Josiah's Reign Established

Josiah's father, Amon, was wicked. He was assasinated at age 24.

But Josiah, only 8 years old, had a faithful mother. The young kings' mothers are all given prominent mention.

Without Jedidah, Josiah wouldn't have had the influence necessary to grow into a faithful king.

Jonah's Selfish Prayer

We find Jonah complaining to the Lord in prayer after seeing the Ninevites forgiven.

Daniel's Habit

I find Daniel's unwillingness to pray privately in Daniel 6 fascinating.

He knew he'd be thrown to the lions.

But he stuck to his regular habit of praying in front of his windows anyway.

I wonder if he was really several steps ahead of his adversaries and sensed that his God would save him from the lions.

This is one of the best reminders in the Bible that prayer really does make a difference.

Hezekiah's Powerful Prayer

In Isaiah 37, we learn that Hezekiah's humble prayer led directly to the defeat of the Assyrian army.

Sacrifice v. Prayer

In Proverbs 15:8, we learn that God would prefer words of prayer from "the upright" than gifts from "the wicked."

Psalm 109

David asks his enemy's prayers to "condemn him."

This is a surprising spiritual request.

Job's Prayer

Why is Job's prayer immediately followed by a description of his reinstated wealth?

There is not a one-to-one correspondence between sincere prayer and wealth.

The text connects Job's prayer to the sins of his friends, not his wealth.

Nehemiah, Man of Prayer

Whenever Nehemiah faces a challenge, the first thing he does is pray.

He sets a great example.

Ezra's Prayer

Ezra prayed a community prayer of confession.

Sometimes a leader prays publicly over a group's sins to make things right.

Elisha's Prayers

Elisha prays and his allies see God's spiritual troops.

He prays again and enemy troops are blinded.

Elijah's 2 Prayers

Prayer 1: Burn up this soaking sacrifice
Prayer 2: Let me die. I'm no better than my ancestors

Prayer 2 doesn't appear to follow logically after God answers Prayer 1 so spectacularly.

Solomon's Prayer for the Temple

King Solomon prayed special blessings on the Temple, particularly that the Lord would pay special attention to requests directed toward the temple.

This is meta-prayer, a prayer about the efficacy of future prayers meeting a given set of criteria.

King David's Courageous Prayer

David says that it sometimes requires courage to pray to the Lord.

Sin of Omission

Samuel explains that if he didn't pray for the people, he would be sinning "against the Lord."

I'm Praying, Not Drunk

Eli mistook Hannah's silent prayer for drunken babbling.

Hannah and Elkanah had Samuel as an answer to her prayer.

Prayer of Revenge

After Samson was pestered into confessing the source of his great strength to Delilah, the Philistines captures him and poked out his eyes.

In response, Samson prayed to be given super-human strength to kill thousands of people, even while killing himself.

Samson

Samson's miraculous birth was announced unsolicited.

But his father, Manoah, prayed for the return of the Lord's angel to ask how to raise their special child.

Moses v. Pharaoh

Moses prays on behalf of Pharaoh several times throughout the plagues.

It is interesting that another early model of prayer is intercessory, not directly from the sinner to God.

Nameless Servant

Abraham's head servant prayed for a sign before meeting Rebekah, Isaac's future wife.

First Prayer

I was surprised to find that the word "pray" doesn't appear until Genesis 20.

Abimelech was tricked into taking Abraham's wife, Sarah, into his harem. God appears to Abimelech in a dream and threatens his whole household with death if he doesn't return Sarah to Abraham.

Abimelech agrees to these terms but states his innocence. God agrees, but tells Abimelech that Abraham will pray for his forgiveness.

This places much more of the process of forgiveness on an intermediary than I'd expect.