Verses for a Prayer of Invocation

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

Blessing, Praising, and Prayer for Insight

  • Ephesians 1:1–23
  • In Christ Alone, TPH 265

God Delivers us from Death to Life

  • Ephesians 2:1–22
  • Not What My Hands Have Done, TPH 435

Paul’s Mission and Prayer for the Church

  • Ephesians 3:1–21
  • Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, TPH 265

The Church in Image and Action

  • Ephesians 4:1–5:2
  • The Church’s One Foundation, TPH 404

New Saints in a Sinful World

  • Ephesians 5:3–21
  • O Light That Knew No Dawn, TPH 221

Exhortations for Christian Households

  • Ephesians 5:22–6:9
  • Oh, Blest the House, TPH 548

Prepared for Battle and Conclusion

  • Ephesians 6:10–24
  • Soldiers of Christ, Arise, TPH 540

Verse for Closing Prayer

“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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:17-19)

Notes:

  • The verses given for the prayers are not to be read, although there’d be nothing wrong with that. They are there to help you shape and direct your prayer. Matthew Henry provides a good example of how this can be done. Read his prayers and notice how he weaves together verses from the Bible to express his heart to God.
  • TPH = Trinity Psalter-Hymnal. You can look for more or different hymns, even in other hymnals, using hymnary.org.
  • The passages should be read with the text with the goal of communicating the meaning of the text, though without additional comment. So, no sermon, just good reading. Daniel I. Block calls this “expository reading” in his book, For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship, 191. Block says: “Expository reading means reading the Scriptures so that their literary qualities are appreciated, their message understood, and their transformative power experienced.”

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