I taught the adult Sunday school class on prayer at Providence OPC in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the summer of 2010.

You can see the notes from my class here.

The final class listed reasons we need to be a praying church:

Week 8: Conclusion: Why Providence OPC Needs to be a Praying Church

God Deserves Our Praise and Thanksgiving

“Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 117)

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).

God Works Through Prayer

“In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death… Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, ‘Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly… And the word of the LORD came to [Isaiah]: ‘Turn back, and say to Hezekiah… Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer… Behold, I will heal you” (2 Kings 20).

Our Pastor Needs Our Prayer

“[Making supplication] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel… That I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:19-20).

Our Missionaries Need Our Prayer

“Then [Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the LORD of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Matthew 9:37-38).

“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ…” (Colossians 4:3).

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men” (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2).

Our Children Need Our Prayer That God Will Call Them and None Should Hinder Them

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 19:14).

We Need the Holy Spirit

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

We Need Forgiveness of Sin

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).

We Need Freedom from Temptation

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13).
“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

We Need God’s Provision and Blessing

“Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3).

We Need Wisdom

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:5-6).

We Need to Persevere Until the End

“For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:14).


“[Jesus] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:8-9).

We Need to Better Know the Love of Christ and the Hope We Have in Him

“…I bow my knees before the Father… 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…” (Ephesians 3:14-19).

We Need God to Save Sinners

“Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent…. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him’” (John 6:29, 44).

We Need God for Unity as a Body

[Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said] “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” (John 17:20-21).