Most Christians know that prayer is important. Most of us believe we should pray more. But if we’re being honest, many Christians struggle with a very practical question: What do I actually say?

We begin praying, thank God for the day, ask Him to help a few people we know, mention a few needs—and before long, we feel like we’ve run out of things to say. It’s not necessarily because we don’t love God or don’t want to pray. Sometimes we simply need to be taught how to pray. Thankfully, God has given us a wonderful teacher: His Word.

This Sunday night, we’re beginning a new seven-week series called Praying with Purpose. Each week, we’ll take one prayer from Scripture and learn how that prayer can shape our own praying. But this series is going to be a little different. We’re not just going to study these prayers. We’re going to pray them.

These Sunday nights will be interactive. I’ll preach through a portion of the biblical prayer, and then we’ll stop and pray that truth together as a church. Then we’ll move to the next portion, learn from it, and pray again. We’ll weave preaching and corporate prayer together throughout the entire service. My hope is that after seven weeks, we will have done more than learn some interesting things about prayer. I hope we will have actually learned to pray better by praying the Bible together.

And I want to be clear about something: I’m not trying to replace the prayer habits of Christians who already have a faithful and fruitful prayer life. If you have rhythms that help you seek God every day, keep them! Rather, I want to put some additional tools in our hands by showing us exciting, Scripture-shaped ways to pray.

I especially hope this helps those who genuinely want to pray but sometimes struggle to know what to say. The Bible gives us language for worship, confession, thanksgiving, dependence, suffering, mission, spiritual growth, and so much more. We don’t have to invent a prayer life from scratch. God has given us words and patterns to help us.

And I’m excited for our children to be part of this too! Daycare will be provided for nursery-aged children, but I’d love for our other kids to participate with us. What a wonderful thing for them to see their parents, grandparents, teachers, and church family praying together—and to learn that prayer isn’t merely something adults talk about. It’s something the church does.

I hope you’ll make these seven Sunday nights a priority. Bring your Bible. Bring your family. And come ready to pray!