, that Jesus’ sacrifice is the thing that makes all of us right before you. Lord God, we ask that you would restore our nation; we ask that you would restore the relationships.* *Lord, you say that we are to bear one another's burdens. May we do that well and with wisdom.* *Knowing that we all sin, we thank you that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.* *Lord, we also know that the creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. But we thank you that the Spirit helps us in our weakness.* *Lord God, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Lord, we ask that there will be more righteousness in this nation. We cry out for that.* *Lord God, I thank you that in the Bible that Jonah just had to go and say, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” and the entire city repented, from the king all the way down. Lord God, we thank you that their repentance was enough that your hand of judgment was stayed for a time. We thank you that you listened to their cry. We ask, Lord God, that what you did in Nineveh you would do here.* *And finally, Lord God, we are so grateful for your beautiful name, your name that you gave to Moses, that when you passed in front of Moses, you proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”* *Lord God, you are the compassionate and gracious God. We thank you and we cry out for that grace and that compassion in the name of Jesus. Amen.* I love this plan, asking: *Lord, how would you have me pray?* May we live for the praise of his glory, Amy Joy --- You are invited! Sign up for the Prayer Refresh, an email series with short prayers to pray as you go about your day. The first five readers all wrote me at different times and said, “This is changing my life.” [Sign Up for the Prayer Refresh](https://skilled-motivator-1346.ck.page/b3dbfa4530?ref=blog.makeprayerbeautiful.com)