25 Powerful Prayer Resources for Effective Prayer
Prayer is simply talking to God. And also quietly listening for Him to speak to our hearts.
But prayer, the effective kind, isn’t something that comes naturally to us. It is something we need God to teach us. Just like the disciples of old, we must ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1)
We want to know how to pray effectively. We want our prayers to please God and to know that God hears and will answer. Here are several powerful prayer resources, both free and paid, that have either helped me or have come highly recommended. I know they will help you, too, as you seek God in your prayer life.
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Why Are Prayer Resources Needed?
I want to be a prayer warrior. I want God to do amazing things in my life and the lives of others in answer to my prayers. I’m sure you do, too.
So, how can we grow our prayer life and become the prayer warriors we long to be and that those around us need us to be?
I believe we must start by simply being faithful. Prayer resources and tools can help us learn how to develop a consistent prayer life and enjoy a more meaningful daily fellowship with our Saviour.
Keeping a prayer “tool box”, and using its resources, will help us stay focused and growing in our prayer life.
What Resources Are In A Prayer Tool Box?
Just like with anything else in life we do, the right equipment can mean the difference between success or defeat. Prayer is no different. So what resources should we include in our prayer tool box?
- Bibles
- Prayer Journals
- Books on Prayer
- Books on Prayer and Fasting
- Prayer Guides
- Bible Studies on Prayer & Fasting
- Other Prayer Tools
- Prayer Partners
Our greatest prayer resource, besides the Bible, however, we already have in the person of the Holy Spirit who dwells within each believer helping us to pray!
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Romans 8:26
But God also uses His children to teach and disciple one another…through the resources He uses them to write and share.
Prayer Resources and Tools for an Effective Prayer Life
Prayer truly is as easy as talking with your best friend! Yet we many times put off praying because we don’t know what to pray, or we aren’t sure if we are being heard, or maybe we feel like we aren’t doing it right.
These prayer tools will help answer each of these concerns and so much more! You will want each one of these prayer resources for your own prayer toolbox!
The Bible
The Bible is the final word on any subject. Therefore, as you look into these and any other prayer resources, you’ll want to check the information you are given against God’s Word. Always look up any scripture references and the context of the passages given. The Life Application Study Bible is one of my favorites.
The Bible is one of our greatest prayer resources in another way, as well. Praying scripture is a very powerful way to pray. When we pray scripture back to God, we know that we are praying in line with His Word and will. And can be sure that God will hear and answer those requests!
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
1 John 5:14-15
Commentaries as Prayer Resources
I like to have my online Bible Study apps handy for looking up cross references and definitions and checking commentaries to double check my understanding of scripture.
I especially like the eSword Bible app. My favorite commentary on this Bible app is the one by David Guzik. It is free on the app! But if you’d like to have the printed versions, they can be purchased on Amazon, and would make a great addition to your Bible study library!
Others highly recommend the Blueletter Bible. You might check it out, as well.
Prayer Journals
Prayer journals are a great prayer resource. I have filled up many prayer journals over the years and value them as priceless keepsakes, because they remind me of all the amazing answers to prayer my Saviour has given me!
Being able to remind yourself of God’s faithfulness will be a wonderful help to your prayer life. Praise is an important part of every prayer. A journal will help you have plenty of things to praise and thank God for in each prayer!
UNDER THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS PRAYER JOURNAL
MORE PRAYER JOURNALS
Prayer Journal – 180 Days of Praise and Promise – for Moms
Women’s Prayer Journal: A Christian Devotional for a Year of Praise, Gratitude, and Reflection Spiral-bound
Books on Prayer
Books on prayer can offer a fresh perspective and help us in ways we hadn’t thought of before. I read a book years ago that contained a quote about the prayer life of a believer that drastically changed my own prayer life. Maybe one of these books on prayer will do the same for you!
MORE BOOKS ON PRAYER
Fasting and Prayer Resources
Is fasting part of your prayer life? Fasting isn’t something God commands of us as New Testament believers. But it is a biblical principal that God honored in the New Testament, and still honors today.
Fasting is a spiritual discipline that I ignored for many years. I think many of us are like I was, feeling like fasting was a little mysterious and too hard to even consider. But thankfully, I have since learned that fasting is a wonderful practice that brings great spiritual breakthrough when prayer alone won’t work. Here are some books that will answer any questions you may have about prayer and fasting.
Prayer Guides
Who doesn’t need a little help to get started praying sometimes? Have you ever wanted to pray, but just couldn’t collect your thoughts? Me, too. A prayer guide can help with that. There are many prayer guides out there. They range from prayer acronyms, like the ACTs prayer method, to prayer kits. Here are a few of my favorites.
MORE PRAYER GUIDES
How to Pray in the Storms of Life
3 Things God Looks for When We Pray
Bible Studies on Prayer
Prayers recorded for us in the Bible are a primary resource for learning how to pray. I love to read the prayers of David, King Hezekiah, Hannah, Mary the mother of Jesus, Abraham and so many more! How inspiring their transparency with God is to me! Prayer is a wonderful topic for Bible study that will yield immeasurable benefit. Here are a few to get you started.
The Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer
The Battle Plan of Prayer by Stephen and Alex Kendrick
The Daniel Prayer Study Guide: Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations by Anne Graham Lotz
Other Prayer Resources and Tools
There are other tools, such as movies and coloring books, that I use to help me when my prayer life seems to have become mere habit. They don’t fit any other category, so I included them here.
MORE PRAYER RESOURCES AND TOOLS
All Things in Prayer Coloring Book
Prayer Partners
I cannot say enough about the value of having someone you trust to pray with you and for you. We share prayer requests in my church’s Wednesday night meeting. And I know my church family prays for me.
But I also have a couple of friends I can turn to when I need to share a request that I can’t just blurt out at church. You know the kind. They usually get mentioned as “unspoken” prayer requests at church. But I can share more details with my prayer partners and trust that those details won’t be repeated.
I encourage you to seek out someone like that and ask them if they’d like to pair up with you. You may even like to form your own prayer group, or prayer circle, so that you might pray for one another and keep each other accountable to being consistent in your prayer lives.
Which of These Prayer Resources Will You Use?
Are you looking for prayer resources for yourself? Or maybe as gifts? Which ones of my resources and tools for effective prayer are you familiar with or already using?
Are you looking for prayer resources for small groups, families, teenagers, schools, parents, marriage, etc.?
The resources I’ve listed will help anyone in any of these categories gain a sure foundation upon which to grow their prayer life in faith and confidence! Confidence in our miracle-working God who delights in the prayers of His children!
Drawing nigh to Him,
Teresa