Devotionals
How to Pray for a Friend | The Best Bible Verses for Friendship
A prayer for a friend — it’s one of the most powerful things to do for someone in your life, and yet sometimes it can be hard to get started. I’m sharing the best Bible verses for friendship and my ‘how to pray for a friend’ template that you can customize.
The Best Bible Verses for Friendship
Colossians 1:9-12
‘…we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.’
How Do I Pray for a Friend?
‘I’ll pray for you…’ I probably say this a couple times a week, sometimes even daily to friends, family and even people who land in my inbox.
The reality is this usually turns into me listing off someone’s name and their situation at a mealtime or bedtime prayer. But I’ve been reading through the book of Colossians the past week and Colossians 1:9-12 really stood out to me.
5 Ways to Pray for A Friend
This scripture was written by Paul to the Colossians. Paul had never met the Colossians, yet this is how he prayed for them:
- Asked God to help them know what he wants them to do and give them a deep spiritual understanding (Colossians 1:9)
- Asked God to help them live for him, live a life worthy of their calling and bear good fruit (Colossians 1:10)
- Asked God to give them more knowledge of himself (Colossians 1:10)
- Asked God to give them strength for endurance and patience (Colossians 1:11)
- Asked God to fill them with joy and thankfulness (Colossians 1:11,12)
Imagine for a moment, how many people in your life could be touched if you prayed for them in this way?
Imagine how your life could be changed if someone else prayed for you this way?
There is SO MUCH POWER IN PRAYER.
These prayers for a friend are perfect when you have a friend in an unfair situation, and you have no words to comfort them.
How Do You Write A Prayer for Someone?
You can write…
I’ll pray for you. I’ll pray for deep spiritual understanding, strength, endurance, patience. I’ll pray that God can give you more knowledge of himself during this difficult season.’
Because God is not only the Creator of the world, but he is also its Sustainer (Colossians 1:17).
In Jesus Christ Our Lord, everything is held together.
Sometimes the greatest thing we can do for someone is to pray for Our Almighty God to reveal His sovereign, sustaining love when they (or we) feel like their (our) world is falling apart.
Devotional Prayer: Bless My Prayers for Friends
Dear God,You are the Creator and Sustainer.Reading Your Word changes my perspective and ability to trust in you.I pray that you may bless my prayers, specifically my prayers for others.So that they too may feel your sovereign, sustaining love and presence.
Pray for a Friend in Pain
I challenge you to use this ‘how to pray for a friend’ template and customize it. Make it your own, and say this prayer for a friend today:
Dear Lord,
Lord I pray for (insert name).
I pray that they may experience your deep spiritual understanding, strength, endurance, and patience.
I pray that you can give (name) more knowledge of yourself during this difficult time.
Pin this Bible Verse for Friendship + How to Pray for a Friend Template
More Bible Verses and Prayers for Friends:
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Dear Lindsey, I think you are amazing and I love following you. The adds on this site are so distracting. They even come up in the middle of recipes. This is such a great post but so hard to read. Is there a way to turn the adds off. I hope this doesn’t offend you as this is genuine input. Thank you!
Hi Marybeth! Thank you so much for following along and reading my posts, I greatly appreciated it. I also appreciate your feedback on the ads and I understand. I’m sorry you find them distracting, but it’s my means for making a living while sharing this content for free – I hope you can understand. That said, you can ‘turn on’ your ad blocker on your browser (just Google how to turn on ad blocker for Chrome, Safari or whatever browser you use). Note, that will block you from seeing a lot of my video content, but you can always head over to YouTube for that as well. I hope that helps and thank you for understanding that this is my means for creating an income off the content you see on this blog. Thanks so much for following along, I appreciate it! Lindsey
Wow. This is a great post.
As I am faced daily with significant family challenges, and want to also support friends with different but equally challenging circumstances, I think your words, reminders, and suggestions will help.
Thank you.
Elaine! Thank you so much for checking out this post + the great message. The reality is we are all ‘walking through something’ — yet we only have a certain amount of emotional + physical energy each day. It’s always hard to balance your own struggles and others. But often it’s giving what we need most (whether it be time, money, love…) if we can give what we need in our lives it usually comes back ten-fold. Thanks again for checking out the blog! Lindsey