The sentence most prayer requests are missing

At Prayvine, we believe every prayer matters. While prayer requests can take any form, many people find it helpful to use a simple framework to communicate more effectively. Here is a three-part structure that works well:

1. I’m facing __________
2. Please pray for the following: __________
3. If God moves, this is what could happen: __________

1. The sentence most requests are missing.

While most prayer requests include sentences one and two, the third sentence is especially powerful: a description of what could happen if God moves. That third sentence turns a request into a shared vision of the eternal impact of your work. When your partners are reminded of God’s heart and power, they are motivated to pray. And it may just be the truth or hope they need in their own lives at that moment.

2. Case study: How to write a great prayer request in three parts

Here is an example of a prayer request that follows this template:

I’m facing some discouragement as I try to connect with students. I have a small team and we’ve struggled to meet many students, despite long hours spent tabling and prayer walking the campus.

Please pray that God would bring me four students who are open to reading Luke together. We’re planning to start a Bible study, but only have one student signed up so far.

If God moves, the hearts and lives of these four students will be transformed as they come face-to-face with Jesus. They will become witnesses for Christ as they share their faith among their classmates and over the course of their entire lives.

3. What about text messages, Whatsapp and Signal?

This simple template is perfect for sharing prayer requests through text messages or messaging apps. Consider this same example, rewritten to be even shorter:

I’m facing some discouragement, as my team has struggled to meet many interested students. Please pray that God would bring four students to our Bible study. If God moves, the hearts, lives, and eternities of these students will be changed forever.

At Prayvine, we are working on ways for you to share prayer requests beyond email. If you are interested or curious about using Prayvine to send text messages, we invite you to join a pool of testers for this new feature. We’ll select people from this pool as tests open up, and Prayvine will cover all messaging costs during the pilot study.

Please feel free to share this invitation with your teammates and friends, whether or not they currently use Prayvine. To join the pool of potential testers, simply submit this form.