Importance of Prayer in Discipleship: 5 Prayers for Those You Disciple

The importance of prayer in discipleship is massive! So, why should we be praying for those we disciple and what should we be praying?

We talk a lot about intentionally sharing Christ with those God has placed in our lives whether that be our children, our friends, our neighbors, or those we are discipling. But ultimately, it is God who changes and works in our hearts to believe and to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. It is our job to faithfully share, but the Spirit must do the work of heart change in others. I love how 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 explains it:

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.“

Paul and Apollos faithfully gave their lives to spread the gospel and make disciples, (the importance of discipleship was massive to them!!), but they knew they were only planting the seeds of the gospel- it was God who would make it take root and cause growth.

Likewise, as we pour our lives into others as we disciple them, we must pray for God to do the work of transformation in their hearts. We can’t make this change happen, we are called to faithfully share and ask God to do the work. As we share, we must pray for the Spirit to change their hearts, convict them of sin, and cause them to believe (see 2 Corinthians 3:18, John 16:8-10, Titus 3:4-6 for more on the how the Spirit works in these ways).

What should we pray for those we disciple?

Thankfully, the Bible has so many rich prayers that we can use to guide us in how we pray for those we are pouring into.

I love how the New City Catechism answers the question of what we should pray:

Question: What should we pray?
Answer: The whole word of God directs us in what we should pray.

All over scripture, we not only see the importance of prayer in discipleship, but we also get incredible examples of what to specifically pray for when we pray for others.

Here are just a few favorites of mine to use to guide me in prayer for others. The Bible is full of other examples though, so go search God’s Word for yourself to find more examples to pray for those in your sphere of influence!

5 Prayers for Discipleship:

Jesus’ example as He prays for His disciples:

I love how Jesus prays for His disciples. He prays for God to bring them spiritual and physical protection, full joy in Him, to protect them from evil, to sanctify them in truth, and to unite them. Then He goes on to pray for those THEY will disciple as well. He prays for spiritual generations of followers that will know the love of God, just as these disciples have. Such incredible examples of prayers for discipleship!

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:6-26

Praying the Prayers of Paul for Others:

Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus is a prayer of thankfulness for their faith as he asks God to continue giving them wisdom, knowledge, revelation, and hearts that are rejoicing in their salvation. Such rich prayer points for discipleship here!

“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Ephesians 1:15-23

He also prays for the Ephesians again in chapter 3 as he prays for spiritual strength as they grow to know the love of Christ and be rooted and grounded in His love.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:14-21

Paul prays another prayer of thankfulness for the church at Philippi. Here he praises God for the work He has done in their lives, and prays for continued love, knowledge, discernment, and that they would be pure, blameless, and righteous through Christ.

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:3-11

The last one I’ll share is one of my favorites. Paul prays for the Colossians with such a heart for them to grow in spiritual wisdom, to walk in a manner that pleases the Lord, to bear fruit, for endurance and patience, and to give thanks for their salvation in Christ.

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:3-14

How to Pray Using These Scriptures

I love to use not only these passages but also many others in praying for others, especially those I’m discipling. It is so incredible to have these rich prayers to bring before the Lord, knowing “the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14. And as we pray His Word, we know we are praying according to His will, desires, and purpose.

Here are a few ways I use these passages to pray:

• Choose a passage and pray the exact words of the verses as you pray for a specific person.
• Take one part of the verse each day to pray for them. For example, I have Colossians 1:3-14 posted in my bathroom to pray for my children. I have it written out with each specific thing to pray for in a different color so that every morning I can pray the next thing for them. So, one morning I will pray for them to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, the next day I pray for them to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, and so on. This helps to guide my prayers for them each morning.
• Put the prayer in your own words. Praying these prayers allows guidance for what to pray, and as the Spirit guides us in our prayers, we can expand on these ideas and pray in our own words as we are led.
• Write them out in a prayer journal as you pray for them.
• Post different prayers in different places you will regularly see so that you are reminded to pray for others.

I hope this is helpful to not only see the importance of prayer in discipleship as we depend on God to work in those we are pouring Christ into, but also gives you some examples of HOW to pray for those people in your lives.

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