How to Write a Prayer-5 Tips to get you started
How to Write a Prayer to God
How to write a prayer to GodIt has been one of those days. You know the kind-a day when your to-do list is still a to-do list instead of a done list at 5 pm. A day when the pleasant outing you planned with your kids ended up in crying, fighting, and tears. (The tears being from you as well as your kids! ) A day when things came up unexpectedly-even wonderful things like lunch with a friend-when you had other plans.
Sometimes we want to cry out t to God in prayer but the words escape us. Other times we want to praise God from our hearts that are so full of love and gratitude but don’t know where to begin.
Has either happened to you before as they have happened to me? I have been inspired, yet unsure of how to begin. I found a way to get past this and write my own prayers to God. I am excited to share them with you.
But first, I want to ask you: Have you ever been inspired to write your own prayer? If you have prayed to God from your heart you have created your own prayer. Have you ever written down your words to God? If so, you have written a prayer. If you want to write your own prayers to God and are unsure about how to go about doing so, read on to learn 5 tips about how to write a prayer.
Before we jump into the 5 tips, let’s look at two statements about what prayer is. The Catechism of the Catholic Church section 2559 explains prayer in this way:
Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.
quote from St. John Damascene
St. Therese of Lisieux talked about prayer this way:
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
In a nutshell, prayer is communication with God. God created us because He loves us. He created the Church for us so we may learn more about Him and receive Him and/or His grace in the sacraments. He also sent us His word (the Bible) so we may learn more about Him, His love for His people, His sacrifice for us, and how He calls us to live our lives.
God initiated communication with us and He invites us to communicate back to Him. In the Gospels, Jesus tells us to pray. He even gave us The Our Father when His disciples asked Him how we are to pray.
When we pray, we are communicating with God.
How to Write a Prayer-5 Tips
1. Know what you want to say to God.
What do you want to pray about? Knowing this is the first step in writing your prayer.
The five main types of prayer are praise (praise God for Who He is), thanksgiving (say thank you to God), adoration (adore God, ie. in Eucharistic Adoration), intercession (pray to God for the needs of others), and petition (pray to God for yourself).
The first step is to decide what type of prayer you want to write.
2. Pray before you write.
Before you pick up your pen or keyboard, pray. Ask God to inspire your words and lead you where He wants you to be with your prayer.
Then, begin writing.
Or, if you are unsure about what to write, move on to number three.
3. Get inspiration.
You know what type of prayer you want to write, yet you might not know how to go about writing. Getting inspiration from the saints or from the Bible can be very helpful.
I will give you an example. When I wanted to write a prayer for Christmas, I read in the Bible about the Annunciation, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, and the night Jesus was born. The way God was described in these passages inspired me. As I wrote the Christmas prayer, I used many of the titles for God that were mentioned in the Bible and then wrote a petition after each one that was related to that title of God. (You can read this prayer here: A Christmas Gospel Prayer.)
You may find inspiration in a book about God, in a painting, or when you are out in nature. God is all around us and He can utilize many ways to inspire us.
4. Write without editing.
When you are writing your prayer, don’t worry about spelling, grammar, proper word choice, etc. Just write! You have thought about what you want your prayer to be about, prayed, and allowed yourself to be inspired. Now it is time to prayerfully write it all out.
You can go back later and edit your prayer if you like, but don’t edit it while you are writing it down. Let God’s inspiration and help guide you. It may be that the prayer you thought you were going to write turns out to be different than the one you actually write. That is okay.
5. Review what you have written.
Read over your prayer. If you want to make any changes, go ahead and edit your prayer at this point.
When you read over your prayer, also think about what God is saying to you. Yes, you wrote this prayer to God, but how has He inspired your words? Does He have a message back to you in your prayer that you did not notice as you wrote it?
When I wrote A Christmas Gospel Prayer, for example, I was struck by the various names of God used in the Bible passages about Jesus’ Annunciation and birth. It was a reminder to me that God is always looking out for and helping His people. This is not something I had in mind when I first began to write the prayer.
Writing a prayer is not difficult.
Writing a prayer to God is not something you should think you will not be good at. God loves each of us more than we can ever comprehend. A prayer to Him is a way we can communicate with Him. He loves us and wants to hear what we have to say to Him.
Your prayers can remain personal communications between you and God or you can choose to share them with others. It is up to you.
If you are looking for resources to help you grow in your prayer life, be sure to check out Good Catholic Books to Read: Improve Your Prayer Life.
Review of the 5 tips on how to write a prayer.
If you are unsure how to write your own prayer, use these five tips to help you: Know what you want to say, pray before you write, get inspiration, write without editing, review what you have written.
God communicates with us; we can communicate back to Him as well. Remember what St. Therese of Lisieux said:
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
By happenstance, I found your website. Or, as I should say, I was led to it. I wanted to know how to write my own prayers. To find my own voice in conversation with God. Your website helped me do that. Thank you and God bless.
God is so good! I am so glad that the website is helpful to you. Thank you so much for your kind words. God bless you, too.
hello i have a prayer my mother started to lie totally im married 33 and etc my parents i dont know where(i dont remember them) it happend suddenly i have a help from psycologist for her for money from my wife). pls pray it ruined everithing.