Enabling and training people to respond to God, after he has spoken to them, in the Bible reading and sermon.
Peter Adam
September 2025
God speaks to when we read or hear the Bible. When someone speaks to us, the polite response is to speak to them, responding to what they have said!
As children learn to speak by the words their parents speak to them, so we learn to speak to God through his words to us.
Our first response to God when we read the Bible should be to ask ourselves ‘What should I pray or say?’ before we think, ‘What should I do?’.
What we say to God will be more varied than ‘I will do what you tell me to do!’ It might be adoration and praise for who God is; it might be thanks for what he has done or will do; it might be a request for greater understanding, or for strength to do what he has said; it might be a confession of sin; it might be a prayer for other, for our church, or for our world; it might be lament and grief for the state of our church or our world, then leading to intercession.
If God says to do something, then of course we will need to pray for his help and direction in doing it!
Limiting our question to ‘What should I do?’ limits our reading of the Bible, as we only look for commands to action.
Limiting our question to ‘What should I do?’ severely restricts our expression of our relationship to God. It sadly balances the way in which we restrict our prayers to requests for God to act. God tells us to do his list, and we tell him our list! It is then a task-based relationship.
Limiting our question to ‘What should I do, what should we do?’ severely limits our view of God, and misses so much of God’s self-revelation in the Bible! He is much more than an instruction-giving God! He is a mighty creator, a gracious and loving and providing Heavenly Father, a God who rules us for our good and his glory, the God who forgives our sins, cleanses us from our sin, defeated sin, death and Satan by his Son’s death on the cross, who pours his love into our hearts by his Holy Spirit, who reveals himself in the Bible, who works all things for good for those who love him, who turns human evil for his good purposes, who gives us all things richly to enjoy, who calls us to praise and thank him, cast our burdens on him, confess our sins to him, assuring us of our forgiveness, and who gives eternal life to all who trust in his Son!
As so often, a weakness in prayer reveals a broader weakness in our view of God, and our Christian lives. There is much more to God than someone who tells us what to do, and much more to being a Christian than doing what he tells us to do.
We damage ourselves with a true but severely limited view of God. And we damage others through our ministries by modelling and teaching this limited view of God.
Our use of the word ‘application’ in the preparation and preaching of sermons seems to practical application, that is, what we should do. [Our bias towards the ‘practical’ also directs us away from prayer: this is bizarre, of course, because we are in permanent dependence on God for everything in life and ministry.
We must pay particular attention to the prayers we pray at the end of our sermons. A general ‘thank you to God for the Bible’ is inadequate, unless it flows out of the specific content of the Bible passage and sermon. Prepare your prayer carefully and make it appropriate to the Bible passage and sermon, and, if possible, include key words and phrases from the Bible passage which you have featured in your sermon.
Put these prayers on the screen, and/or in the news-sheet. Then people can pray to God with you immediately after the sermon, and, if the words are in the newssheet, pray the words again during the week.
This is a good practice not only for responding to the Bible reading and sermon, but also models for people how to respond in prayer after their own Bible reading, their family Bible reading, and their Home Bible Study group.
Some examples:
After a sermon on John 9. [There were a number of people who were not believers in the congregation]. I provided 3 prayers.
1. [We pray for unbelievers].
Gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, we pray for people who cannot see your glory in your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Please open their eyes to see Jesus as:
- The saviour of the world,
- The bread of life,
- The good shepherd, who laid down his life for us,
- The resurrection and the life,
- The light of this world.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
2. [We pray for ourselves]
We praise you, Lord Jesus, God’s Son, and God’s Word, for you are the saviour of the world, the bread of life, the good shepherd, who laid down his life for us, the resurrection and the life, and the light of this world.
Heavenly Father, we pray for ourselves, that you would open our eyes more and more to your glory, grace and truth in Jesus your Son and our Saviour, and that we would live our lives more and more knowing and serving Jesus as the light of this world. In his name we pray. Amen.
3. [A prayer for unbelievers to pray. I said ‘If you do not yet know Christ as the light of the world’ but would like to ask Jesus to reveal himself to you, then pray this prayer in your heart as I pray it aloud’].
Jesus, if you exist, I don’t see you very clearly, so I am not yet able to trust you. Please shine your light into my life, as I read the Bible and pray. Please help me to learn about you, and get to know you more and more. Amen.
After a sermon from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.
[in the sermon I began with God’s constant creation generosity, then moved to Christ’s sacrificial generosity out of his poverty, displayed by the Macedonians giving out of their poverty].
Gracious God, we praise and thank you for your generosity to us in your creation and constant care for this world and human life. We thank you for the gift of life, for air to breathe, water to drink and food to eat. We thank you for the richness of human life, for marriage, children, parents, friends, and all the people who bring joy to our lives. We thank you for work to do, your creation to enjoy, for your gifts of homes, safety, beauty, learning, art, music, food, and all the joys of human life. We thank you that your pour out your gifts generously because you love all you have made. Help us to be generous children of our generous Father.
Gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, we praise and thank you for your generosity in sending your Son to be the Saviour of the world. We praise for the sacrificial generosity of your Son, who though he was rich, yet for our sake became poor, that through his poverty we might become rich. We thank you for his sacrifice, his suffering, his serving, his atoning death for our sins, and his mighty resurrection. Help us to be sacrificially generous in our hearts, our relationships, our membership of our church, in loving our neighbour, and in every part of our lives, for your glory. We ask these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.
After a sermon on Romans 6.
Here you will notice that the mood of the prayer is different. It is not a ‘please help me/us to…’ but, ‘we will…’ based of course on the praise of Jesus which precedes it. When introducing the prayer on the screen, I gave people time to read it, and then said that if anyone was not able to make these promises at this time, they should not say the words.
Jesus Christ, our saviour and Lord, we praise you and thank you, for you were delivered over to death for our sins, and raised to life for our justification.
We also praise and thank you that we all died with you in your death, and we were all raised with you in your resurrection.
We reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in you.
- We will not let sin reign in our bodies, or obey its desires.
- We will not offer any part of our bodies to sin to serve unrighteousness.
- We are alive from the dead in you: we offer ourselves, and every part of ourselves, to God, to serve him in righteousness.
In your name, and for your glory. Amen.
Hebrews’ Prayer
I recently had the privilege of preaching the final sermon in a series on Hebrews at St Jude’s, Carlton, my home church. The prayer I prepared enabled the congregation to respond to the whole book, and the whole series of sermons.
[I designed the prayer so that the whole congregation would pray some sections and each side of the congregation would have sections to say out loud, while the other side joined in silently.
This follows the Old Testament practice of having two choirs, to lead God’s people in prayer and praise. See 2 Chronicles 7, and Nehemiah 11. It is good to pray and praise, and also good to hear others praying and praising, and to echo their words in our hearts.]
‘Let’s pray this prayer for St Jude’s, and for other churches around the world.’
[All] O gracious God, you have spoken to us by your Son, the Lord Jesus, through whom you made the universe, and who is the radiance of your glory. He who provided purification for our sins, and is now seated at your right hand in glory and majesty. He is the builder and Lord of your household, your people, your church.
1. We praise you that he shared our humanity, so we are his brothers and sisters. By his death he broke the devil’s power of death, by making atonement for our sins. He suffered when he was tempted, so he is able to help us in our temptations.
2. We thank you, for you appointed him as our high priest, who empathizes with our weaknesses. Through him we can approach your throne of grace with confidence, to find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.
1. We pray that you would enable us to hear your voice in the Bible, that none of us would harden our hearts. Take from us a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from you, the living God.
2. We thank you for your living and active word, the Bible, which pierces our hearts, shows us our sins, and shows us our Saviour.
1. We rejoice, because Jesus lives forever, so he is able to save us completely when we come to you through him. He always lives to intercede for us.
2. We praise you, because he offered himself unblemished to you through the eternal Spirit. So he can cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, that we may serve you, the living God!
1. We thank you that Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many. And we thank you that he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
2. We praise and thank you that we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by that one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
[All] We praise you that we have confidence to enter into your presence in your Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus. We praise you that we have a great priest over your household, the church of God. We draw near to you with sincere hearts and with the full assurance that faith brings, with our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from our guilty consciences and our bodies washed with pure water. We hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for you are faithful to your promises. And we will spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, but encouraging one another—and all the more as we see the Day approaching.
1. Please help us and all your people to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, so we may run with perseverance the race marked out for us. We will fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of your throne on high.
2. Please help us and all your people to endure hardship, and accept your loving discipline, that we may grow in holiness and pursue it. Help us not fall short of your grace, and let no bitter root grow up to destroy and defile us. Help us not to refuse you as you speak to us through the Scriptures, to be thankful, and so worship you acceptably with reverence and awe, for you, God, are a consuming fire.
[All] As we worship you with reverence and awe, graciously assist us to worship you in our daily lives:
1. Help us to: love one another as brothers and sisters; show hospitality to strangers; remember fellow-believers who are suffering or in prison for their faith in Christ; Honour marriage; keep our lives free from the love of money, and learn contentment; remember our leaders, who speak your Word to us, respect them and receive and welcome their teaching, and imitate their lives.
2. We praise you that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Help us to not be carried away by strange ideas and teaching. Help us to suffer with Jesus, and not be ashamed of bearing disgrace for him. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, continually offer to you a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess your name. Prompt us to good and share with others, for with such sacrifices you are well pleased.
All. God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip us with everything good for doing your will. Please work in us what is pleasing to you, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Further comments.
I notice that a common response among believers whom I hear praying, is to ask for God’s help to do what he wants. This is not a wrong prayer to pray! But the balance between God’s grace and personal agency is a subtle one! Paul tells the Philippians to ‘work out our own salvation’ while also recognising that ‘God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose’ [Phil 2:12,13]. But he can also say, ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me’, and ‘I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus’ [Phil 3:12,14]. Sometimes God’s agency overwhelms our personal agency as in new birth, and in giving us faith in Jesus Christ. But, once we are believers, God also enables our personal agency. It is right to ask God to act. It is also right to see God enabling our personal agency. When Paul writes, ‘Flee from sexual immorality’, ‘flee from idolatry’ [1 Cor 6:18, 10:14], he does not want the Corinthians to sit around and wait until they feel enabled by God to run for their lives! He wants them to act immediately and constantly! Run now!
I think that a current cause of weakness in our Christianity is that we overdose on dependence and so avoid action! When God says, ‘offer yourselves to God’ [Rom 6:13], that is exactly what we should do. And if we say that we will do it, we are more likely to do it! [Notice that the promised made by groom and bride in the marriage service are unqualified promises! Though of course they are followed by prayer that God will enable them to do what they have promised.]
A good solution is to say to God that will we do what he wants, and also ask him to help us to do so. This includes both exercising responsible [and enabled] personal agency, and also asking for God’s help.
You may also notice that in these prayers I have generally used ‘we’ and ‘us’, rather than ‘I’ and ‘me’. I don’t think the latter is wrong in response to a sermon, but as a matter of fact, in most of the Bible God addresses his people in their corporate life, their shared values, the common actions they do, their shared default values and actions. When God addresses his people, then it is right for his community to respond! [See Exodus 24:7, every Psalm in which ‘we’ speak, and Jesus challenges to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3]. Shared sins are the most invisible sins, and individuals will be shaped by their communities. And every church member has a responsibility to God not only for their own lives, but also for the shared life of the community, expressed in prayer and in mutual exhortation, encouragement and challenge.
We could of course express both the corporate and the individual. Here is a prayer which does both based on Romans 5:1-5.
Gracious God we all praise and thank you that we have been justified by faith, that we have peace with you through our Lord Jesus Christ, that we stand in your grace, and boast in the hope of your glory.
Each one of us prays that you would help us to glory in our sufferings, and so grow more and more in perseverance, character, and hope in our lives. And please pour your love into our hearts as individuals and as a church through your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Or we could include ‘we’ and ‘us’, as well as ‘I’ and ‘me’. A prayer in response to Romans 12:1-2, to follow a sermon which challenged both the church community as a whole, and also each person present. to do what Paul tells us to do!
Gracious God, because of your great mercy to us, I offer my body to you now, as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to you, through the atoning death of your Son, the Lord Jesus. I will not conform to the pattern of this world: please transform me through the renewing of my mind, that I may do your good, pleasing and perfect will. I ask this through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. Amen.
Gracious God, because of your great mercy to us we offer our bodies to you now, as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to you, through the atoning death of your Son, the Lord Jesus. We will not conform to the pattern of this world: please transform us through the renewing of our minds, that we may do your good, pleasing and perfect will. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. Amen.
I think it would be effective if people prayed the individual prayer, and then the corporate prayer, as the latter is the more appropriate response to the Bible passage, and so a better climax to the prayer after the sermon.
Preachers! I find that writing a prayer for the congregation to pray after a Bible reading and sermon, helps me focus on what response I am praying for them, and how to express that in the sermon!